how much work is involved in flatbed

besides missing my family while away , not being able to lift while driving makes me dislike this job sometimes.

 

Ok,it seems that several people have stated their opinions on flat-bedding and their thoughts on what constitutes work(hard or otherwise).But haven't actually answered the original post,I'll give that a try.
A...the load must be tarped if it is -20 with 30mph winds or 100+ with 100% humidity.
B...You can expect the tarps to range anywhere from 40-150lbs,and you may have to lift them yourself to heights ranging from 4' to 8'
C...rolling tarps in the winter sucks.
D...Chaining and strapping are fairly easy...once you learn the basics and all the little nuances to each particular ld.Even then it can seem like a jig saw puzzle on some loads.
E...Expect sunburns,windburns,cuts,bruises,pulled muscles,frostbite,heat exhaustion,etc all for the privilege of seeing your meticulously tarped load unloaded and placed in the mud.
I am certain I have left something out,but it is start of what you can expect pulling a flatbed.

 

Don't forget scalp irritation from scratching your head over why you are tarping rusty material, that was a on the muddy ground.

 

If it's -20 deg with 30mph winds, this white boy ain't tarping nothing, unless it's inside. And if it's 8' tall with no way to climb up there with a 150lb tarp on my shoulder, we gonna use a forklift or tall ladder.

 

Thanks for the reply! I kinda figure it would be a bear until I got used to it. I wanna make the jump into trucking but I wanna do as much research as I can.

 

We saw a youngish man lifting weight's at one of the truck stop's, right out of his truck. Being over a year ago, I don't recall which company he worked for, but it was dryvan.

I think resistance band's would be a better idea...lighter and all that.

quiet a few of the T/S's have weight room's now...

 

Look at it this way: It's -29 C outside today and I'm looking forward to going to work. I drive local, and some of the loads really suck...like building a jigsaw puzzle from wet toilet paper and raw steel. We don't tarp because it takes too long (pick up 1 skid here, 2 skids there, some pipe someplace else, and tarps become too expensive time-wise) but I do strap and unstrap several times a day. It's a lot of work, but most of it is light on the physical side.

My job is great in that there is very little heavy lifting...everything is too heavy...and it keeps me thinking. We get loads of everything from coils of steel rope (baby suicide coils) to plastic and fibreglass to lumber to various lengths of metal. At our own yard I get to load and unload my own truck with a forklift, so it gets done exactly the way I want and I get to play on the forklift. Other places I have to deal with forklift drivers who have very little interest in their doing their jobs well, but you learn how to get along with them (way easier to be friendly than to yell, even with the most brutal half-wits). I always know what's on my truck and how it might react in a given situation.

I see the local guys who pull vans and they get a lot of unskidded boxes they have to lift or drag around on a pallet jack. They have to back into docks designed by demented squirrels. They get loads where they have no idea about weight distribution or even what might be back there. The never get to play on a forklift.

So I recommend flat-bedding.

 

If I were to get back into driving OTR for a living, I'd only be interested in pulling flatbeds. Part of the reason is because of the extra activity involved. I would definitely rather sling tarps, straps, chains and binders than ever spend another minute dealing with grocery DC bull-puckey.

 

It isn't hard work, it is often cold work, it is often dirty work, and sometimes it is time consuming work.

I don't like pulling a flat bed, in fact I quite dislike it.

Now when it comes to pulling a step deck or an RGN, that is where I am happiest.

 

I can almost always move my tarps without picking them up. First thing is to plan ahead. I keep them in a side box on the tractor. I move them one end at a time. I fold them a little long so I can set one end on the ground and the other near the top of the side box. Pick up the ground end and flip it up. Then do a similar thing to get them on the trl. When folding them up I drag the unrolled tarp around so when I roll it the side box is right there. I dont jump off trailers either. Both lifting tarp and jumping tend to cause pain later so I just figured out how not to do it. I also have a job where my boss doesn't want to haul tarped loads because it takes time and thus lowers revenue.

I choose to pull flatbeds because the activity is good for me. Just driving is hard on the body and moving around in the sun is good for the body. I also had very bad experiences in food warehouses and would rather tarp on a cold windy day than deal with institutionalized ignorance of that sort.

the other advantage of flatbeds is that i dont have to back up much and I have not boken a door on one yet.