Will I like Flatbed?

You still have to backup in flatbed, and it's harder because of the spread axles. loading and unload is kinda faster, maybe because you are actually involved in the process instead of sitting in the cab waiting.

Maverick does an in dept background checks and they don't like to see job hopping in your resume. How long have you been with KLLM? If you got your cdl from them, are you in a contract with them? Companies won't hired you if you are in a contract

 

You'll do more backing as a deck driver (pretty much every customer I visit it's either a back-in, or back-out arrangement), and you won't ever be doing it to an alley dock formula in a nicely paved lot (some lumber mills don't know what the word "pavement" is, and farms, so many farms).

Driving deck is not for the faint of heart. It's incredibly hard work and if you found van driving a task, you'll fail miserably at deck.

 

I usually agree with what you say but I'm sorry open deck works is not incredibly hard work, it's a little bit of labor followed by driving. Is it more labor intensive than van work? For a little bit but it's not that hard.

 

It was definitely hard to start for me. I remember barely being able to strap down a whole trailer in the beginning. And forget about lifting tarps (those 120 lb beasts) onto a high boy.

After a year now I can almost straight lift the tarps onto the deck like it's nothing and do sometimes two loads of full B-trains in a day without even thinking about it.

It's excellent physical work, but it's far more than opening the doors to a van trailer. Maybe I'm just exaggerating a little. But I remember not really liking the physical part of it in the beginning. I just wanted to drive. Now after I got my 13 hour driving days for four months, all I want to do is strap and tarp.

 

You're gonna wait around just like any other segment of trucking. There are plenty of people willing to waste your time just the same as reefer or van. The main difference is you and your truck will be filthy way more often pulling a flat.

 

I've been doing flatbed since October of 2015, I got my own truck in December. I work for a smaller company with about 50-80 guys, we are regional. I've recently noticed that regional flatbed is much rougher than OTR. I do a lot of of Illinois and Indiana runs, and most of our loads are what some call "bottom of the barrel" loads, we do have a refrigerated, and step deck division that haul propane tanks. 95% of my runs are 8hrs or less, for example.. I got a load of pipe going to NY, and it's roughly a 3.5hr drive, its not scheduled until monday morning at 8 but I can leave Sunday evening and bunk out in their lot, or I can start super early monday morning and blow 4hrs of my day.

What I'm trying to say is if you do OTR flatbed then it's not going to bad, I have a friend that drove for Western Express and he went from Arizona to Connecticut with a single load, that to me is awesome, he wasn't tarping loads daily. I thought flatbed was a respected job title, but I guess I was wrong.

 

Before you jump toward flat bed. Visit a friend or something. And play with the tarps and chains a little. Keep in mind flat bedding your load is always on display... Bottom line I always use more then enough securement........ I don't want to my load of steel shifting. I just don't get in a hurry.

 

Short answer: When the weather is nice, you'll love it.

You'll hate it when it's pouring down rain, you were loaded in the rain, and you have to tarp the soaking wet load in the rain, you'll be cussing under your breath for having to tarp it when it's already wet, and then you'll get unloaded in the rain, and the customer will set the #### down outside in the rain and leave it there, in the rain, while you fold your tarps in the rain.
Why did you have to tarp it you ask? Who the #### knows...