Down To The Short List
Topic 31988 | Page 1
That's one of the reasons this site even exists: sharing of experiences and opinions. Nothing on here is classified and nobody on here is an invisible sovereign citizen. Everyone's information is out there.
Fair enough:
I'm trying to decide between Schneider Bulk OTR , Tidewater Transit (which are also tanker/haz) and Howard Transportation. The latter are ofc smaller corporations and Tidewater is NC native so that's a plus for me and puts them at the top as of now.
Schneider has the general mega rep but from what I can gather from the chaff they're actually good at training.
Howard is also based in Dixie and smaller and sounds like they're good about home time.
Any war stories, anecdotes, general advice on larger vs smaller etc?
That's one of the reasons this site even exists: sharing of experiences and opinions. Nothing on here is classified and nobody on here is an invisible sovereign citizen. Everyone's information is out there.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Tankers are not recommended for rookie drivers. Not a fan of any company offering this to an unproven rookie.
Search on tanker and you’ll see a common theme. Tank surge… far more difficult and dangerous than vans, reefers or flatbed. Look at some of PJs posts on tanker… it’s a good start.
My advice is to look at something other than tanks… especially food grade which are smooth bore, unbaffled, causing the contents to be in constant state of moving, typically in a direction you do not want to go when stopping and cornering. Literally can slam you through an intersection, no exaggeration.
Baffle:
A partition or separator within a liquid tank, used to inhibit the flow of fluids within the tank. During acceleration, turning, and braking, a large liquid-filled tank may produce unexpected forces on the vehicle due to the inertia of liquids.Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
Travis, are you talking about dry bulk tankers? Liquid tankers = bad juju.
Liquid. I drove fuel tankers in the military so the surge isn't new to me although it's been a few years. Army was 0 manual transmissions too + too much time out so I had to do CDL school and the DMV exam to get my Class A.
Travis, are you talking about dry bulk tankers? Liquid tankers = bad juju.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
I have to agree with everyone. When I started driving I was with a chemical distributor and we pulled mostly dry freight vans but they had 2 dry bulk pneumatic tankers that we occasionally had to pull without any previous experience and I do not remember any kind of surge. So I assume it applies to liquid tankers especially the smooth bore tanks GTown referred to.
Fuel tankers are compartmentalized, less surge. Schneider is food grade; smooth bore.
Liquid. I drove fuel tankers in the military so the surge isn't new to me although it's been a few years. Army was 0 manual transmissions too + too much time out so I had to do CDL school and the DMV exam to get my Class A.
Travis, are you talking about dry bulk tankers? Liquid tankers = bad juju.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
Travis, I was at the Schneider operating center in Houston several years ago. Middle of summer, as hot as it is now. 100 degree plus. They have tanker training there and I met several guys in tanker training. They were all experienced drivers switching to the tanker division. Observing the training briefly, these guys were not dressed for hot weather. Full length pants, no short sleeves, helmet, full face shield, safety vest, gloves, steel toed work shoes (no flip flops, lol). The training was 3 weeks of intensive activity and then a very tough final test. As G-Town mentioned, I’m not sure new drivers are even allowed in tanker. I hope not, for everyone’s safety.
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Fuel tankers are compartmentalized, less surge. Schneider is good grade; smooth bore.
Liquid. I drove fuel tankers in the military so the surge isn't new to me although it's been a few years. Army was 0 manual transmissions too + too much time out so I had to do CDL school and the DMV exam to get my Class A.
Travis, are you talking about dry bulk tankers? Liquid tankers = bad juju.
Pretty sure G'Town meant FOOD grade. (Not saying that SNI isn't 'good grade' too, hahaha!)
Sorry!
~ Anne ~
Travis, I was at the Schneider operating center in Houston several years ago. Middle of summer, as hot as it is now. 100 degree plus. They have tanker training there and I met several guys in tanker training. They were all experienced drivers switching to the tanker division. Observing the training briefly, these guys were not dressed for hot weather. Full length pants, no short sleeves, helmet, full face shield, safety vest, gloves, steel toed work shoes (no flip flops, lol). The training was 3 weeks of intensive activity and then a very tough final test. As G-Town mentioned, I’m not sure new drivers are even allowed in tanker. I hope not, for everyone’s safety.
BK, when Tom hauled HOT & HAZ, I couldn't even go with. (Only 6122 and 3257 asphalt BASE was I allowed.) The other products; don't even know the placard #'s by heart like I did 'mine' ... He'd have to often wear a 'Zuit Suit' and a respirator thingy. Yep, there's pix, somewhere. Pianoman & I were discussing that 'suit' in one of HIS threads, not long ago.
Remember that thread, re: HIS new gig? He's got a few years in, tho. Pianoman/Tanks!
Now, this pneumatic/dry bulk tanker gig that Pianoman is running, seems sweet! Remember, he's been driving for .. what ... 6 years now? Started with Swift, IIRC. AFW was another, and SystemTransport (flatbed) most recent, until this one.
~ Anne ~
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
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I've whittled prospective jobs down to a short list and was wondering if anyone would be willing to discuss them with me. Don't wanna blast the info on a public forum so I put my # in my profile. I'm on telegram, WhatsApp and Signal as well as available for regular SMS/text.
Appreciate anyone's input and advice
SAP:
Substance Abuse Professional
The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.