Profile For Dave T.

I’ve been hauling fuel for about 3 years now and I’m way out of shape. The toughest part of the job for me is getting in and out of the tractor with a bad knee. We have a few customers who made terrible decisions on their drop placements for their tanks that make it very difficult. Sometimes I have to run a 20’ hose under the trailer because the drops for different products are on opposite sides. Lifting that hose full of gas and trying to drain it can be tough. We have other customers who placed their drops above the level of our load heads so you’re technically dropping fuel uphill. When those hoses are full of diesel, they can be extremely heavy and difficult to manage without making a huge mess. Sometimes I think we deliver to those places because other companies refuse to due to driver safety. If you go with one of the bigger companies that mainly does gas stations, it shouldn’t be too bad. You can always get creative and never have to lift a full hose like I try to do if I can. We carry jugs of diesel additive to dump in before we drop… I keep a few of the empty ones around to place under the hose so it’s a gradual downhill from the trailer to the drop tube. Work smarter, not harder.

Nah, that’ll buff right out. 😂

I’m glad I only have to load in Roanoke and don’t have to deal with all those headaches 😂 It very rare that we need anything we can’t get here.

I got my CDL back in 2008 because I lost my job when the housing market crashed. I was working on a survey crew at the time and when things slacked off, I was low man and was first to go. I was working as a civil drafter before they put me in the field. Before that, I was working in aviation as a civilian contractor doing mechanical and electrical drafting and design for a company that did military aircraft modifications… started in the engineering department before I even graduated high school in 2003. 16 years later, still making more money driving a truck 😂

There are probably plenty of companies that haul equipment OTR but I can only think of one off the top of my head right now and that’s Keen. After looking at their website and job listings, they require at least 18 months OTR. Your best bet is to get the training and get your license then drive OTR for a year or so with a general freight carrier then start looking. Plenty of construction companies are hiring for RGN drivers but they typically require 2-4 years of experience from what I’ve seen lately. I did heavy haul for a short while and I only got out of it because of the company and not the job itself. I’m hopefully setting myself up for a job now and have my foot in the door where I can both haul equipment and do what I’m doing now which is hauling fuel.

Chipotle (or any eating) is extremely surprising. People get warnings for not getting their helmet on quickly enough after exiting the cab. Kind of encourages more head swiveling on my part during loading in the future.

I already approached one of your crew, 189 or 193 or something like that, bigger guy. Said he didn't know TT but had an idea who you were. Still in 9973, starting around 2 pm at any given rack.

Saw your tractor today at KM1 around 1230 but when I saw you don’t start until 2, I figured y’all must slip seat. I’m in 183 which is the only tractor we have on the road without the pump and hose reel behind the cab. Still gonna keep my eyes peeled.

You don't work nights, weekends or holidays?

Also I agree with the rack issues but only at buckeye on Starkey recently. Wish they'd figure out the 1st regular arms on lane 1 and 3.

We are scheduled to work a half a Saturday (2-4 hours) every 5 weeks but we only work if we can’t hit those two accounts before Friday or they can’t wait until Monday. I’ve worked one Saturday since I’ve been there. 90% of the time it’s Monday through Friday daylight hours.

I hate loading at Buckeye period. It’s not so bad now that they’ve updated their computer system but they still have a lot of issues to work out. I try to only use lane 3 if I can as everything’s working most of the time. What I really can’t stand is the period from 1230-1400 at KM2… we call it Sheetz-o-clock for a reason. That shift change is a pain. KM2 is supposed to be shutting down a diesel tank soon and shifting a lot of product to KM1 so that’s gonna be a nightmare too. As far as the load pay, from what I’ve seen it makes everyone rush more and the lack of safety is very noticeable among some companies but not all. Saw a driver just the other week eating his burrito bowl from chipotle while loading in lane two at Buckeye in the middle of the day.

Still hoping to run into you sometime, spaceman.

For me, some days I get plenty of time to rest during the day while others I’m running hard to be back in under 14 hours. Right now, we’re pretty slow for some reason and we might get an hour or more of downtime during our day. I’d rather stay busy and keep moving than sitting for hours waiting on a load. We also seem to be having trouble and playing the allocation game and waste a ton of time just trying to get loaded or there are issues at the rack. We get paid by the hour but I hate sitting around wasting time while others try to. If it wasn’t for the nights, weekends and holidays, I’d love to work for Sheetz but I’m kind of enjoying my Monday thru Friday day shift.

Bottom line, you’re driving their equipment which they expect you to operate safely… do what you need to do to do so. If you need to stop and take a quick nap, take it at Burger King.

I wouldn’t ditch the CDL. I was out of work for a year and a half due to a medical issue and ended up losing my job over it. I couldn’t pass the DOT physical due to the recovery from that operation but once I could, I got it done and got my class A back after it was downgraded. If you can handle the drywall delivery (I did that for a very short while… not my idea of a good time), you should look into other local delivery jobs. Maybe start with Pepsi or coke or even alcohol. I delivered beer for many years. It was a lot of hard work but it led to one of the best jobs I ever had and that was delivering milk. Find a local school and get the refresher course knocked out and find a company that will hire with just a few months of experience. Around here, there are companies hauling fuel like I am that are hiring drivers right out of school to haul fuel. Get some endorsements under your belt too and that will help out as well.

Just last week, I was sitting in a miles long back due to a truck accident. About 5 miles before the actual accident scene, they had signs up letting everyone know that the left lane was closed ahead due to an emergency scene. I was already in the right lane when I started seeing these signs so I just stayed there. Surprisingly most everyone else on the road did the same thing until they ultimately detoured us off the highway (US 220 in VA) and through town. When I got to the exit where we had to get off, there were a few people in cars who had run up that lane that was coming to the end and were trying to merge in at the last minute. This caused those of us who were steadily moving along in the right lane to have to stop to allow these morons in.

I can’t tell you how many times a day I have people cut me off because they’re in such a big hurry and feel that they need to get around me at the last minute to make an exit or an on ramp to save a few seconds. I haul fuel so I have to be extra careful around these morons because they have absolutely no respect for the giant bomb that they’re cutting off. I keep saying that they need to add a day in a truck as part of the drivers education school curriculum to give people an idea of just how big and heavy these things are.

My advice is to give the truck the room they need to safely operate because it’s not only our lives in our hands out there, it’s yours too. If you cut us off and act like a tool, there’s a higher chance of an accident. We have cameras too ya know. I watch my mirrors like a hawk to keep an eye out for the terrible drivers and can almost always predict their next move by the way they’re driving. Don’t run up those lanes that are ending to cut us off at the last minute. Leave a little earlier and don’t be in such a hurry. When you see those signs that say the lane is ending, go ahead and move to the through lane, be prepared and plan/look ahead.

Another thing, I know the whole touch a truck thing is in just about every town these days… go check one out and find a driver with a tractor there and get yourself behind the wheel. Maybe then you’ll have a better understanding of what we do and what we have to work with on a daily basis. Keep in mind, without trucks, you wouldn’t have jack 💩.

Last year, I was sitting at a stop light and just happened to look in my passenger side mirror as I was in the left lane and saw someone flick a cigarette at my load heads while I had 8,000 gallons of ethanol on my trailer. Don’t be that guy and do stupid 💩 around trucks.