re: Hot Shot driving

Ah, so you can't pick and choose your loads? What about with someone like Acme? If you say "no" once you are blacklisted?

I'm driving right now in some pretty shitty weather but when I stop I'll post here. This is the industry I work in so I can offer some pointers. Where are you located?

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I'm driving right now in some pretty shitty weather but when I stop I'll post here. This is the industry I work in so I can offer some pointers. Where are you located?

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Thanks. 40 miles north of Baton Rouge. I'm also in the heart of the emerging Tuscaloosa Marine Shale oil play.

Was driving down to Grand Isle and the weather was shite but this is what I do for a living, mainly dispatch/brokerage stuff, not actually driving. Though I have often considered leasing on and running on weekends for some spare $$. Working full time you should easily do $40k a year or more depending on your truck size. A standard pickup truck(what we refer to as a hot shot) is basically the bottom of the barrel, cheapest means of shipping small items we offer. Those guys will sometimes haul anything from a 5lb bucket of samples to 1000lb of tools.

I know you mentioned buying a new truck in a few months, do you intend that to be your personal vehicle? Reason for asking is the company I work for will not allow you to use the truck you lease on for hauling the kids/family around due to insurance purposes.

If you intend to go out and buy a truck for this specific job a one ton diesel flatbed is a good starting point. A minifloat (truck w/ gooseneck trailer) also makes good money as well however the company I work for requires atleast 3 years verifiable work experience pulling a trailer or (if I recall right) one year driving a hotshot or one ton before they'll allow you to step up to a minifloat. That's why I suggesting buying a one ton diesel with a flatbed that way if you decide you like it you can eventually add a hitch to the flatbed and buy a trailer(35-40ft gooseneck suggested) = higher pay.

The company I work for is not force-dispatch, other companies may be different. What a lot of terminals will do is if a driver is offered a load and turns it down he's rotated to the bottom of the board and won't be offered another until his turn comes up again. You can also put yourself out of service/off the board whenever you'd like.

With that being said it's a job that you can make money but you also have to be willing to work for it. If also can't be treated as a M-F 8-5 type of job as the oilfield is constantly working. When it's busy run as much as you possibly can because next week might be slow. I've seen so many drivers take good paying loads on a Monday and by Wednesday they're out of service because they're content. Only to be bitching next week about how they haven't hauled a load in 6 days and aren't making any money.

If you do decide to do this I'd also recommend getting your TWIC card(required at any port for delivery), a hazmat endorsement(any load hauling hazmat material like flamables, corrosives, etc pay an extra charge), and tanker endorsement. Any load hauling a vessel over 119 gallons with a capacity adding up to over 1000 gallons requires a tanker endorsement. We move a lot of chemicals in tote tanks. So for example two 550 gallon tote tanks can be within a oneton's weight range but would require a tanker endorsed driver.

If you have any questions just ask and I'll answer as best I can. Sorry if my post is a bit rambled.

I'd be willing to use a fellow OBer
I use Cody's or Anytime pretty regularly around BR

Assuming you have TWiC card?

FelicianaTigerfan


I'm so busted

Forgive me for stealing your thunder!

haha

On a serious note, my cousin and I have discussed this in the past, and I am interested in any info I can get.

I knew a guy that made one trip to Canada a month. I want to say his bring home pay was 5k.

Have not read responses,

Yes, you can make some money, especially if you know the logistics guy at a major port location.

My friend has asked me a few times to do it but I'm not interested at the moment.

Before you dive in and buy a truck I'd get with a few local companies to see if they're leasing trucks on and what's their requirements regarding experience and pulling a trailer. You'd hate to go out and buy equipment that you can't use. They'd also be able to tell you how to go about getting your TWIC/hazmat/etc.