Transport dry bulk cement, what's this job like?

Not bad, they pump it on, you pump it off, beats the devil of box freight.

 

I do it locally. I've also done it regionally. It's pretty easy, but not the cleanest work. If you're fussy about your truck looking pretty, you'll go insane pretty fast.

For me, the regional work was nice, only handling a load a day or so. But the pay was pretty low. I handle three loads locally now, and the money is much better.

Around here In central PA, the 230-430am timeframe seems to be the worst time to load cement. Long lines at the cement Mills are common in the summer, but with each truck loading in roughly 10 minutes, it goes fairly quick. That being said, an hour wait to get loaded is not out of the norm. If you're doing it locally, the bulkloaders at the cement Mills who actually load your truck can make or break you. Treat them good, and they'll usually try and keep the mess to a minimum. Give them a bit of trouble, and your truck gets covered in cement. Just last Friday, I went to one mill that I frequent, and the bulkloader and I don't really get along so well. We have a love hate relationship. He was in a bad mood and so was I. We were talking back and forth, the conversation wasn't polite by any means. And he overloaded me. 90000lbs. So I had to unload some, which consisted of driving through the mill, stuffing my truck between two buildings in a space barely big enough to get in, and unloading. Then go back out to the silos and sit in line to reweigh. I lost an hour of my day on that one, all because of the bulkloader not paying attention.

It's certainly not for everyone. We've had a handful of former OTR drivers that worked here since I've been here. Most don't last long at all. Some don't like the monotony of the daily grind, others can't stand being home everyday. Others, well, they just don't work out.

Cement work is seasonal around here, winters are usually pretty slow. So, you either take unemployment for a while. Or in our case, we haul lime to power plants. Which is only slightly better than unemployment. I prefer to take a month of unemployment when I can, and have a month to do whatever I want.

All in all though, it's not a bad gig. I usually work a 12 hour day, have a ten minute ride to work, and the boss doesn't bother me much. And the pay is pretty good.

 

Really great response!

 

Motion Seconded.

 

You learn to preload cement in the afternoon if you can get to the plant at all.

Start time 3 am or so to be at the plant give or take 250 miles radius for daily. Sometimes the start time is a little bit later and results in say 6 trucks going for 5 silos at Arlington Pentagon Ready mix. The first 5 will have the chance to deliver 5 or 6 loads that day for around 450 gross that day.

Taking care of a bulk tanker is a little bit of detail work and a whole lot of attention to the product. usually a hour or less on 12 pounds air to get rid of it.

Ive written about it in more detail before but you can plan on being trained for this and you need to learn it. It's worth your life to learn it because there are things you never do with them. Ever. For example you never go top of the tank trailer without verifying that the blow down valve is open and that the main tank pressure is zero.

Even today I can load up a tanker and go deliver the load despite almost 20 years not touching one. It's something that's hardcoded due to a excellent trainer back in the 80's It stays with you for life.

It's not that hard. And that as long you take it easy and routine you will be fine.