I was ready to start with Superior Carriers on Labor Day. The terminal was closed that day and my drug test was delayed because everyone at the test lab was off also, so I couldn't start until Wednesday. I must say though because I was ready and met all requirements to be hired except the drug test results they paid me for the holiday. This is definately a sign of a stand-up company.
A few things you guys may be interested in:
Superior will hire straight out of school. (see your local terminal manager)
If you have one year of class a driving experience you can prove, your training will paid at the FULL RATE for the job you are doing. I made 947.10 gross my first training week with only three days driving local and one holiday. I just finished my second week training and will probably gross around 1200 for the full week.
Before I finished training I have been issued all of my protective gear, have been assigned a truck, and have my toll cards and fuel card. This company is on the ball.
I will be running the system and expect the pay to be higher than the local work I am training on.
We are truly paid for everything we do here. My terminal manager insisted that I fill out a pay sheet and bill the company for the half hour we spent going over how to fill out the pay sheets.
Tanks are definately different. The surge will play with your shift timing and generally sort of shove you around a little. Its not a big deal just something to get used to. The best advice I got was to PULL the tank and time your accelerations and decelerations to slow down the surge instead of speeding it up. No matter what you do though until you have a few miles with liquids you are going to slam a few loads into the ends of the tank. It is tough to describe just how hard a thin load can slam you until you have felt it but you don't let it happen too many times cause it hurts.
I have already decided to go ahead with getting my truck and setting it up for tanks. After two weeks of working for a tank company I will NEVER go back to dry van or flats. The shippers and receivers generally have much more respect for our time and are generally much better to work with.
If you are a Billy Big Rigger who follows no one this is not the job for you but if you can handle following safety regulations to the letter and are detail and safety oriented I can offer no better way to make a living and have quality of life in this business. With Superior it seems most of the system work can be done as out and back runs with four to five day turns and mostly can be accomplished monday through friday. Most of the system guys in my terminal are home on the weekends and leave out monday mornings.
I will continue to post new information as I will be out in the system after next week. Oh by the way I had planned a vacation for next week long before I started at Superior and the company told me no problem and have honored that. (another sign of a good company). :wink: