yeah, that is true, but then you have paid twice for something that you had in the first place, but it is all up to that person, and what they think they want to do.

 

I'm not a trucker, but like smokestack, and from what I've read, if you have them it looks like you'll get big bucks and someday soon might be able to name your own price for hauling hazmat.

Turn about's fair play...stick it to 'em.

 

Actually you will get paid just the same. Maybe a penny or two more per mile but nothing really noticeable.

As for naming your own price.....

you've been to priceline.com have'nt you?

That maybe, but with all the competition out there someone will come along, cut your rate and take your freight away.
Been like that for years & it won't change because of tighter regs. I would say that about 80% of CDL drivers out there have hazmat. I don't have it & won't get it. Don't need it to haul steel, lumber, or sheetrock & that is what I primarily haul.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Nice to see what folks from different parts of the country have to say.

Looking trough the rules it appears I am safe keeping my X endorsement until it expires in 2008. Then I will have to decide weather I will keep it or not. I really doubt that you will be able to name your price for keeping it in the future. With the south of the border truckers coming in at a low price on trucking in general. The industry will probably not have to raise the price to much for drivers to haz haul.

Here is a break down of the new tax in my state to keep a hazmat endorsement.
FBI fingerprint check. 24.00
DPS instate background check. 10.00
Threat assessment fee. 36.00
State MVD collection fee 55.00
grand total. 125.00

So every 4yrs if I keep my hazmat I will have to pay a 125.00 tax that proves that I am not a terrorist.
I wonder if the terrorist are going to have valid endorsements?

 

Don't forget, any money out of your pocket for work related expences are tax deductable. So if you don't get paid back by your company, you can write the cost of your endorsement & actually your CDL license off on taxes. Hell you can even write paper towels off on taxes, you gotta have a clean windshield inside & out.

 

I have every endorsement avaliable in my state, including passenger and motorcycle. I have been this way since the license was changed from a chauffer to commercial many years ago. I WILL NOT renew my hazmat when it comes up for renewal next year. I have a problem with all the intrusion into my life, including fingerprints, just to be able to haul a product that is more hassle than it is worth.

When your truck is placarded you are like a bullseye to the DMV enforcement. Unless you are hauling for a full time munitions carrier, or something like that, you will not make enough extra to be worth the trouble. Most companies want you to have the endorsement "just in case" they can only find a hazmat load for a back haul.

Except for when I hauled gas and kerosene for several years, I have only had one hazmat load on a box. Every company wanted me to have the endorsement, at my expense, "just in case". Well now I am getting old, independent, and cranky, and only drive part time, so they can "kiss my just in case".

If a company wants a hazmat endorsement that bad, then they don't need me. In the end the company charges a lot more for the hazmat freight, then gives the driver little or no more money for delivering it. The drivers and owner-operators always get the shaft in the trucking business.

For 30 years off and on I have delt with this crap. From regular tags to apportioned. From 500 decals and stickers to an IFTA decal. From 2 day to 4 day trips to 2 to 4 weeks out, then 2 or 3 days off. Satellite tracking, CDL's. From "call me when you get there" to pre-planned routes. From hub miles to HHG miles, where you get shafted out of about 20% of your pay a week.

Everything keeps increasing in price, but you are gracioulsy given a penny here and there to make up for it. BULL CRAP. I have had enough. They can all "kiss my just in case".

Boy, am I in a bad mood. I get this way every time I think about what trucking had come down to from when I first started. Back when drivers would stop and help you when you had trouble. When I actually had fun driving and made friends all over the country.

I have always been lied to, cheated out of money, and treated like dirt at times. It's just a lot worse now.

I better quit now, before this whole post is pulled, for the more I type, the more mad I get.

 

yardbird I'm going to guess you're about my age ( 54 ) . I too had 30yr. as both company driver and O/O and I agree with you 150% ! I "retired" in 2002 and allthough I miss the life ( gets in your blood ) I don't miss the BS ! I have kept my CDL just in case but am uncertain about keeping the H endorsment .
It seems the whole industry is going down the tube ! When I started in '72 it was a different world , drivers got respect and the pay was very good . Now the pay sucks and nobody wants trucks or truck drivers in thier town !

 

I am sorry that you have had all those prob. I havent yet and I have been in it about 17yrs, but not everyone is that lucky, or unlucky and I did get lucky enough to be paid twice what I was making because of the hazmat endorsment. No matter what the case, it is all up to what that person thinks, and I respect what you had to say about that I know that there are a lot of cases where people have had that problem. Have a better day tomorrow.

 

Hey smokestack , I'm glad your experiences are positive , you didn't say if you're a company driver or an O/O ? Don't get me wrong , I loved being a Driver / O/O , it just seems that every year there is more regulations to follow , more taxes to pay . higher prices for fuel and insurance and the pay just isn't keeping pace !There are alot of reasons and no one person or one thing is to blame . I do think that an H endorsment will garner a pay increase in the future , but not many companies pay more for one now . There are a lot of changes taking place in the trucking industry , some good and some not so good . In the end I think trucking will end up being more regulated than it was before deregulation ! This may end up being like the CDL when it was implemented , a lot of drvers "said" they were quiting ( a few did ) and the govornment "said" it would weed out the BAD truck drivers ( it didn't ) and now we have drivers saying they will drop the H endorsment and the govornment saying that we will all be safer ! And some how I think after all the HYPE is over things will be about like they were before the new regs .

 

Hello,

My wife and I both drive otr with the haz-mat endorsement. The company we work for now hauls the stuff from time to time. We live in WV and we have the increases to get or renew that. We have worked for companys that require it and some that don't. You never know what life has in store for you , I have droped my endordement in the past and when I needed to go get it again, I was reminded how hard it was to try and remember all that I had studied. I would keep it and pay the cost, something you may nt know but you can claim that cost on your taxes as a deduction.