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Originally Posted by David1471
Hi Justruckin... you are a wealth of information... and I enjoy reading your threads. I have a question for you. Which company in Williston would you say is the top "crude oil hauling" company to work for? (In terms of pay, hours with lots of overtime, benefits and equipment.) I'm going to be coming out there in March 2013... and don't have any trucking experience... but I have my Class A CDL with HAZMAT, Tanker, Doubles/Triples. I'm going to buy a house there... I'm just not sure which city to buy in. All I want to do is make a career of hauling crude oil... where would be the best place to start and where would be the best place to work after getting some experience under my belt?
There are quite a few companies in Williston all the way out to Minot and back towards Watford, but I would say the most stable is Plains Marketing. It all depends on what they have to offer and what your needs are, things like housing. I prefer the smaller outfits, but you are always taking a chance with them. It only takes one bad driver to lose a contract and the entire company is out of work. What you need to do is land a job with an outfit up here and just get here, as there are many opportunities here with many trucking companies. As far as buying property up here, it is VERY expensive. I know of small 2 and 3 bedroom ranches on slabs going for half a million in the middle of nowhere BFE, mobile homes in mobile home parks, along with houses, rent between $3,500 and $6,000 a month, to rich for my blood. I would not consider moving here, find an employer with housing and bank your cash for a house elsewhere.
For one thing, the crude hauling jobs will be gone from here one day as they are putting pipelines in as fast as the wells are going in. Not saying work is going to dry up any time soon, which it is not, just saying long term there will be fewer opportunities up here as automation and pipelines will rule the day here.