I can not believe what flatbed loads are being offerd for!!!

Okay... I do not mean to break up the thread here or change the subject... But out of all the frieght.. dry van, refer, bulk, tanker, ect. Do flatbed drivers make more then other drivers or is it hit and miss? It seems you guys are getting over $1.50 to $1.65 a mile. I am getting hired on a carrier, what kind of frieght should I hall to maximize my pay check? I appreciate any advice guys or girls ... I am new to this...

 

Generally speaking, if you are doing it correctly, open deck work should pay more. This is true whether you are a company driver, contractor, owner operator, or business. There are times when the spread narrows or widens. We have about 50 trucks, with 35 pulling open deck equipment and 15 pulling vans. Currently, I feel the spread is significant, compared to 5-10 years ago. I don't have firm numbers right now but I would say it is .50-1.00/mi to the truck. Our open deck is about 50% flatbed type freight and 50% specialized freight. This will last until enough people get into flatbedding to take advantage of this spread and drive rates down. It is the inevitable ups and downs of the business cycle.

 

I think we currently have too many flatbeds running around. Rates have been moving down for the last 2 months or so. There are instances where van rates will be higher than flats. In general, open deck will pay a higher rate than vans. It is more work pulling open deck trailers and not everyone wants to work that hard.

 

Part of the problem with rates may be that some simply don't understand how to value or put a rate on the run.

 

I dont know what type of dry load you getting out of phoenix, but i get more then that out of the phoenix area. from phoenix to Pa i get $6,700 for dry van ... with a Drop deck out of Yuma i get $9,500 to New Jersey. An d that's not even a permitted nor oversized load

 

There are lots of good brokers out there.

Also lots of muck to wade thru to find them.

 

/I have noticed van rates have really come up in the last 2-3 weeks. Enough so it's making things a lot nicer here.

 

That time of year.....Christmas stuff is starting to move...Construction is slowing down.....

Reefer tuggers will see a surge for Thanksgiving through Christmas as well......

Food....Flowers and such.......

When it's slow..It's a good time to do the In-frame or that paint job your rig needs.....You're not working anyway......

 

I have been chatting a few drivers who have paper tags or europen drivers the last few weeks. Most of then said they just started flatbed hauling this year. Most said they came here because they were making $1.35 mile pulling a van and are now making $1.75 mile pulling flats and seemed to be very very happy. The problem I ran into was when I asked them what they were hauling most the time and they replied "whatever is on the board" ...... I asked a few that said they were going west or Texas as to what they hauled back up, and most said if it was over $1 then they took it to get back and grab another load going out.

Not sure if they have low overhead or what, but I think they may have been the reason van freight went cheap. Because they did not know how to value they work or the job and took whatever they could find to get the wheels moving. And now they have come to platforms and seem to be doing the same thing all over again.