Flatbed?

where do flatbeds make less per mile than a van? thats some cheap frieght even i wouldnt hual...lol

good flatbed out fits in my opionon would be maverick and davis trans....ive never worked for maverick but i hear good things,to bad they have frieghtliners though, tmc might be ok if you like tarping alot

as a flatbedder you should make more than a van driver overal, pay per mile will be close but add in tarp and extra stop pay and yer doin better.
of course you will work alot harder too, as tarping isnt always a fun easy chore, plus YOU get to figure out how to secure the load and meet all fmcsa and saftey standerds

in flatbedding we dont normally sit at a shipper for hours on end waiting to get loaded, there are some places that are exceptions though, but normally the time spent at a shipper or reciever is most often spent securing a load and tarping/untarping, not waiting to get loaded/unloaded

 

I dunno, I started otr on a skateboard. So thats all I know about. I've never pulled a van. There is alot of work in a flatbed. I hate tarping but it gets you out of the truck. I would say there is less waiting time on a flatbed.. but I've waited up to a day and a half to get unloaded and anywhere from 2-3 to get a load. That was with a company truck though. I have a love/hate relationship with the spread axle trailer too. Sometimes its easier to flip around, but its a different beast when backing. Well for me it is anyway. All in all I liked running flatbed but I'm really happy with what I'm doing now though and its a steady check week to week.
I say go for it if you don't have alot to lose if you don't like it.
TMC has a really nice fleet of trucks, but they are governed at 60 I beleive. ( I may be wrong). Maverick also has a decent fleet and start with a higher pay. The company I was with will remain nameless and they had junk trucks and paid me 30 1/2 cpm. Thats why I bought my own.
I've seen Swift pulling alot of drop decks and also Snieder (sp?) starting to pull a few. Just do a little research on the companies. Compare the pay to the turnover rate.

 

I drive for Maverick Transportation and I have to say I perfer flatbed over van for a variety of reasons. One, Pay. I have been driving for 9 months now and I make .39cpm. 2, Hometime, I am home every weekend. 3 less wait time and shippers and receivers. Maverick is a great start out company for a driver. They train the heck out of you on driving, securement, and tarping. Ive heard people tell me not to start out on flatbed because there is so much more to learn than just pulling a van, but if you get with a company that does extensive training, you can learn most everything you need to know from training. There is always those things youll learn better out in the real world, but youll have the base you need to make the right decision to get the job done. BOL to you.

 

Yeah I've heard Maverick is a good company. I live about 40 miles southwest of the Maverick terminal in NLR.

 

Schneider no longer has drop decks seeing as to how Mavarick bought there glass hauling account and drivers along with equipment. Just my 2 cents.

 

Well i cut my teeth on flatbeds. I used to say some one ruined a good trailer when they put sides on it. I also used to say you can train a monkey to hold a steering wheel and drive a van. I have done it all since van reefer tanker and even drop pot cow wagons. My favorite is still a 48 ft drop deck man you can load anything on that trailer. Mt next is a reefer strictly because it is versatile. For the new driver i strongly recommend Flat bed you learn not only how to drive but you also learn about load securement which is one thing allot of van drivers have know idea about and there for the drive all rough and yank and bank a truck around. If you ever hauled a flat bed you learn to be smooth with your driving style and easy on the brakes and turns because you are always watching the load to see where it is and where its going and how its going to ride. A good company wil teach the new driver this. I was a driver trainer for Arrow trucking out of Tulsa along time ago and we had a class on the yard abou7t securement and then i would take the new drivers out on the road and try and get every possible load we could to teach them all the different things about load securement and how to drive with which loads on coils are the worst and pipe is my favorite i love pulling pipe. Once you understand pipe it is easy to load and secure. As far as companies out there I was around allot of the old companies and most of them have gone out of business today but Arrow is still there and used to be real good company to drive for. I left because they were having some growing pains and were not able to keep up with it i see they pretty much got rid of there vans now so that should help. But they are one of the oldest flat bed companies around the Midwest and have allot going for them. TMC was always good and KTC used to be good and so did KOCH Maverick is supposed to be good i hear allot of good about them here. Its all about your personnel taste what company is good for one want be worth a hill of beans for another you have to shop around and do good home work on the one you want. DO your homework and look around and take your time to evaluate the company you want to work for and watch your local area and see what trucks you see there all the time that will be one way to see if the company you want to work for is in your area enough to get you home when you need to be there.

 

I agree 100% coils suck. The best load I had was carbon resistors. All straps, no tarps. Centria loads are good light loads, but they always go to a job site that no one knows exactly where is. I really enjoyed running flatbed. You really do have to watch your driving style like kd5dxr said. I went across Fancy Gap with 48,000 and some change on the back of high stacked lumber and before I knew it the old trailer was twisting up and I backed off. That was all I needed to slow me down and get my act together. Always remember this, you can go through the same place slow a million times, but you might go through that same place too fast only once.

 

Well, I graduate from my school on the 2nd of August. After a lot of going back and forth from Roehl, Mavrick, and TMC, I have decided to go with TMC. They seem too be paying pretty well, home time they guarante you home i think it is 42 or 46 weekends at 48 hours, and third there trucks are NICE. They are 06 or newer petes. Mostly 379 but some 387. They come with leather seats, sat radio, subs, lots of chrome and LED lights. I asked the recruter about the speed that they are goverend at and he told me 65. After 5 years up to 70. There training pay isn't really that good...but could be worse. $300 a week for 2 weeks while you are there and 350 a week for 6 while you are out with the trainer. I will be starting on the 6th and need to call them back on the 23 to confirm reservations.