flatbed driving: for guys only?

In the 8 or so years of flatbedding,I have NEVER been refused by a forklift operator to throw my lumber tarps on top of load. They have refused to tarp itbut as said they have always lifted them up..

When I first started this;there was a 5ft nothin Butterball of a girl who pulled a stepdeck along with the rest of us.All we had were 8ft drops which had to cover ALL loads,including the steel we would back-haul home from Chicago. Yup.I helped her once at Atlas Tube in the Windy City,but she did not ask and I'm sure this wasn't always the case..

Her name was/is Jennifer and I think of her sometimes when I whine about throwin the Big Tarps on..

 

Is that the ONLY time you think of her?

 

Well.........................NO..............

 

I have seen several women flatbed drivers. I even saw one trying to tarp from the ground and offered to put her tarps on the load for her. She declined my help, snippy at first. Then explained as a woman driver she does not want to be seen taking help from a man, people could think she couldn't do the job herself. She had her tarps rolled somehow, had a rope tied to one corner. She got on the load and pulled her tarp up the side and it unfurled out the middle kind of like an accordian as she pulled it. Had the load tarped very slick. I was impressed.

 

atlas tube......grrrrr i hate that place! I changed the name to molasses tube (for good reason lol)

 

I've never been to atlas tube but I've heard stories, mostly about how fun getting to it can be

 

i only carry 8 foot tarps, and there are alot of times we cant get help from a forklift. sometimes the trailer was dropped and they loaded it, we go pick it up and tarp and go. or they are just busy. maybe half the time loading i get help.but you still gotta throw them back up on the trailer when you fold them up. probably a little less help there, some places its no problem. others just dont do it

 

It does take some upper body strength to tighten straps snug or close a snap binder. I loved the exercise and ate what I pleased. When I went back to pulling boxes 30 lbs came on FAST! I started at 47 years old, by the way!

 

I've known a few female flatbedders; some good, some bad, just like the men. Flatbedding is more technique than brute force. It's not how strong you are but rather how well you use what you got.

 

We have a couple women pulling RGN, Stepdeck, and flatbed. We don't tarp much here, maybe twice a year. We do haul big machinery, oversized 80% of the time. Chains and binders are heavy at first but you condition for it in a month or so.