"Do not ever drive flatbed"

Do the shippers know how to strap and secure the loads if I was unsure?

i got a offer to a mom n pop flat hed company but i have zero experience with flatbed but I’m dying to learn this skill. I know i can get my own truck and run flat bed and make good money if i knew how!

 

Shippers set the freight on the trailer, then you own it.
My first flatbed load was a load of plastic pipe. No one around to show me how to secure the load. I just used common sense and it worked.

 

^^^^^^^ Quote of the day, right there!

 

Honestly, from the outside in, it seems like there's a lot more pride in it.

 

I'm going to quote what an old timer told me when I first started. This is not meant directly at you, just general advice.
"Kid, take a look around at all the flatbeds. Those guys are all doing what you want to do. They all started out knowing nothing. Some of them, maybe more than a few, are dumber than you are but they learned. They watched and they asked and they tried. If they can learn, so can you".

 

Common sense for you most definitely isn't the same thing for everybody else!

 

I’ve run flatbed on cars before on a tow truck but i know flat bed trucking is whole new beast. I’ll keep in shape too. I got a gubment job where i sit for 6hrs a day out of 8 and am more exhausted then when i ran 200 stops at ups lol

 

Its a mom n pop shop and the owner dispatches me. His wife who i spoke to said he only take the highest paying loads so i make the most which is 25% of the load. Sat sundays off. I can idle all night too

 

There are strapping and chaining regulations. Learn them, love them. When in doubt, throw another strap.

 

Driver's Handbook on Cargo Securement - Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Cargo Securement | FMCSA so read this?