I am currently pulling trailers of grocerys to Walmart and Sams for Schnieder. In order to get hired by Schnieder you have to have a haz mat endorsement. I understand Schnieder has other accounts that haul hazmat. I went and took the CDL written hazmat test and then went and had my finger


I am have been thinking about the fact that I have a haz mat endorsement but it is not really being put to use hauling groccerysIs there a big difference in pay if you haul Haz Mat??

 

"Does having a Haz Mat endorsement mean more $$$" No, not right now. You say you're hauling groceries. What, no cleaning materials, batteries? Maybe you're hauling them but the quantities aren't great enough to be reportable.
Hazmat isn't just glow-in-the-dark-type stuff or explosives. Think car batteries, paint, cleaning materials (some more common than you think), bagged fertilizer, garden care stuff, hair spray. A driver having the endorsement or companies requiring the endorsement means a more varied quantity of freight that can be hauled. BOL

 

The loads don't pay any more unless they are in certain areas such as radio active or some other type of specialty area that is considered hazmat. It isn't worth the extra cost unless you look at some of the carriers who require the endorsement. Unless you have the endorsement, you can't wok for some carriers.

 

the company we work for paid for the background check, we get .04 for every mile we run each quarter to keep the has-mat endorsement and .02 per mile if we are placared.

 

Hazmat is not worth it its a pain in the a--

 

The company I drive not only pays for my hazmat (background, fingerprint)
They also pay an additional $20 for the load.

So in my case, yea.. it pays a little more.

 

More and more carriers are paying for pulling haz-mat loads, plus many pay the fees to get the endorsement.

We get $50 extra per load. We have one load that goes 188 miles and counting the haz pay that puts me at 72 cpm to pull the load that is $135.36 , I will pull that load anytime I get the chance.

 

If carriers are beginning to pay a premium for hauling hazmat, then more people must be dropping the endorsement. It is a hassle and expensive to get and keep unless you use it. Unless a company pays more it isn't worth the added aggravation.

 

Hazmat may be the only way to make a decent living in the near future. Soon enough Non-Hazmat loads will be given to drivers who can't get a hazmat endorsement.....say drivers from Mexican trucking companies. However, they might be able too in the future.

 

Depnds on what state you live in, but in Texas it is not a big deal.
You have to take the hazmat test at the DL office, pass it, they give you the forms to fill out and then go to a third party collection site.
It took about 10 minutes to fill out the forms and 15 minutes to have fingerprints done. Then about 3-4 weeks for the license to come in.

Don't scare guys off from getting the endoresment.

The extra cost of the fingerprints and background is $92 bucks in Texas, I think it is worth paying $92 to make 50K plus a year.