[feederfred]

I kind of have a unique perspective on your situation having spent over 30 years at UPS and now hauling fuel during my "retirement" years. I also worked part time hauling fuel in Southern California during my early days at UPS to make extra money. I worked for Wright, Powerine, Paramount Petroleum and part time at Chevron in Montebello CA. There are some very good outfits out there, but as someone on this board said, that just like freight, there's a lot of "low end" tanker jobs too. Fuel hauling is competitive like any other freight and some outfits (Cox comes to mind....) undercut and cut corners and push their drivers. Dangerous ? Not anymore than anything else, although some people will view it that way. Just triple check everything, take it slow and never get in a rush...And if you smoke, you may want to quit (just kidding..) You face a hard choice about UPS though and I don't envy you that choice. MANY times I hated Brown and wanted to bail. But I put my time in and bailed and got the pension. Thats not to say you should stay or you will. If you are young enough to start over and it won't hurt you financially, then go for it. If you leave UPS with 2 weeks notice, they'll re-hire you, but then you lose what seniority you have now. UPS (freight or Parcel Division) is not going away, they will just get bigger. And the economy WILL get better sometime soon. The question is: What do you REALLY want to do ? As I said, you have some tough choices to make. BOL, let us know what you decide. UPS is allright, but if your not happy....

[TimberWolf]

Hey Lebron, I have driven Orlando day & night for the past 5 years 4 with Commercial Carrier Corp and almost one with UPS Freight until being bumped to the docks. I know the city inside and out in fact just as well as I know Denver having grown up in that area. I am 45 years old with one adult child and one who thinks she is grown at 13. Most of my life I have taken an attitude of everything happens for a reason. (It IS What It IS)
As we all know sh.t happens in every area of our world at any given time you just need to be aware and hope/prepare for the best/worse.
My fear of staying with Brown is that in 5 or 10 years I could still be working the docks or subject to being bumped back, (not my cup of tea) These guys bust theirs ass's it is a young man's job. During my 3 months of dock work I have noticed my back pain has begun to increase slightly usually on my off days when I am not so active, I come home so fricking filthy at 3 am covered from head to toe in dirt and grime. While I am in the shower for 45 minutes getting clean I look back to the days when I was city driving and having to bump 20 docks and dealing with the wild loads like 3000lb palletts of old Crankshafts, of course who cant forget mansfield and their beautiful packing job of old tractor brake pads with two or three wraps of plastic sure to come apart on the first bounce again another 2 or 3000lb greasey pallet that needs to be picked up. I know every job has it good and bad points but as I get older I am looking to work easier and not harder, Ups Frieght seems like it will remain a hard working job well into the future. When I watch a 65 year old man lumping hoses and loving his job then that makes me question what I am doing now. I know my work ethic and abilities will move me to a higher level in a few short years at least with the ability to choose my hours and days off. I dont even get to do that now it is all on a bid system while I am still in the top 90% (two more people leave and then that is gone) I still get the last choices for hours and days off. As far as pension and future security goes I learned a long time ago to rely on myself for that even though the extra pension would be nice. I am looking at it like this; physical work is for the young while mental work is for the old. (older)
I am going to take the rest of the week to weigh out the pros and cons and make my decision over the weekend.
Thanks for all of your replys they were quite helpful.....

Timberwolf

[Orangetxguy]

Timber...since you are in the Orlando area...check out Eagle Transportation. They are a bunch of old "Amoco" hands that bought a bunch of "Amoco" equipment from BP, when BP, cut their jobs in 1999.

Talk with them. Get 2 years of clean work in with them, then you can start talking with BP. Eagle will probably start you out a little better than what you just described...and advance you quicker, pay wise.

You can always check out Loves and Pilot, after 6 month's with any fuel haul company. Loves is paying $20.40 an hour in Florida right now. Pilot is $19.35.

[TimberWolf]

Hey Orangetxguy, Thanks for the info.
Eagle wanted me to have some experience first, as did Energy Dispatch, and Gemini (they run for Loves). As far as BP I would love to pull for them however they are in the process of dismantleing their entire fleet in Florida plus all corporate stores as well. At some point all BP drivers in the Central Florida area will be unemployed once the company sells off the convenience stores to whom ever buys them. They have already begun breaking down some of the daily loads to other companies FRTL being one that does several BP Corporate stores now and working to get more, hence why I think they are willing to train me. The BP drivers who stay on to the end have an extremely nice severence package coming their way as do their store managers.
My thoughts were to get as you said 1 or 2 years safe driving and good habits and then begin to see if I could get on with Gemini (Loves) or Flying J, or Pilot.
I have already made my mind up and am going to make this change it feels right so hopefully it will turn out right...
I will keep you informed once I begin my training on the 28th of July.
Thanks again...

Timberwolf

[teamster]

Bp is doing the same thing in my area. They are getting a nice package when it is all over. I feel for those guys though. Good luck in your new job. I think you will like it. It might seem overwhelming at first, but pay very close attention to details and everything your trainer tells you. Biggest thing with fuel is check and then re-check all connections before opening a valve. Even if you open it and close it quickly you have already dropped enough to contaminate the tank-it flows very fast. Good luck.

[Drill]

I haul Fuel For APC, working weekends and nights is the way to go in this industry, Going to the loading racks during the day bites, atleast in Savannh and at Kinder Morgan in North Augusta. It usauly takes an hour to get loaded.
I to am looking to go to FRTL for a night position. They 10% night Differantal and 20% weekend differantial. It only takes 15 minutes to load at night

[belpre122]

Originally Posted by Drill

I haul Fuel For APC, working weekends and nights is the way to go in this industry, Going to the loading racks during the day bites, atleast in Savannh and at Kinder Morgan in North Augusta.

Amen on that brother! I have turned down a "promotion" to day shift numerous times in the past couple of years. No way!

Originally Posted by Drill

It usauly takes an hour to get loaded.

An hour or more here in Indy also. Working nights/weekends, my average time on terminal property is around 15-18 minutes. I get antsy if I pull up to the rack and have even one truck in front of me.

[Orangetxguy]

Originally Posted by belpre122

Amen on that brother! I have turned down a "promotion" to day shift numerous times in the past couple of years. No way!

An hour or more here in Indy also. Working nights/weekends, my average time on terminal property is around 15-18 minutes. I get antsy if I pull up to the rack and have even one truck in front of me.

LOL...you guy's would have hated the racks on Harbor Island in Seattle. I can remember many nights when the Texaco(now Motiva), Shell(now KinderMorgan) and Arco(now BP) racks all had double lines of trucks stacked out the gates and onto the streets, waiting to load. At 10 & 11 at night!!

As an hourly driver..I didn't let it bother me....in fact..most of us Arco drivers would let the percentage drivers go around us, because we knew they were getting shafted. We (the arco drivers) would just wait for the dedicated lane to clear, and use it. When Chevron moved their business over to the KinderMorgan rack...that helped the Arco rack immencely.

[belpre122]

Originally Posted by Orangetxguy

LOL...you guy's would have hated the racks on Harbor Island in Seattle. I can remember many nights when the Texaco(now Motiva), Shell(now KinderMorgan) and Arco(now BP) racks all had double lines of trucks stacked out the gates and onto the streets, waiting to load. At 10 & 11 at night!!

As an hourly driver..I didn't let it bother me....in fact..most of us Arco drivers would let the percentage drivers go around us, because we knew they were getting shafted. We (the arco drivers) would just wait for the dedicated lane to clear, and use it. When Chevron moved their business over to the KinderMorgan rack...that helped the Arco rack immencely.

I pulled a load out of BP Indianapolis last weekend. I thought about ya Stan. Everyone has to wear the FRC (fire resistant clothing) now. My new FRC uniforms aren't in yet, so the company gave me a pair of coveralls to use for the next 2 weeks. Outside temp was 90 degrees. It was torture. At least I am able to take them off when I am done. The BP guys are required to wear FRC clothing at all times. Heck, it wasn't that long ago that those guys were wearing shorts and tennis shoes! When I pulled forward and walked over to get the BOL, I could hardly believe my eyes. There was a huge cooler full of ice and bottled water, with a note that said "help yourself!" It's been a long time since water tasted quite that good. I gotta hand it to BP, that was a nice gesture.

Rumors abound down here that the days are numbered for the BP drivers. Klemm has been running a lot of their loads and is hiring more drivers. Doesn't look good. A friend of mine just hired on at BP about 3 months ago, go figure.

BTW, my company just acquired 23 BPs in NW Indiana including 6 up on the toll road. I think I'll just stay down here in Naptown!

"Evans explained this agreement is the first BP Jobber Supplied Franchise agreement reached east of the Rockies following BP's announcement they would be moving most of its direct supplied marketing areas to jobber supplied."

[belpre122]

Originally Posted by TimberWolf

I have already made my mind up and am going to make this change it feels right so hopefully it will turn out right...
I will keep you informed once I begin my training on the 28th of July.
Thanks again...Timberwolf

Please keep us posted!

When you go out solo, NEVER hesitate to ask other drivers if you are not sure about something. Especially at the loading racks. They WILL help you.

Take your time. Always STOP and think for a moment before you open a valve, and reaffirm that you are hooked up correctly. (I can't tell you how many times that simple advice has saved my arse, especially when I was a rookie) Dropping diesel fuel into a gas tank (or vice versa), is called a cross-drop/trans-mix and at the very least, will ruin your day.

Don't forget rain gear. Ever. :wink:

BOL. I think that you are going to enjoy the job Wolf.