Running on Fumes in North Dakota

[EE_]

What a miserable place and miserable way to make a living.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO9eLksDv6k

[Shami-Amourae]

Jeez, talk about an anti-Capitalist slant.

[SWRichmond]

OK she's unskilled but she "wants a good job". What is she doing to get one? "No one wants a girlfriend, they just want sex". Is she looking for a sugar daddy (husband)? Is she doing anything about using her current cash flow to get a skill that would translate into a better job than driving a truck? Is she "owed" a better job, and waiting for someone to come along and give her what she deserves? If she spends the rest of her years as unskilled labor she is not going to get a "good job".

I do admire her wanting to work.

[EE_]

OK she's unskilled but she "wants a good job". What is she doing to get one? "No one wants a girlfriend, they just want sex". Is she looking for a sugar daddy (husband)? Is she doing anything about using her current cash flow to get a skill that would translate into a better job than driving a truck? Is she "owed" a better job, and waiting for someone to come along and give her what she deserves? If she spends the rest of her years as unskilled labor she is not going to get a "good job".

I do admire her wanting to work.

Trucking used to be a good paying job...until Mexico relocated to the US.

Ya gotta give her credit for making the move and having the desire to work.

Maybe she should have stayed in CA and squirted out a bunch of babies like the rest that don't want to work. Uncle Sugar would have taken good care of her.

Still, it looks like a miserable place and I think these guys are beating their brains out in a terrible harsh enviroment to make their money.

[Hitch]

I always thought if things got bad enough, job wise, it'd drive my RV out there and work. For the adventure of it, looks miserable though.

I do admire her for her willingness to work. What I find strange is that she's alone thinking all men just want sex. There seems to be tons of singe guys out there. She's cute, seems friendly, I would have thought she'd have her pick of dudes there. Maybe she's one of those gals who don't notice the nice decent men, and always pick the wrong ones.

[midnight rambler]

Day-um, diesel there is $4.36/gal! Big Oil is exploiting it coming and going!

[palani]

She clearly has given up the superior position of womanhood for mere equality. Helen Reddy should be proud.

[Horn]

All she needs is some M&Ms, a pedicure, and some gossip with other female trucker friends.

[EE_]

All she needs is some M&Ms, a pedicure, and some gossip with other female trucker friends.

"other female trucker friends'
It sounds funny when you put it like that. lol

[Tumbleweed]

I checked in to the truck driving jobs in ND last spring before it started raining. They were saying you could make eight the ten thousand a month and the companies would find a place for you to live. All I had to do was tell a few people I was thinking about going up there and drive truck and I had several wanting to hire me. It rained and I was able to stay in the cattle business so I didn't have to go up to that shit hole and live there.

[palani]

I didn't have to go up to that shit hole and live there.
I'm sure it is the people there that make it a shit hole. Take away the people and I don't doubt but that this area of the country is no different from any other.

[osoab]

OK she's unskilled but she "wants a good job". What is she doing to get one? "No one wants a girlfriend, they just want sex". Is she looking for a sugar daddy (husband)? Is she doing anything about using her current cash flow to get a skill that would translate into a better job than driving a truck? Is she "owed" a better job, and waiting for someone to come along and give her what she deserves? If she spends the rest of her years as unskilled labor she is not going to get a "good job".

I do admire her wanting to work.

I would add that she is taking no responsibility for her past actions leading her to this point in her life. I would bet she contacted the NY Times to do the piece on female truckers in N.D.

[osoab]

All she needs is some M&Ms, a pedicure, and some gossip with other female trucker friends.

Don't forget her teevee. That makes her happy.

[Dogman]

I worked the south Louisianan oil boom in the mid to late 70's and if you did not have a needed trade, you were screwed in many ways, most that flooded the area looking for work did find jobs as labor. (At the time people were moving to south La from all over the country because there were no jobs any where else.) Welder/fitters ruled as far as workers, I did good as a ship fitter/pipe liner/rig mover, and keeping some shell dredges in the bay from sinking.

But if you did not have a marketable skill, you were out of luck tho there was some training as helpers that some got a foothold in one of the trades.

I do remember several camps that unskilled workers were housed, they were dam near slave labor so far as getting ahead.

Edit: I think Horder may have been in the area tho he may be one of the late comers during that time working out in the gulf.

Horder, I worked diamond M drilling, mcdermott drilling/pipe lineing, service machine and shipbuilding plus rig fabricators and Radcliffe materials which had the shell dredge all as a welder/fitter. FyI

[Horn]

Don't forget her teevee. That makes her happy.

That's right she mentioned something about a flatscreen in there, didn't she?

Mine blew up a month ago, and I can't get a guarantee that it will even work after ordering a $150 motherboard for it.

What a hell i am in!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mQSf4QOwxw

[govcheetos]

No offense, but she's dumb as shit.

It's hard as hell to make an actual living running a Hot Shot rig these days.

Especially if you're inexperienced.

Especially if you're by yourself.

Especially if you have any kind of distance between drops.

Especially if you plan on doing everything "right".

Especially if you're in the freaking Dakotas.

The DOT rules alone will let you make just enough to go broke.


Nobody pays my benefits, nobody pays my insurance, nobody provides my housing, I don't have a flat screen, and I have to clip my own toe nails, so cry me a river.

[zap]

Quote from govcheese ; Nobody pays my benefits, nobody pays my insurance, nobody provides my housing, I don't have a flat screen, and I have to clip my own toe nails, so cry me a river.

I agree.... and dam it I am going to have to get one of those pedicures, manicures and massages, over and over my friends tell me they are getting these things, maybe one of these days I will splurge.....

Maybe that's why I have a pot to piss in, and I'm not living paycheck to paycheck?

[Stop Making Cents]

Didnt watch the video but i will say this. I used to be a rush limbaugh indoctrinated capitalist cheerleader. But now i can see how the elites and corporations have tried to convince the little people to believe in a capitalist dog eat dog world while they practice everything but - from socialism to cronyism to monopoly to oligarchy. This is exactly what the elites want - to have the working men and women fighting over the scraps like dogs. I bet they have a good laugh amongst themselves when they add another 10 million unskilled illegals to the labor pool or open up more free trade to put more pressure on American workers or when they let mexican truck drivers haul products in the us stealing jobs from american truckers. Wake the fuck up. They're trying to turn us into virtual slaves where we only make enough to pay for the bare necessities and a tv to keep us docile.

[palani]

They're trying to turn us into virtual slaves where we only make enough to pay for the bare necessities and a tv to keep us docile.

I don't believe TPTB really care one way or another on the issue unless you approach one of them asking for a loan in which case your life becomes an open book (literally).

[EE_]

A real shithole. Anytime you hear someone say to go to ND if you can't find work...punch them in the nose!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBcYIL40cms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAiHvGnKPVw

[palani]

A real shithole.

$900 a month to park an RV? Does that sound really terrible? That is $30 a nite. I doubt if you can find a KOA anywhere in the nation that charges less than $50 for short term. Six years ago I met some folks camping out at the KOA in S Padre Island paying $300 a month to pitch a tent and they had been there for several years. That was the LONG TERM rate.

[hoarder]

I see a lot of opportunity up there. If I was ambitious like I used to be I'd find ways to provide housing for them. Maybe bring in mobile homes from other locations, start a shipping container conversion company elsewhere and sell/rent them in Williston.
Years ago I stayed in a country motel in Wyoming and it was made by a mobile home company. Each mobile was about 6 units. If someone started a company making them a few hundred miles away and shipped them to Williston, he'd make a bundle.

[woodman]

A friend of mine works in Elkhart, Indiana, making units for North Dakota. He is on overtime and paid very well. He says these are going as fast as they can make them. They can be dumped off the end of a truck and ready to go. They are making them for the companies up there who use them to house their people. built like brick shit-houses. Double occupancy units and the companies will charge their workers plenty to use them. They can be hosed clean. He tells me that even to park your truck anywhere near the worksite will cost you, say you have a truck camper. A worker might make a hundred thou a year up there, but a good share of that is going back to the 'company store'.

[Horn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAiHvGnKPVw

Sounds like its at maximum capacity, the boom appears restricted in some constructive fashion.

If it were fully open, permanent housing would be available overnight, and cheap.

[Shami-Amourae]

I see a lot of opportunity up there. If I was ambitious like I used to be I'd find ways to provide housing for them. Maybe bring in mobile homes from other locations, start a shipping container conversion company elsewhere and sell/rent them in Williston.
Years ago I stayed in a country motel in Wyoming and it was made by a mobile home company. Each mobile was about 6 units. If someone started a company making them a few hundred miles away and shipped them to Williston, he'd make a bundle.

The only way I'd go there is to be a shovel seller, not a Gold miner.

What I mean is sell stuff to these workers, but not actually BE a worker. Landlords are making a KILLING right now in Williston. Those are the smartest ones it seems.

[hoarder]

Informative article:

http://www.businessinsider.com/youve-never-seen-anything-like-the-williston-oil-boom-2012-3?op=1

[mick silver]

dam i know were some of those fema campers are , i bet i could get a real good price for them if i had them there . what you say hoarder

[hoarder]

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/38/38105.html

http://www.city-data.com/city/Williston-North-Dakota.html

I can think of worse places to live......like just about ANY major U.S. city.

[General of Darkness]

Let me be the first to say.

http://erratika.com/imgstore/el_3817.jpg

[palani]

If someone started a company making them a few hundred miles away and shipped them to Williston, he'd make a bundle.
Maybe I ought to dust off my plans to make a 'sport-tel' .. a modular two story 8-plex with four apartments on the first floor and four on the second floor. Each apartment has access to a central common area, has a living/dining room with kitchenette, a john with shower and bunk beds in a separate room that can sleep 4 people. From the outside they look like a duplex. The idea is to plant them in the area of snow mobile or ski areas, fishing hotspots and the like. These would work pretty well in a work environment to keep costs low.

[osoab]

The only way I'd go there is to be a shovel seller, not a Gold miner.

What I mean is sell stuff to these workers, but not actually BE a worker. Landlords are making a KILLING right now in Williston. Those are the smartest ones it seems.

Food truck would make a killing. Go motel to hotel to campground and then sneak into the company camps.

[hoarder]

They don't mind burning the lights in Williston.

[Horn]

They don't mind burning the lights in Williston.

Wow huh, what's all that about?

When viewed in Google Satellite it looks tiny with farm space around it.

[palani]

Those would probably be the natural gas flares being burned off at each wellhead.

[hoarder]

Those would probably be the natural gas flares being burned off at each wellhead.I don't know if that's legal on land. When I worked offshore they allowed us something like 2 MCF per incident IIRC, which isn't much.

[palani]

I don't know if that's legal on land. When I worked offshore they allowed us something like 2 MCF per incident IIRC, which isn't much.
One one of those videos the guy remarks about some wilderness area that is surrounded by gas burn off and that it pretty much ruined the back country nature of wilderness.

[hoarder]

Wow huh, what's all that about?

When viewed in Google Satellite it looks tiny with farm space around it.Drilling rigs and production facilities typically have many thousand watts of lighting at night.

[Horn]

Drilling rigs and production facilities typically have many thousand watts of lighting at night.

Upon closer inspection you can see each patch has its own rig in it... amazing that amount of light.

5961

[mick silver]

what do they have to power all thoses lights , are did the elec company put in power lines to the sites

[hoarder]

what do they have to power all thoses lights , are did the elec company put in power lines to the sitesWhen I worked offshore, I maintained large natural gas powered Waukesha engines with Lima or Kato generators that powered everything in 3 phase 480 VAC. Completion and construction used large diesels. On land they would use either diesel generators or power lines if feasible. If power available is single phase 240 they would probably use phase converters.

[Glass]

Fastest moving state in the new Millionaire stakes:


1 In 20 US Households Has Over A Million In Assets: This Is Where They Are:

Bernanke may be printing the wealth effect to the benefit of the richest 1%, but that only serves to make the already wealthiest even wealthier. When it comes to the creation of new millionaire households, the epicenter of new wealth creation is about as far from Wall Street, West Putnam Avenue or Rodeo Drive as can be. In fact, the state that saw the fastest climb up in millionaire rankings in 2013 doesn't have a single Tiffany or Saks Fifth Avenue, and the closest BMW dealership is a six-hour drive from the capital (stats which are guaranteed to change by the end of the year). Presenting North Dakota: the state which jumped 14 spots in the latest ranking of millionaire households.

Per the WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/01/16/where-are-the-u-s-s-millionaires/?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth), which crunched the the numbers released by Phoenix Marketing International, there were 53,000 more millionaire households in 2013 compared to the year before. "About 6.15 million millionaire households are spread across the U.S., according to the report. That means 1 in every 20 households in the U.S. has more than $1 million in investable assets. Those figures don’t include the value of real estate."

As expected, the top of the overall millionaire households per capita rankings didn’t change much. Maryland was No. 1 for the third consecutive year, with 7.7% of households holding more than $1 million in assets. New Jersey, Connecticut and Hawaii followed. Those four states, in various orders, have led the rankings every year since 2006. The complete breakdown is shown on the map below.

In 2012, North Dakota ranked 43rd, one spot behind Alabama. Last year, it moved up to 29th, one ahead of Florida. North Dakota’s energy boom, especially in the Bakken shale region, is driving the state’s wealth gains.


The main difference, however, between North Dakota and other states: 'its people in the oil patch aren’t about to flaunt it. “The only way you know a Bakken millionaire is he’ll be driving a new truck and might have taken his wife on vacation,” said Kelvin
link to ZH story (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-18/1-20-us-households-has-over-million-assets-where-they-are)