Some questions on Flatbed vs Reefer

Of the companies you have listed, Maverick would be the best choice. They have a solid training program, and everyone who works for them goes through it, no matter what your experience is. It is the Maverick way.
Pay is reasonable and equipment is good, benefits are also very decent.

 

Automatic transmissions are the very near future. It is going to be hard to find companies not running them. Freightliner with the 2019 model year, the base transmission is the DT12. You will have to order the truck with a manual, they will add a minimum $3200 charge for the manual. Volvo and Mack are also moving this direction.

 

I want an auto, my left leg is tired.

 

Sorry for the hijack, but is is possible / better to run OTR as a team flatbed? I am really liking the Military gig.

 

It's definitely possible. I will let others who have more in depth information about flatbed training companies weigh in, but I believe CRST and Malone run teams. The name of the company escapes me, but I used to run into them frequently at a customer yard in OKC, running team between Denver and OKC.

Teaming flatbed presents some additional challenges over reefer or dry van. For one thing you can work up a...stench...tarping a load or working in a filthy, muddy yard or job site. Hygiene and cleanliness are a challenge. Put to folks together that are making a mess and it can become a source of irritation (to put it lightly).

Another challenge would be your system and method of doing things. Every driver throws and secures straps a little differently, for example. You will need to work out with your codriver the system you will use as a team. Once that is set, then at times during an unload or loading you can work efficiently together to make faster and safer work.

My brother and I have teamed pulling household goods, dry van, and flatbed. We think alike and are both focused on looking for new ideas to secure loads faster and better. We both roll and stow our straps almost the same. We both stow our chains and binders the same. If we are dispatched on a team run in his truck or my truck, we can easily get in the groove.

Then again, depending on the customer base, it can be HELL getting any sleep in the sleeper berth. If delivery location requires 40+ miles of rugged dirt roads with potholes within potholes... fuggedaboudit. But many flatbed companies go "yard to yard", never seeing the beauty of taking a truck where it isn't supposed to be. Then you might get some sleep.

 

System is a good company but they are going to all auto fleet with T680’s. They also added training mirrors on the hoods of the trucks. And also have outward facing cameras with an option for inward. Reason I bring up the hood mirror is that when I started there in 2012 they have none of that stuff you just got a nice truck with a 10 speed and were left alone. They are definitely going in the training direction. They will let you stay out as long as you want but used to only do a max 4 days off. Don’t know if that’s changed or not.

 

Flatbed teaming i dont think i could ever do it... Everybody has their own way of putting straps and chains away and different organization, also different ways of bungeeing tarps and folding stuff... Man it would drive me crazy dealing with other ppls organization skills or lack thereof....hell i drive myself crazy most of the time! Good luck with watever u decide

 

"Training mirrors"? I call them valuable equipment and would not drive a truck without them, and I've been doing this a loooonnng time. But point noted. every day, another mid size or larger carrier decides to migrate to a "training business model" in an effort to keep or regain their forward momentum, but "spec'ing trucks with hood mirrors" is not what makes a training carrier a training carrier.

 

I’d say it is when the company has never had them on their trucks for the past 40 years or so and now go to automatic trucks and cameras and those mirrors. Just the way they seem to be heading

 

I'm with @STexan on the hood mirrors. I upgraded to heated hood mirrors on my own truck. They are really valuable for wide view during blindside backing, checking for merging traffic when the angle of the on ramp is wide, or pulling out onto a two lane road from a side road and a 45° angle.

I think the problem most folks have with hood mirrors is they don't have a CLUE how to use them. I have driven hundreds of trucks for our customers. Almost all of them have hood mirrors. It's RARE to start pretripping a truck and find the hood mirrors adjusted properly. I think their drivers are under the impression that those mirrors are supposed to give you a good look at your pretty hood. A properly adjusted hood mirror should BARELY be able to see your hood, just as a properly adjusted wide angle mirror under your rear views should barely see the side of your truck...as a reference point only.

Those mirrors are to get the BIG PICTURE. I frequently get into some complicated situations, getting through tight spaces, both forwards and backwards, at drilling rigs and frack sites. It's common to have clearances within a few inches or even fractions of an inch. Properly adjusted hood mirrors are a godsend.