2015 Best Flatbed Jobs

Are you on the Colorado regional? Thanks for the insight. Ben mentioned the pre-tarped Gypsum loads, I was happy to hear that. Uh oh, Lowe's tarps and straps but does a crappy job? Works for me, I-70 has great scenery, although with all of the construction traffic can be a bear. Haha, fine by me, I've always enjoyed winter driving. Hell yeah, if I'm out working I might as well work every last minute I have available.

When you are empty do you run down the hills above that 26,000 speed? I've done it some but I'm always afraid of getting popped because I knew that even empty I was close and I wasn't sure how CSP looks at it.

 

Pirate, I'm on the Texas regional fleet, but I rode for a week with an O/O on the Denver fleet. The Denver fleet definitely has some positives. And yes if you are going to run one road alot, You could do a lot more boring than I70.
Not sure what you mean by 26000? I do know that as long as you keep your CB on you shouldn't be feeding the bears, there will always be other system trucks looking out for each other. Your biggest road problem will be the tourist 4 wheelers, it must be pretty busy this time of year.
All in all, a pretty decent company.

 

Gotcha. Good to know they allow O/O on this fleet, my last job didn't. I'm considering doing it after a bit as they pay a good percentage. Glad to hear that you're happy with them too, most everything I've seen has been positive.

On I-70 there are some hills where you have to do 35-45 if you are 26,000 or over. At least in my last truck I was pushing it on weight when empty and I may have been a bit over but I still went faster if I really wanted to get back. Oh yeah, so much tourist traffic and tons of construction repairing flood damage. They also have a habit of not taking down unnecessary cones when they aren't working *shakes head*.

 

Ohhh now I remember. Yes I don't think they are too flexible on the 26000 lb speed and lane restrictions, luckily I don't think there's too many sections like that. I definitely would expect no leniency if they see you flying out of the Eisenhower tunnel over the truck limit. My biggest issue with that road is the aging paint. I think the chemicals and elements really do a number on it. At night with your windshield covered with that magnesium crap good luck seeing what, if any, lane you are in, ha.
Just from talking to a few guys, they were very happy with the deals that System made them on their trucks when they made jump to O/O. The regional gig is good as the loads are consistent and you can keep track of all of your numbers and suss out what you would make if you were driving your own truck.
Enjoy Spokane, lace up your sneakers and walk around downtown, check out the river, steal all the food from breakfast bar your pockets will hold. My credo.

 

Probably, I never go over in the tunnel though lol. Plus, iirc, the signs say gvwr rather than gvw. So even if you're under 26k your truck is still rated for more, lame. There are a few plus a handful of the lane restrictions. There's no way I'm getting stuck doing 25 to adhere to the lane restriction though lol.

Deals on their truck? You mean they bought or leased from system? I'm planning on buying a glider and taking the percentage pay. A friend of mine has a 93 KW T900 with that Detroit 60 series 12.7l that's popular with gliders and he get's 7.2mpg at 80,000lbs.

Definitely, I've been to Spokane once but I was really young so I don't remember much. I wish it was in western WA though, I was born in the PNW so I prefer the green side. Haha, it sounds like they take good care of you though. Loving not having a room mate. My roomie at Swift was one of those crazy guys who wouldn't shut up about all of the black ops missions he'd been on yadda yadda yadda.

 

They bought them from System, no leases. I am fuzzy on the gtliders, I thought the US govt was talking about cracking down on them. Being able to run in Cali is important for system, though maybe not an issue for Denver fleet. I have seen one older Pete pulling for system, but he stuck to middle states.
The biggest negative about system is their fuel "solutions", which dont affect O/Os, so even better.

 

Ah good, bought used ones off of the fleet. There's been some rumbling about it but the only official thing I've seen is that the fed is actually passing a bill through Congress to stop the epa from screwing with gliders. I can always buy something with emmissions if I have to, I would just prefer to save on breakdowns and get that mpg up.

"Fuel" solutions?

 

Yeah the fuel "solutions". I put solutions in quotations as they never solved anything for me, and in fact are one of the bigger reasons that next week will be my last with them. They tell you where to fuel, and it always negatively impacted me.
But, again I will stress this may not be a big issue on Denver regional, and I will let you get your own impression.
To the OP, sorry about the hijack but maybe it helped you? Fwiw I worked for melton for a month and I thought they were a good company but want you to stay out too long. System does too, unless you go regional. And melton has 53' trailers, versus 48' for system and tmc. End result is I see a LOT of melton trailers with 3 tarps on them, vs 2 for the others.

 

@randomname Ohh, so they only buy from one or two companies? It was like that with Swift too, never affected me at all being regional. If it is an issue then it will always improve once I buy my own truck. Sorry to hear that you're leaving. Do you know where you're going yet?

@Claymoresauce Sorry we got so sidetracked, hopefully there was some helpful information in there. Well the east seems to be the best in terms of having a variety of regional options. You're always welcome in beautiful Colorado though, people are very friendly here. The area is booming big time and has plenty of industry to move freight for.