Tow Or Fuel Or Cement - Part Time

Hello. I have been driving for 1 and a half years for a freight company. I got injured on the job and was on workers Comp for 6 months. I am getting much better now but don’t want to return to my company. They have us pushing converter dollys basically on sand / gravel all day. The converter dolly has 3 wheels. I don’t want to return to that kind of work to get injured again. I plan to start working in 3 months.

What would be better for part time. Towing or driving a cement truck or a class B fuel truck?

I was thinking towing would be fun because it would involve getting a new skill set and it just seems that you arrive to an accident and get the car out of there.

One towing sub question though. Can I request to only work on the tow trucks / wreckers or will they just push me to drive the class A low boy?

( i know it may seem picky but I don’t really want to drive a tractor trailer anymore ).

Was thinking about cement after speaking to a driver. He told me he arrives at a hole. Dumps cement, get the sub contractor to sign paper work and goes to the next spot.

( People did tell me that someone has to go inside the spinning thing and clean the cement from the walls.

Was thinking about the fuel truck as the last thing because I keep thinking the hose is heavy and may not be in my best interest at the moment.

Thank you for your time.

Art have you been cleared by the worker comp doc and got that all settled??? That is your first step. You certainly do not want to open yourself a can of worms there.

Towing is considerably more involved than your comment. It can be very labor intensive depending on the circumstances involved.

Cement trucks are like dump trucks. Very heavy on short wheelbases. IE dangerous.

Fuel no thank you in my opinion. Most fuel haulers are tractor trailers. I’m not sure about in your area.

Where I live there is a local propane company and they actually pay pretty decent. I know my delivery driver and he loves it.

Best wishes too you and your full recovery from your injury

You could look into transit/bus or home fuel delivery if you have or H/X . I drive transit and its pretty good for my area if you dont mind SLF . It's not toolabor heavy but there is a lot of extra safety involved as well as certain unique regulations to learn and get your 19a certification . Local home fuel is a lot of stop and go and hauling hoses into backyard areas as well as carrying and handling cash in many instances but can pay decently though it is light in the summer months. Towing is intensive on labor and can be demanding on the body but can pay well . You'll need a W endorsement if your from NY . I dont know about other states .

Sorry PJ, I you are correct. I meant oils. My fault.

I have not been cleared by work Comp yet. That’s why I initially said 3 months. I just want to get info about some types of driving jobs now. So I can get a DCA license or TWIC if I need to and not have a period for of no work for no reason.

I do not want to return to my old job as they would regularly break safety regulations when loading / unloading freight. Then threaten you if you didn’t comply. Then again I probably wouldn’t be in the current mess if didn’t stay there. Just felt that it being my first trucking job, quitting it would look bad.

I have all the endorsements other than passenger and school bus “.

I thought about becoming a vulture. That was kinda what I had in mind. They just sit by the highway exits and wait for something to happen.

I made the title part time because I intend to go to school and spoke with a tow driver who said he does his school work in the truck.

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SeebeeJ

What does “ SLF “ mean? And I will look into what 19A means now. I thought about transit bus a year ago but the thought or driving one in Manhattan makes my Botox clench. I have driven a truck there but I feel as though pedestrians take caution when crossing in front of the truck. However they cross in front of the bus with no problem.

( probably spending the money in their heads before there is even an accident ).

Hi Art , SLF means Self Loading Frieght . Just a little joke with bus drivers . 19a cert is for any passenger carrying vehicle in a municipality like a school bus or ADA bus , Transit . When you sign on with a particular company you need to qualify in that vehicle by taking a road test , it's not to difficult. You would do this in a 10 25 44 or 60 passenger vehicle. If you take it in a 60 you qualify for anything smaller similar to having a A license let's you drive B class vehicles. You take this even if you'd already earned your S and P endorsements and DMV tracks this . A 19a examiner in the company would check you out .

Art

I drove fuel tankers for a number of years and chemical tankers before that. The only labor intensive thing was pulling the hoses from their carrying shelf and attaching them to the fuel housing adapter and sticking into ground receptacles. But if you have injured your back, the surest way to re-injure it is to do stuff like doubles and triples,where you have to deal with the volleys. Then the cement trucks are too dangerous and tow trucks driver's don't make that much some only make 10 bucks an hour.Plus your recovering a car or van or pickup in all kinds of weather. Where you could re-injure yourself all over again. So, think very hard on what you want to do and what rewards you will receive. As far as part time and going to school, you might a day cab job driving and go to school at night.

Good luck

Raptor

Even those "vulture" tow operators work hard and put their bodies through extremes. When they get a call they have to work quickly to reopen roads, get vehicles out of ditches, etc.

You also have times when you will work 24 plus hours straight if bad weather hits. I pulled a 40 hour shift in Oregon after an ice storm hit.

You might look at a service position doing lockouts, jump starts, and changing flat tires.

Another thing about towing is that can be an extremely dangerous occupation. Think about all the distracted drivers, then you're parked on the shoulder of the highway, sometimes within a couple feet of traffic whizzing by.

Another thing about towing is that can be an extremely dangerous occupation. Think about all the distracted drivers, then you're parked on the shoulder of the highway, sometimes within a couple feet of traffic whizzing by.

Not to mention that if your working on the highways as a tow truck operator then the company you work for is dispatched by police. So you'll get calls for people parked illegally. Then you get to deal with the happy folks that walk back to find you towing their car.

I pull a food grade tanker. The hoses are a little heavy but I never have to worry about them pulling a gun or knife on me🙄 Plus most places I deliver to I have a representative of that company to work their equipment. I could probably ask them for help if needed.