100% sure I want to flatbed...? on companies..

.....but seriously though. I think most open deck guys are the same. Same can probably be said for bull haulers:

1. We like work. Always have. Always will.
2. We like doing things other people can't do.
3. There is more upside. Because we like securement, we get good at it. We can pass through the scales and make our $1,000 crane appointment on time without damaging the freight or getting ticketed or getting put OOS. Do that for a while and soon you might be hauling OD stuff and making wayyyy more than a van driver. Dry van guys have a low wage ceiling.
4. Once we get to #3, we don't look for freight, the freight finds us.

 

Not to mention that pulling a trailer with doors on it just isn't that much fun.

 

agreed, if you have to ask , then you will never know. i love flatbedding , but cant tarp any more due to injuries. run a reefer now , it s boring as hell .
you teach a monkey to my job . open deck requires more detail to attention.
i'ed go back to it in a heart beat , if i could find a company that doesnt tarp lol

 

Would running a conestoga be an option? I'm sure you've thought of it, but that's what popped into my head when I read your post.

 

. Melton takes noobies straight out of school, their starting pay isn't bad ether

 

i worked for mansur out of janesville wi from 2003 -2006 they r a great company good upkeep on their equip good training nice pay i only quit due to my health

 

TMC is the best for any new guy wanting to get into flatbedding. They have the best training, great equipment. I've been with them 2 years and have nothing but good things to say about them. TMC trains DOT and the US Military on securement. Do a year or 2 with TMC, keep your nose clean and driving record/CSA score clean and you can write your own ticket. If you decide to leave TMC after a couple years you'll have companies banging down your door trying to hire you. That is TMC's reputation in the industry.

 

How do you know that TMC has the best training? Have you been through Maverick or Melton or Boyd? Just asking.

 

Drivers with less tha six months at TMC or Western Express who move to my carrier get to go back out with a trainer to re-learn load securement. Drivers from Maverick are shoved straight into a truck and kicked down the road to make money after orientation. Tells me that Maverick's load securement training is better that TMC's or Western Express'.

But what do I know. My actual formal load securement training was an hour standing out by the practice trailer BSing with the instructor about hot rods at my precious carrier. Everything I know I learned from old flatbedders. I figured they GOT to be old flatbedders by knowing what they were doing.