I am curious as to how well the non O.D. flatbeds are doing at ATS right now. Im interested in coming to ATS but i'd rather not do O.D. and stick to just normal flatbed stuff.

I use to goto lots of places with my other company and load with ATS flatbedders so that'd be cool if i could come there and haul the same stuff i use to.

Also do they push you to get into O.D.? i know they have classes and if you've never done O.D. you start out at the bottom and get worked up but im assuming you can just tell them you don't want to do O.D.?

I know you make more money with O.D. and thats the way you should go but O.D. doesn't interest me in the least bit.

Thanks for any info.

__________________
Horsepower is an illusory mathematical equation, torque is real and the source of all good things in the universe.

Read my posts. I am a class 4 driver which is the lowest classification.

As an O/P or L/P you are given load offers. Sometimes just one, sometimes many. In almost every case, it will tell you if it is OD or not. Rarely, a mistake is made or you will get to the load and measure it and it OD unknow to anyone until that time. If you don't want an OD load, don't select it. If you don't want to go into NYC don't select it.

By doing this, you are limiting yourself. You have to realize that as a O/O or L/O you are running a business. As a L/O you have your truck lease payment. Regardless of a settlement or not you still have to make the truck payment. The same goes for not having a TWIC, Passport, having a pet, refusing to go certain places, wanting to go home all the time, and I'm sure I'll get into trouble, having your wife, girlfriend or kids along.

To illustrate why I wouldn't have the wife/girlfriend along, I was loading today with another ATS driver. His girlfriend was with him, I found out she had been out with him for the last three months.

I arrived after him, well after him. I hooked to my trailer and secured my load before he finished. I went over to visit with him. While we were talking, his girlfriend was rolling up his excess straps. I noticed when he got to each strap, he had to unroll it and reroll it. I have been at the consignee for two hours, he is just rolling in. Leave the girlfriend at home.

The way they used to run me the only way a girlfriend would be helpful is if she could drive.

O.D. is always pushed on you. Once you have been around a while they assume you can pull any O.D load under 12' wide which is the majority of their O.D. freight. They will make you one load offer if the O.D. load needs to be loaded on a Friday to get it out. The system they use of offering you freight is strictly for their advantage. Otherwise they would post on the internet.

Thanks for the replies.

I kinda figured they would want you to do O.D. The main reason i hate doing it is because of all the #### you have to go through. I've hauled O.D. before and hated stopping and going into every single weigh station to let them look at all your paperwork then come outside and inspect your load, then having to drive specific routes that just consume time, then having to drive during daylight only.

I know it sounds like ######## but i drive nights, i hate driving during the day, and i hate dealing with DOT officers because if they look at your paperwork then come look at your load theres always something with one or the other there gonna not like and ##### about or tell you it's wrong at the least if not write a ticket.

It's just so much easier to haul normal freight. I realise they want me to take it, it pays more, and im running a business and need to take the high dollar loads, but theres plenty of guys out there who make it without O.D. im sure.

I believe i can make it. I am young, i don't have a family to feed, no house to pay for, etc. The only thing im sweating is making my truck payment every week, and putting food in my mouth at the end of the day.

The only thing thats really holding me back is, im wondering about fuel prices. The last company i was with we had tons of L/O's and when the fuel went sky high so many people turned their trucks in because they couldn't pay for the fuel and truck and make it that the company dropped the L/O program all together because it was costing them huge money.

I always hear about and see these L/O programs with fuel caps etc, etc which i know has gotta be wrong and a joke if the fuel prices go up and these guys can't make it. The only thing i don't wanna do is waste a bunch of time and money trying to go L/O and have the fuel get jacked up and im back at square one looking to go company driver.

__________________
Horsepower is an illusory mathematical equation, torque is real and the source of all good things in the universe.

SnoFox, don't let the thought of hauling o/d loads worry you, it's like driving into your first big snowstorm, if you take things slow and steady, do not do anything foolish and all that worry and stress will amount to nothing, hauling o/d, like driving in a snowstorm is not for everyone but if/when you get a couple of them under your belt, you just might find you like hauling them, you definetly will like the money. ATS will try to get you to haul them but will not force you, 'cause they make big money with them

Boone,
I never thought of it like that. I was always gun shy of concrete trucks and gasoline tankers. i dont know why just how I always been but go figure I always wanted to run heavy haul, I like the challenge. Maybe I'll go and put in an App. over at Rinker thanx boone

The stuff that ATS will let you haul without pursuing the really big stuff is pretty manageable. They will never give you much over 14' wide or anything real heavy or High if you don't pursue it. They have too many other drivers that want to haul the stuff. Personally I hate having to wait on their slow permit people to fax you a permit that should have already been there when you arrived. They claim you can't get a permit until you send measurments. This is true, but they don't hold the shippers accountable for their measurments and this would solve the problem of not having permits ready. Sometimes when they are in a hurry they will just guess and most of the time it is right.

I agree with SNOFOX about the DOT. I have been checked in some odd places. A lot of times the DOT knows the routes and will set up shop in the middle of nowhere just to check all the oversize drivers and go over your paperwork. It just seems to me like another opportunity to get a ticket for something stupid and waste your time.

Yup all the oversize loads i ever did i had to wait for permits and sometimes they sent me on my way without all the permits and i had stop somewhere before the upcoming state and wait yet again for the permits to be faxed through. I waited 2 days once for one and never hauled another one after that. Its just way to much hassle and extra #### overall to go through for a little bit more money.

__________________
Horsepower is an illusory mathematical equation, torque is real and the source of all good things in the universe.

If you have an aggressive dispatcher, the dispatcher will TRY to push loads on you. Take your time, break out the calculator and the road atlas and figure out which load YOU want.

I am still pretty new to the O/O percentage deal and for some reason, it seems to me that they shoot these load offers to me while I am driving. I'd rather look at them when I am sitting. I've made some friends along the way that can add numbers up in their heads while driving, and I will call them.
How much is this load paying me?
How many miles?
When does it pick up?
When does it deliver?
Can it deliver early?

As far as OD loads go, if you dont want it, dont take it. They will list the OD pay on the offer. OD pay can be big money. How big? Big enough that I will put up with the hassles and still have a grin on my face. I too prefer to run at night and avoid the DOT and whatnot. But I am here for the money too.

I pulled an OD load out of Pueblo to Duffield, AB. 1400 miles. Read the permits and was allowed to run at night through Colorado and Wyoming. Dropped the load in 2 days and it paid me, a company driver at the time, $1000. The same load paid an O/O who was rolling with me $9000. For TWO DAYS. The guy made more in 2 days than what I would normally make in 2 months with general freight. I'm not greedy, but I cant leave that much money at the table.

Does anyone know anything about the lease purchase program at ats?