Lepton1's transition from door swinger to flatbed

I thought I'd start this thread for anyone that might be interested in my challenges making the transition from hauling dry vans with Swift to jumping right over to flatbed deliveries to oil rigs. On Monday this last week I turned in my truck to the OKC Swift terminal, doing everything proper to make sure the trainee on my truck was taken care of, calling my DM to let him know my termination, and making sure the truck was clean and checked out by the shop.

Monday afternoon my brother walked me through basics of load securement. Most of the loads we haul out of the ACME OKC terminal are pipe, which is fairly easy to secure. We do get a fair amount of more challenging loads and haul Hazmat totes, which also require tanker endorsement.

Tuesday through Thursday I did two "ride alongs". I can help with load securement and deliveries, but sit in the passenger seat observing how a veteran driver works and how to deal with creating Waybills for the company man to sign at the rigs. I rode along with the owner of the truck I'm going to drive, a great guy with 14 years at Swift, most of that time as a mentor/trainer.

Friday morning I did orientation, which constituted about an hour running through paperwork requirements and company policy and getting all handbooks, waybill books, etc. Then we did a run down to Odessa with a tote Hazmat load and dead headed back to the OKC terminal. I had the wheel on the way back, arriving at 8:00 am. Went to my brother's apartment to sleep a few hours, then off to go shopping while the owner of the truck cleaned out his things from the truck so I could move the rest of my things in. Bought FR coveralls (FR jeans and long shirts are just too ###### hot for me) and a good pair of tall rubber boots to deal with mud on rig sites.

This is the first night sleeping in the truck by myself at the terminal. My plan is to live out of the truck for the next few weeks, then get an apartment nearby, fly home to LA and drive back with my wife. Most nights will be at home, with occasional overnights for longer hauls. This will be a far cry from spending 4-6 weeks at a time away from home with limited home time as I've done for the last couple of years.

Pay is 25% TTT. I've calculated based on the loads we hauled with the owner that I'll be making more than I was as a mentor/trainer at Swift. I'm looking forward to the challenge and can't wait to get my own truck to lease on with ACME. "Company drivers" are approved by ACME through the hiring process, but are hired on by an owner. ACME only has owner/operators. Many of the owners at this terminal have several trucks.

I put myself on the list to take my first load at 6:00 Sunday, and just received a text confirming I'm third in line. We receive dispatches by phone call. Don't answer the phone and you go to the bottom of the list. Once dispatched you have an hour to arrive to the shipper.

Most rigs will be located by GPS coordinates and turn by turn directions from the nearest paved junction or town. I'm strongly considering getting the paid subscription to RigData to help with navigation. There are horror stories of drivers getting coordinates and directions to the LAST location the rig on. Offroading will be a feature of this job, and I look forward to the challenge.

Time for bed, more later.

 

At this point, late Sunday morning, I'm #3 on "the list" for a dispatch. Spent the morning cleaning and organizing, making coffee, etc. Sitting in the driver's lounge charging the spare battery for the cordless drill, along with my phone and computer. While the owner has a 1000W inverter installed to power the microwave, it doesn't put out much power unless the engine is running.

After the charging is complete I'm going to take out all the chains and winches to make sure they are lubricated and in good working condition.

If the wind doesn't pick up I'm going to organize the 4" straps. Belly wraps on pipe require 30' straps. We have two, but all the straps are yellow, so I'll need to set them in a particular spot to make it faster and easier to get the job done.

Speaking of belly wraps, my brother lent me his 4" paint roller, which extends to 10' long. This is WAY easier than trying to poke the strap through a layer of pipe. The roller end glides the 4" strap through the gap easily, then you can catch the loop of the strap underneath and draw it back. I can place two belly straps and 2x4 dunnage before the forklift comes back with the next layer. Makes the job go much quicker.

 

I downloaded RigData out of curiosity a couple months ago as I started the application process with ACME. Now that I'm hired I'm going to subscribe. If you don't subscribe you can see active rig locations on a map and the total count of active rigs. However, with the subscription you also get contact phone numbers, gps coordinates, and a host of other information. The office staff uses RigData Pro (paid version).

 

Today was my first solo load, a short 80 mile round trip to pick up subs, directional tools, etc. Quite a mixed bag that I probably over strapped.

I made a rookie mistake of paying more attention to getting the edge protectors and belly wraps on the two pallets of subs up front while the forklift driver finished off the longer items in back. By the time I realized the load had most of the weight on the passenger side trailer tires he was gone and it took half an hour to find another forklift driver to move the load and I put in some wedges to help hold it in place. Below are before and after pictures of that fiasco.

One thing is for sure, this job is a workout. Half a day's work and I've got sore spots. I'm on the board for another load, but likely won't get another until tomorrow morning.

 

Well, tomorrow morning has come and gone. 24 hours after going back on the board I've only moved up one spot to #2 on the list from #3.

Spent the night at my brother's apartment, then came back to the truck a couple hours ahead of the thunderstorm that's passing through right now (with weather alert for flash flooding coming in from my weather app). Had time to pull nails and screws out of the plastic wedges, reorganize and clean all the edge protectors, inspect the straps and pulled two bad ones out of circulation, replace the right side globe mirror, and disassemble the door latches on the inside cabinets and reassemble them so they close without bungie cords.

Now I'm kicking back in the truck, listening to thunder and lightening.

 

Yes, I did research before making this change. I've tracked total rig count with RigData since the bottom started to drop out of oil prices (currently hovering around 1000 rigs, down from 1600) and that was one reason I was hesitant about making this transition. The other major reason for delaying this transition was because I've never had any hands on load securement training. I'd considered jumping from dry van to flatbed with Swift, to take advantage of their required 5 day load securement orientation, but those five days aren't paid and I would also have to give up being a mentor for at least three months. Mentoring at Swift I figured I'd make about $70K this calendar year, as long as I was willing to constantly have a trainee in the truck and not see my wife for 4-8 weeks at a time.

Part of the reason I initiated the transition to ACME in February was because my brother was placed on workman's comp due to a shoulder injury. We figured this would be a way to get revenue from his truck, by letting me at least drive his truck or possibly team. I applied to ACME in February, then scheduled "home times" at the Swift OKC terminal as close together as I could (about 3-4 weeks apart) through April in order to do the physical and schedule orientation.

During the last three months I had an opportunity to review the average revenue per truck at the ACME OKC terminal (with the downturn in average revenue), and realized that coming over here would likely result in about $70K income at the low end. This is about the same as I was doing with Swift. The kicker is that as soon as my wife is able to move out here next month I'll be home most nights.

Three other "kickers" sealed the deal for me:

1. While current ACME drivers bemoan the downturn in line haul rates, for me they are sufficient to at least maintain the income I had as a Swift mentor/trainer. When rates go back up that will simply be gravy for me.

2. Most of the trucks running out of the OKC terminal are hotshots. There are only a handful of big rigs here and the terminal manager has been pushing the hotshotters to upgrade to CDL-A's and "get big". Most rigs are wanting to take big loads and save total money on line hauls. There are still three big trucks at the terminal that I know of that need drivers.

3. ACME has a heavy haul terminal in OKC that hasn't experienced the downturn in rig activity. The customer base is different. My goal is to transfer over there after getting some experience flatbedding to the rigs. The revenue for a "company driver" over there is over $100K.

Ultimately my goal is to purchase my own truck and build a fleet. ACME has a great setup for owners, giving "company" drivers a paycheck with all taxes and FICA accounted for, then giving a separate settlement check to the owner's company. It makes it easy to build a fleet without the hassle of paying employees.

 

Some thoughts about the transition from dry van to flatbed, and from a highly regulated e-log environment to loose leaf logs, etc.:

1. I LOVE the exercise of flatbed. I'm pretty sore from yesterday and look forward to tuning up the body to meet the physical challenges.

2. Flatbed is certainly more of a mental challenge during loading and unloading. Seems everyone has their own method for strapping, unstrapping, etc. and the important thing is to have a system to do things efficiently. Especially during loading you are the boss regarding how that load is placed on the bed. Yesterday's load is an excellent example. I had to try and figure out where to place the two pallets of subs for the safest ride while putting the motors, collars, and repeaters in position to balance the load and have at least one of the side rails in place to secure them together with wedges.

3. Running to and from rigs requires shifting mental gears regarding the limitations of a big rig in tight turns on sketchy roads. Yesterday I saw an empty RGN with four axles on the back make a turn on OK-270 onto the dirt road I was on and put all his passenger side trailer wheels into the ditch and back out. Running my standard spread axle fully loaded and having a left turn out of the dirt road still required full concentration to get onto the blacktop and miss that same ditch.

4. You CAN'T get away with getting lost in thought without checking your mirrors like you can hauling a van. I'm constantly checking my mirrors to see how the load is doing, let alone checking for oncoming traffic.

5. I suddenly feel vulnerable without a functioning CB. The owner's CB isn't working and I need to figure out if it's an antennae connection or something else. I want that CB on in case someone can alert me to a problem on my load. CB can also help if I'm trying to find a rig on dirt roads at night or in the fog.

6. Running without the e-log nanny will take some getting used to. I almost forget that I don't have to play mother-may-I in order to drive over to the Walmart or TA for personal reasons.

7. Even the POS Garmin is light years ahead of the stupid Navigo system.

8. There's ALWAYS work to be done on a flatbed. While waiting for my next dispatch I've taken care of a few things today, like changing out the cracked globe mirror, denailing the plastic wedges, organizing the side box, and then switching to inside the cab chores. I'm about 75% along the way to getting the interior organized to my liking. I want everything I need in reach and everything in it's place.

9. Once I get my own truck I may opt to take out the passenger seat, put down a large, shallow tray on the floor, and make that my "mud room". I'm a "leave the shoes in front and only socks in the back" kind of guy, and this job certainly tracks a LOT of mud inside the truck.

10. I'm getting the hang of this '07 Freightliner with the 10 speed. Floating most of the shift points efficiently, but still having a few hiccups. I've only had three driving days so far in this truck, but it runs well and should make me some money.

11. Not having to hit the jake on downgrades to keep my speed below a company maximum is very refreshing. Having an ungoverned truck is also very refreshing, although I'm not a "hammer down" kind of driver. Running the big roads at 68-70 mph seems pretty comfortable.