Life As An Oil Rig Driver!

Your going to get a lot of off road experience driving to the Oil well sights with the Frac sand. I drive a Frac Gell (Guar) tanker out of Chicago, and have delivered onsite to ND, Wyoming, CO, OH, WV, and PA. (check my pictures) The western states are easy compared to the eastern states (except form the MN & ND Blizzards) . Went to Wellsboro PA in the winter and even after chaining up, couldn't get up that winding gravel road in the snow, had to bob tail up the small mountain with them pulling my tanker up with a bulldozer. scary at first, but after a while you will have a skill that you won't get OTR

Max what is the starting pay out there for a new driver?

Typically in the oil fields the pay method is either hourly or a percentage pay of whatever the truck makes. Both of those even out over time. Percentage guys take typically anywhere from 23% to 31% pay home. All this of course depends on experience, where, and what you haul. Oil drivers get paid more then water and sand guys. By the hour is typically anywhere from 25-40 an hour depending on the factors mentioned above. Most guys take home 70 to 150k at the end of the year. All this depends on how much you work, experience, what, and where you haul. you also have to factor in that you will pay a bunch for housing. For example in Minot, ND an apartment with a roommate will run you 800-1000 bucks each. flights to and from home to work can also be several 100 to a thousand bucks for a round trip. Both of those expenses are not covered by the company. Shifts range anywhere from the most common is 4 weeks on 1 week off, they also have 2 weeks on 2 weeks off, 2 weeks on 1 week off and rarely you will find a 3 week on 2 week off shift. during that you are either 5 days on 2 days off or 6 days on 1 day off. 12 hour shifts.

So all of these factor into your pay. But as a fresh driver with no experience you can expect to be close to the bottom of both of those scales. if you work hard and a lot you can take home 100K plus in a year.

For obvious reason i dont really want to disclose my exact pay over a public forum on the internet. but if you want to send me a PM i will talk to you about what im getting paid. i hope this helped you but above is the range you can expect. remember if your paid by the hour everything over 40 is time and a half pay. so that 25 an hour turns into 42.5 an hour after 40. and when your working 60-70 hour shifts in a week it adds up real fast.

Your going to get a lot of off road experience driving to the Oil well sights with the Frac sand. I drive a Frac Gell (Guar) tanker out of Chicago, and have delivered onsite to ND, Wyoming, CO, OH, WV, and PA. (check my pictures) The western states are easy compared to the eastern states (except form the MN & ND Blizzards) . Went to Wellsboro PA in the winter and even after chaining up, couldn't get up that winding gravel road in the snow, had to bob tail up the small mountain with them pulling my tanker up with a bulldozer. scary at first, but after a while you will have a skill that you won't get OTR

From what i hear they love the sand for the oil rigs out of Chicago.. supposed to be the best sand for fracking.

Thanks, that helps out. Hourly sounds like a good option.

Thanks, that helps out. Hourly sounds like a good option.

They are both pretty dang even.. One is not necessarily better then the other. at the end of the year an hourly guy will get paid as much as the percentage guy. the only real difference is an hourly guy can expect a more even paycheck for the whole year. where a percentage guys goes up and down depending on weather availability of freight and so on. at the end of the year though their W-2s will pretty much have the same number.

Its more about getting your foot in the door. dont refuse to work because they pay by percentage instead of by the hour. especially as a new driver when your options are very limited when it comes to this type of trucking.

Way ta go Max and Weatherman! This is going to be a big week, hunh? Max, I assume your BP is down too. Keep up the good work, however you're handling that. This is all great news. We're like members of the class of July 28th! I just found out yesterday that one of my classmates from CDL school will also be joining Con-way, in the same training class as me so keep your fingers crossed for a friend of mine I call "Paisan!" (They're still waiting on his background check to be complete, so he'll hopefully be able to start on Tuesday).

That's cool Max, that you're just picking up and going to PA. I wanted to do the same thing you're doing, in the oil fields in Colorado but as it turns out, Con-way Freight actually pays more than the frac driver jobs I've applied to. When I was 14 I took a summer trip from PA to Arizona to a summer camp in Mayer and fell in love with the desert. I ended up going back there for college ...never moved back home. You will be making the opposite journey. It's very pretty there but quite a different kind of beauty from what you're used to. You'll be at or close to sea level but the humidity will surprise you a bit. Just remember to stay hydrated because even at 70'F you'll be sweating buckets until you get used to all the water in the air. And I'm sorry, but it doesn't cool off at night, like you're used to. However, you might still get there in time to see the fireflies at night. They are somethin' else. Some call them fireflies, some call them lighting bugs. Either way, they're precious.

Anyway, this is a very exciting week, indeed!

-mountain girl

Weatherman, I look forward to hear how you like Roehl as I am seriously considering them once I finish CDL school. Good luck and let us know how things are going!

-Jolie

Jolie, apply to Roehl now and get a pre-hire letter from them, if at all possible. You can't get pre-hires after school, so get one before or during. You will be so glad you did. If you don't know how to get a pre-hire letter, all you do is apply online and where it asks you if you have your CDL you just say, "no" but wherever it's possible in the application, let them know you plan on getting it. Follow up with a phone call after 48 hrs, if they haven't called you by then, they'll give you an informal phone interview, and you ask them for a pre-hire letter. It speeds things up after school. I didn't go with The May Company but I did get a pre-hire letter from them and when I was finished with school, I called them back and their attitude was like, "Okay. We have you on file. When would you like to come to our 3-day orientation and start working for us?" It was so easy. I just couldn't go OTR but it was pretty cool, how well I was treated with that pre-hire letter already lined up.

-mountain girl

MG, they're called lightning bugs - you should know that ... And what are you doing trying to scare the gentleman from AZ off w/ your warning of PA humidity?

Unfortunately Max, it's true. It might cool off a tad at night, depending on where you are in PA, but that blasted humidity is awful. You'll get out of the shower and instantly sweat.

Weatherman, I look forward to hear how you like Roehl as I am seriously considering them once I finish CDL school. Good luck and let us know how things are going!

-Jolie

Jolie, apply to Roehl now and get a pre-hire letter from them, if at all possible. You can't get pre-hires after school, so get one before or during. You will be so glad you did. If you don't know how to get a pre-hire letter, all you do is apply online and where it asks you if you have your CDL you just say, "no" but wherever it's possible in the application, let them know you plan on getting it. Follow up with a phone call after 48 hrs, if they haven't called you by then, they'll give you an informal phone interview, and you ask them for a pre-hire letter. It speeds things up after school. I didn't go with The May Company but I did get a pre-hire letter from them and when I was finished with school, I called them back and their attitude was like, "Okay. We have you on file. When would you like to come to our 3-day orientation and start working for us?" It was so easy. I just couldn't go OTR but it was pretty cool, how well I was treated with that pre-hire letter already lined up.

-mountain girl

I have 4 prehire letters so far and have a few other companies I am going to look in to. A few I know I am definitely not interested in because they make you drive as a team after training, and frankly I have been alone too long to be forced to live in such a small space with a stranger for months on end. My friends are finally coming around to (or maybe just resigned at this point) the reality that I am going to do this. More things are getting done as I begin to wrap up at my current job....except telling my boss I am leaving. I want to be approved for WIA funds and have a start date before I tackle that one!

MG, they're called lightning bugs - you should know that ... And what are you doing trying to scare the gentleman from AZ off w/ your warning of PA humidity?

Unfortunately Max, it's true. It might cool off a tad at night, depending on where you are in PA, but that blasted humidity is awful. You'll get out of the shower and instantly sweat.

-6 string rhythm

What was that all about? Tell me I'm scaring him (pthlthlthl) and then turn around and say, "Oh yeah, Man. By the way, it's true."

Not cool.

-mountain girl