Tankers or Flatbeds

I think it depends on the person on how comfortable you are driving a flatbed vs a tanker. I never driven a tank before but I have heard that when you drive one that has liquid in it you have to be very careful because of the movement of the liquid inside of the tank. I drove a flatbed and I really liked it. I hauled shingles on a 53ft trailer with a gator on the back of it. I really enjoyed that. You just have to make sure you strap you load down good and while you are on the road look at your load to see if any of the straps are not loose.

 

Tanker if you ask me hands down its a lot easier work.try tarping a lumber load in20 degree weather with the wind blowing and your trying to unfold or fold them up or its 90 degree out and your sweating and the sun is beating down on you.tanker some places have their own pump and hose hand paper work in kick back in the bunk til your empty.as far as the liquid inside tank depends on the trailer whether its got baffles inside or not if it doesn't have baffles and they only load you 3/4 of the way then yea it will move around pretty good but you'll get use to it.I'm bias though I learned on tankers and there my favorite trailer to pull besides dump trailers

 

tankers are fun. go tanker if you can. lemme know who hires recent grads tho. i drive one for a local company. 1 of 3 tanker yankers.

 

<----5.5 years in flatbed. Hard work, but once you figure out the patterns for doing stuff (tarping/untarping/strapping/bungeeing), it's cake work. No doors to.have ripped off at a warehouse, can see behind you a lot better than most trailers, flatbedders actually work for a living and are more attractive to the opposite sex, etc. I pull vans now, but I also unload everything on every load (furniture) and it makes me less ashamed to have this box behind me.

 

Prime might or scheinder all though I wanted recommend it find a small company I actually got my cdl with bfi waste when they had a tanker division

 

I've done both, both are good. I like flatbed though for the challenge of the load securement, the workout and the variety of loads you haul and the places you haul to.

Tankers are work too, especially if your have to be the one loading/unloading it. Chemical loads being loaded or unloaded in a protective suit in 100 degree weather with face shield and respirator will let you know you're working for a living and if you don't keep hydrated it'll do more. Then there's the delay if you aren't hauling the same type of material or it's material that can't be left in the tank, so you have to get them washed and you can't do anything else until that's done.

They both have their good and bad points. Tankers tend to go the same places all the time, you're basically hired on to someone that has to keep their customer's supply tank filled, so repeat trips is like "route", whereas with flatbed, unless you're on a dedicated route, like hauling building materials for the same companies like a route delivery, your area of running is a lot further and you can get loads almost anywhere, going anywhere.

So if you have a little better idea of the kind of conditions you expect (regional, local, route, hometime, etc.) or want to run, you can get a better recommendation. It's pretty much up to the amount of abuse you're willing to take.