Female Truckers: Your view on Flatbeds vr Dry Van Experiences

If you was to ask a company why they keep so much for their greedy selves they'll just tell you we need it for tarps binders ect but yet they will charge drivers for stuff.

 

Back before we had kids, my wife would ride with me. She is 5 foot even, and back then she MIGHT have weighed 115, if that. She could tarp a load in half the time it took me, and while I'd be covered in dirt, grime, and sweat, her white blouse some how managed to stay pristine. Her tarp jobs looked vacuum sealed and gift wrapped, mine looked like the three stooges got drunk. And fyi, a typical steel tarp only weighs 60ish pounds. It's the lumber tarps that get freaking heavy, and I have never, not once, had a shipper refuse to put my tarps up on the load so all I had to do was roll and spread them out. Same at the receiver, after rolling them up they used the forklift to set them back on the deck.

As for weather, if you dress properly winter isn't so bad, and summer, stay hydrated. Problem solved.

 

There are women out there pulling flatbeds very successfully. AND they are generally tough enough to not have many concerns wandering around alone at a truck stop.

Just got to learn to work smarter, not harder. I saw a woman loading a similar steel load to the one I had on my deck. It took me twice as long to secure and tarp as it did her (without help). She used smarts and finesse where I use brute strength, and it got her done and on the road faster. Wish I had paid more attention to how she did it.

 

Story time:

I was sitting at the Petro in N.Little Rock at the lunch counter (where else would I be? Ain't skeered). Driver sits down and starts a conversation. Somehow the conversation turned to tarping, the most dreaded word in the whole doorslammer encyclopedia. This girl walks in, nice looking, petite, tight body..looked like a stripper that recently got put out to pasture, store bought knockers included. She looks around and sits on the other side of that driver I was talking to. He couldn't even look at me anymore. He's trying to make eye contact with her and have a conversation with me. Obviously, the girl isn't interested. So he gives up and returns to the dreaded tarp discussion. "Oh, what an awful thing to do...all that chaining and tarping. Driver, I don't see how you do it."

The girl speaks up, "I flatbed. It's not that hard." The guy's mouth hits the floor, "You flatbed?" Suddenly, his conversation went from those nasty heavy tarps to, 'Wow, it's something that I would like to try.' Amazing how that works. You know what she's thinking...'Great big 300 lb guy afraid to do the job that a 120 lb woman is doing. I taught I taw a putty tat.'

You our know where the conversation went from there...he asks, 'what's a pretty little thing like you doing in a flatbed? Run team with a man?' So she went down the list of stereotypes for him, "Single, hetero, owner operator, does her own chaining tarping, no daisy dukes and wet t shirts." Well apparently, that took all the subject matter that he could think to talk about away, because he left. I chastised her for hurting that drivers feelings and we laughed and I left.

Not saying it's easy, but yes, there are women flatbedders.

 

I myself prefer van, tanker, reefer simply caz I have knee problem. But if a woman chooses flat I say YOU GO GIRL!!!! I have been given my props on my driving & backing up from some male drivers. Sometimes it takes a woman to show how its done.

 

I loaded a container with sticks at a lumber mill once, and the wind was howling. There was a guy with a flatbed trying to tarp his load, and I was in my truck waiting to get loaded and this poor guy obviously was losing the game. Finally, I couldn't watch anymore, and got out and helped him. He was very grateful, but I seriously doubt if he would have gotten it himself. Good way to tell if someone pulls a flatbed is if they are missing their front teeth.

 

The trucking industry will probably get better, as I feel, right now, it's about as low as it could get. Mileage pay is slowly creeping up, and as less people go into trucking, carriers will have no choice but up the ante. I got out of trucking after 35 years, not so much because of the pay, as I did ok, but the regulations were just too much for me, it wasn't the same job as years ago, and regulation wise, I feel, it's going to get even more regulated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not for me, as I was an "outlaw" trucker, and that is frowned on nowadays. (But boy, we had fun!)

 

Hi there NVME4EVER,

I am a fairly new tanker yanker female and have no issues with doing the job. The only extra physical stuff I have had to do so far is go up/down the ladder, attach/detach hoses, lift nasty hoses from/to the hose tray for the tank wash and hammer the dome lid wing nuts close/open---yes with a brass hammer! The hoses are not that heavy and I don't mind a little extra exercise for the day. The worst thing about tank yankin' for me is wearing all that PPE (personal protection equipment) when its hot outside. I easily loose a couple water pounds every time. In reality, most times the customer does the loading and unloading.

I hope this helps!