question about flatbed pay+tarp pay

most do NOT pay. some however do. but the time you spend tarping and untarping. your time will be less the minimum wage. $15 - $25. is all you get. and you being a newbie, can plan on close to 4 hours to tarp and untarp a load. depending on your methods.

with most companies it's free labor. and the pitiful thing about tarping. is it's usually loads that don't pay to haul in the first place.

why companies haul it is beyond me. the stuff they are taking up. don't pay to justify the stuff coming back.

on the east side of the country, however, that same stuff pays better and is mostly not tarped.

flatbedding is nice. but i won't swear to actually better pay. but the tarping, will kill your attitude really quick. specially if you work for companies that haul nothing but tarped.

 

The better flatbed companies have good accessorial pays for tarping, etc.
Melton Truck Lines pays $40.00 tarp pay & some companies pay much less.
Keep researching and making comparisons. APU's are important to some drivers.

Keim TS
Decker Truck Line

 

Wtf is it about people boo hooing about tarping all the time? You pull a flatbed. Tarping comes with the territory. If you are looking into flatbed companies especially in the southeast. You can look into Boyd Brothers. CTI. Cypress. Shelton. There are a few more. With those companies I'm assuming they pay to tarp. And from the people I've talked to it all comes out in the wash. As far as flatbed I would lean towards a percentage based pay scale then mileage. Not saying you can't get miles pulling a flatbed. But generally mega carrier rookies are going to haul a lot of short loads of steel, lumber, shingles, etc. That will generally need tarped.

 

I actually liked tarping loads; like wrapping a Christmas present. Tarping a load and making it look good was important to me personally; didn't really care what anyone else thought. If you enjoy what you do, it's not work.

 

Exactly. Thank you. You have 14 hrs to drive 11. Use that 3 hrs to tarp or strap a load down. Not to harass some cashier at a truck stop

 

look at it like this. 3 hours to tarp. for FREE. i never got paid. load after load. times 5 days a week.

i make money driving, not tarping. that's 15 hours of free labor, i'm not making money. and even if i did get paid. that comes nowhere close to what i make moving the wheels.

BTW. i've got 2 tarps i may sale. the only time they get used. is when a tarped load that actually pays can be found.

now i've heard melton and system pay. $30. have yet to hear of anyone else paying around these parts.

 

The guys that whine about tarping are the same guys you see on here whining about everything else.

 

I know our company drivers get 50% of the tarp pay, using company tarps.
Anywhere between $40 for an easy small tarp job (4x4x6) and up to over $150 for the bigger jobs.
I never heard of anywhere not paying to tarp myself, but I now know they are out there. If it's a local gig, and it's built into the salary etc, then its all fair. Don't do the job if you dont like the requirements....
In open deck trucking, it's part of the job. Very few "like" it, but it IS part of the job.

Martin