Schneider Dedicated Hazmat/Tanker Position

We advise any new driver to not go tankers for their start. It will normally be too much extra to learn how to pull a tank with it's inherent characteristics of moving liquids and the counter actions while driving, turning, and stopping. Learn to drive a truck and trailer effectively and safely first, then perhaps broaden your horizons.

Yea, even having done fuel in the Army I'd not want to do it straight away as it's been 15 years and want some experience first.

We advise any new driver to not go tankers for their start. It will normally be too much extra to learn how to pull a tank with it's inherent characteristics of moving liquids and the counter actions while driving, turning, and stopping. Learn to drive a truck and trailer effectively and safely first, then perhaps broaden your horizons.

I requested join the Facebook group that you referred me to. I'm just waiting for them to accept me.

Would you even advise a new driver to avoid going into liquid tanker hauling, even if they go through Schneider's 5-week training.

I just thought that I went into tanker/Hazmat as a new dtiver, it would be best to go to a company like Schneider, because they are self-insured, and I've heard people say that they have one of the best training programs out there.

I'm trying to get as much guidance as I can in the next couple weeks so I can make the best decision for me and my career.

Thank you.

Schneider does have one of the best training programs out there… Once you complete their tanker training you will be able to offload chemicals better than what any other company can teach you, in my opinion. But when I suggest pulling dry vans for a year first, that’s got nothing to do with offloading chemicals, that’s all about driving the truck. For instance, when you crest a hill and start back down, momentum builds incredibly fast. It needs to be second nature knowing how to slow your truck down so that you don’t have to smoke the brakes to get it back to a safe speed. That’s just one scenario where tankers differ from hauling other types of freight; there are many others. I would like to see the behind-the-wheel-time extended for newbies fresh out of school. There’s just so many things to think about pulling tankers, with the offloading of the chemicals, pre-tripping the trailer, making sure all of the valves are closed and secured properly, that I think those things in addition to driving the rig draw attention away from one another, leading to many preventable accidents/incidents. If you entered the bulk training with a year of driving anything else already under your belt, that’s one less thing to think about.

Schneider does have one of the best training programs out there… Once you complete their tanker training you will be able to offload chemicals better than what any other company can teach you, in my opinion. But when I suggest pulling dry vans for a year first, that’s got nothing to do with offloading chemicals, that’s all about driving the truck. For instance, when you crest a hill and start back down, momentum builds incredibly fast. It needs to be second nature knowing how to slow your truck down so that you don’t have to smoke the brakes to get it back to a safe speed. That’s just one scenario where tankers differ from hauling other types of freight; there are many others. I would like to see the behind-the-wheel-time extended for newbies fresh out of school. There’s just so many things to think about pulling tankers, with the offloading of the chemicals, pre-tripping the trailer, making sure all of the valves are closed and secured properly, that I think those things in addition to driving the rig draw attention away from one another, leading to many preventable accidents/incidents. If you entered the bulk training with a year of driving anything else already under your belt, that’s one less thing to think about.

Bumping this. Totally agree.

We advise any new driver to not go tankers for their start. It will normally be too much extra to learn how to pull a tank with it's inherent characteristics of moving liquids and the counter actions while driving, turning, and stopping. Learn to drive a truck and trailer effectively and safely first, then perhaps broaden your horizons.

Pete is spot on in his comments. My company used to require 2 years driving experience before they would consider you. They moved it to 1 year some time ago. We also have a 10 day course for just teaching the tank everyone goes through. There is much more to tankers than driving. All tankers are not created equal and neither are the products.

I am currently on the dedicated Ecolab account. Have been for about 4 months now. It is based out of Joliet, IL. The tank wash (Quala) is less than a mile from the Ecolab in Joliet/Channahan, IL. What I like about this account is, every trailer we pick up is already preloaded at Ecolab. No live loads at all. We only haul corrosives such as acid and caustic. There are a few products that are not hazardous and do not require placards. No flammable liquids or ammonia, nothing that can explode or catch fire. Worse thing is, corrosives can damage your skin and eat metal.

The handling of tanker trailers can be a challenge as others have mentioned. It isn’t as bad when hauling a tanker that has multiple compartments. The single compartments are the worse. You will feel all the surge from the liquid that you are hauling. You have to make slow maneuvers as much as possible, don’t attempt to take off quickly after stopping. The liquid is always moving back and forward. It will feel like something slammed into the back of your trailer when coming to a stop. When it is really the liquid sloshing back and forth. Again, with multiple compartment trailers, the surge isn’t nearly as noticeable as a single compartment. You will get more trips with multiple compartment trailers than single compartment. There are 5 compartment trailers out there, I have yet to get one. You will mainly see 4 to 3 compartments and an occasional single compartment.

I had 9 months of driving a tractor trailer before switching to tankers. I enjoy it, more than gripping a steering wheel all day. The unloading process makes the days go by faster than driving all day.

You will need to wear the green rubber suit at 99% of your deliveries due to the corrosives. Summer is approaching, it does get sweaty even now with the temps not even that high

I would suggest swapping all of your 3 inch for 2 inch hoses. All of Ecolab customers connection lines are 2 inches. The 2 inch hoses are lighter and more flexible. We do not utilize our pumps at all. All unloading is done with the compressor. Why? The corrosives would eat the internal components of the pump alive.

Along with my $12k sign on bonus I make $1k a week after taxes and benefit deductions. Everyone take home is different based on your benefit selection and tax deductions. The week that I receive my sign on bonus payout my check is $1700 after tax and benefit deductions. If you qualified for a sign on bonus it will be paid out every 30 days.

I go as far west as Omaha, Nebraska which is only a few miles west of Iowa. Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and as far south as Kentucky. Some weeks I get home multiple times a night. 90% of the time I am done by Friday afternoon. Latest I got home was Saturday morning. You can come out on Sundays or Monday mornings, just let the DTL know. I did one late night delivery and one early morning delivery. I didn’t like it because the customers were lazy and wasted my time. I told my DTL and asked to never be placed on that run again. Haven’t been on it since then.

Most, if not all of our customers are dairy plants. They process milk, ice cream, butter, etc!

We don’t have to wait until the dirty tank that we drop off at the tank wash to be clean. You drop it off and go back to Ecolab and get your preloaded trailer.

Hope I helped

Does anyone on where ever been a Schneider dedicated hazmat/tanker driver? I'm trying to get what people think who have been on the position. I have a conditional officer for their hazmat/tanker dedicated account for ECOLAB.