Did you choose flatbed? Or did it choose you..

I'm not with sprint, I'm with T-mobile. Got me a cheap AT&T prepaid and it has a full signal. That was a good one though.
I know I'm about to feel the heat so please don't hurt me too bad, but does anyone know a good lease purchase program that deals with flatbed?? I'm considering CRST cause I know a friend that has his own authority and deals with lots of brokers so I was gonna piggyback off of him.

 

Not really looking to be gone from home for 5 months at a time. But thanks anyway

 

I drove as a company team when I went back to trucking after a 20 year hiatus (and because I lost a really cool job as a firefighter) and decided I was better off with my own truck. So after one year as a company driver, I bought a truck and leased to a refrigerated outfit and ran the Southeast for a year. Once we figured out how much money we were losing, we headed to the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY last year to look for a new company.

Oddly enough we kept running into flatbed companies that were recruiting and one particular company we repeatedly stopped to talk, not to a recruiter but to a driver and his wife, who was also an agent. They knew their numbers, assured us of freight out of Florida and a better way of life. Not liking anyone else we were talking to, and really hating the grocery warehouse business, we went home, put in our application and bought a flatbed. This took us only two weeks and we haven't looked back.

Granted, my first three months on a flatbed were brutal. I had to learn chaining techniques and how to tarp. My first tarp load was a steel coil, and was load number two. I really botched it, but asked another flat bedder if he would show me how to tarp correctly and he did. When I had to tarp a drywall load, I was again shown the correct way. Anytime I have needed help or asked a question, flat bedders were more than happy to help or answer. It feels not like a job, but working at home with a family.

Now I have been doing this for almost a year and love it! The money is good, and I like to take pride in the way I chain, the way I tarp and keep the truck looking good. We are still leased to that company we met with at MATS, but have learned enough that my wife and I are looking to get our own authority, but still run flat bed. It is truly an enjoyable job despite the heat, cold, rain, snow, wind.

 

Excellent post gentlemanfarmer

 

Today I spent 2 hours loading in the pouring rain. I was thinking to myself "why am I doing this, I could be sitting in the truck while they put pallets in a box" ...... Later I went to the truckstop and as I was checking my binders I had a fellow flatbed driver come over and chat with me. Me talked a while and grabbed some coffee. As I was walking out I watched as one van driver tried to grab all 10 gears in the parking lot and I said hello to 2 different van drivers as I walke by their trucks and they did not reply at all. That is when I realized WHY I was outside in the rain, chaining down. It's a completely different segment and breed of driver over here. I take pride in my job and others seem to as well with platforms. Other flatbed drivers are usually willing to help eachother out and you can almost always strike up a conversation with one. The same can not be said about the box boys.

 

It was those homo-erotic Maverick ads in the trucking publications.

 

^^ Not touchin' that one, even with a 10 foot pole, lol.

 

It sort of chose me, as my first gig was hauling scrap steel on a flat and re-bar back. Then a van job for about a year until I bought my first truck. Then I chose flatbed again for a change of pace. That was 20 years ago and I've left it twice. Once to pull reefer and once for Bulk Pneumatic. Neither worked out like I had hoped and almost lost my shirt the second time. I hope I never make stupid mistakes like those again. I'm glad so many people don't want to do this, it keeps me in demand.