Wilco Hess (Tanker)

I'm not sure on Wilco Hess, being I'm from Ohio, but from what I hear they are OK. I know in some areas of the country they contract with the likes of Keenan Advantage.
Hauling gas is no more scarier than anything else. You do need to be more aware of your surroundings. I felt little "sloshing" as most tanks are manifolded and compartmentalized. Take things a little slower, be more aware and you should be fine.
I think it is OK for a woman if you don't mind work. The hoses can be heavy, especially when you are walking out 20 ft. filled with fuel. Lots of bending, lifting, wrestling hoses, etc. If your in a cold, snowy area in the winter it is harder as things freeze. If you work nights some of the places may be a little scary.
Good side to pulling gas is being home everyday. I got paid well. You load yourself, unload yourself. You don't have to wait for some fat guy on a forklift to finish his double quarter pounder to get loaded/unloaded.
Bad side, going into stations in bad neighborhoods. Gas stations are made for cars, not trucks. SPILLS SUCK!
TWIC card is because the pipelines are connected underground to the ports eventually down the line. Marathon runs under maritime laws. So gas companies took to the TWIC for the port/ extra background check.
Hauling gas was the greatest job I had. The company I was with laid me off and I think is in bad shape. Other companies around me are so slow and volumes are down they are not hiring. I will go back to it ASAP.

 

How did you get to apply with wilco? I called them months ago several time and never could get them to call me back

 

Hess used to be an okay company. I never worked for them - I hauled gas for 14.5 years for one of the other common carriers. There's always a danger, but that's life! I loved hauling gas! It was great! It is a challenge, due to the material hauled, the weight of the hoses (both loading and unloading) and the tight areas found in a lot of the delivery points. As a woman gas hauler, I had to always be the best! You will always have to keep alert and work twice as hard as any of your male co-workers. Just a fact of life!!

Any rate, good luck! It's a great job!

 

Hess is a very good company. The first thing you have to do is put the hollywood aspect out of the job. Gasoline tankers do not just explode. You have to learn about the properties of gasoline and do and don'ts.

The only way a tanker will burn is if there's air mixed into the fuel. So you take steps to prevent that. When you unload you make sure your vapor is hooked up so your tank is vapor rich and when you load you make sure your compartment is product rich. It's funny because if you think about it the vapors are never released except back at the loading facility. You'll learn that on the job. Just don't let any slob tell you you don't need vapor so you can unload faster.

Our trucks all had air actuated valves so you couldn't unload unless everything was hooked up. The internals wouldn't open unless the vapor hose was connected.

There's a few tips you always have to know. Always remember what's behind you in the tanks. Defensive driving plays a huge roll here because like I said before you don't need air mixed with the product. So watch out for the other guy. Get into a routine when you load and unload and stick to it. Complacency is our worse enemy. If you have doubts about unloading stop and go check with the store manager, never ever guess. Take your time, the company pays you to operate safetly. Double and triple check all you tags, valves, and the amount in each compartment, and what product it is. Don't put too much worry into surge you don't have it with gasoline tankers. You should have 4 or 5 compartments and each one of those have baffles and bulkheads so you just don't fell it that much. Nothing compared to a smooth bore tanker.

We've had a few women drivers at my company and some have turn out to be real good drivers. The hoses are not heavy if you do them right. Hopefully you'll be lucky and have a site glass on you down spout so you can see when the product runs off. When it's done close the internals and unhook the hose. Roll the hose so the product runs into the storage tank. Then you have a light hose to load back onto the truck. If you have a pump truck, that's a truck that can pump out the product from the storage tank, you might have the black suction hoses and they are heavy but again if you can roll them it's alot easier on your back.

I won't say I've never had a spill but I will say I had it cleaned up before anyone knew. We had absorbent packs that could hold alot of gallons. Never did any of my spills reach a distance of 15 feet from the fill but you have to be quick. And I've only have a couple. The worse was when a cam lock broke at the fill point the the product was running full force. The hose along with the fitting jump about 4 feet in the air with gasoline going everywhere. But you'll be trained and it's a challenge to make the next day safer than the one before.