Considering flat bedding....

We do it all, but a high percentage is flatbed. I prefer the flatbed but the only trailer I don't care for is a refer. Each to their own, no doubt.

ACT will train on flats, steps and oversize. They also do the components for the wind turbine. So there is a real challenging item to move.

There is a company out of the Dallas area that drive red trucks and they too start at flats and then mive you up the line. (Lonestar is the name of the company.)

 

Might be tough getting into flatbeds right now. Job market sucks, winter coming etc.

I'd find a smaller company with 9 years exp. Definitely don't go Prime Inc. When I was there you had to basically finance out like 4k dollars for securement gear/tools that they took out of your check over time. Company man uses company equipment. If they can't give me a set of flatbed gear I can't give them a single mile with my CDL the way I look at it.

You'll wanna be in good shape. Tarping sucks. The rest ain't too hard. I'm pretty strong, I can bench 250lb, rep 315 on squats, and rep 405 on deadlifts for 5-6 reps. I work far harder and beat up my body way more doing ltl p&d than I ever have flatbed. But having a wet 100lb tarp on your shoulder and climbing a frozen ladder in the wyoming wind is a good way to get on permanent disability. I know quite a few former flatbedders who have been permanently deadlined due to serious injuries. Same in the ltl game. Reefer is safer but kills your body through atrophy.

Don't smoke either. I think every smoking trucker that has worked hard for a few years has had a hernia or multiple. Smoking thins out your abdominals or something.

 

Ill second the dont go to Prime Inc for flatbed notion. They rip most guys off. When you quit they offer to buy the flatbed equipment back from you for pennies on the dollar. I kept it all and got my authority and a flatbed because F them. Still have steel tarps in my garage that have that Prime Inc logo with 4 or 5 coats of black spray paint over it lol

 

Don't start flatbed in winter.

Most loads need tarp in winter and dealing with frozen tarps in 0 degrees will make you hate flatbed quick.

 

I have used acetone to remove painted names off tarp when my company took a couple trucks off lease back in the 1990's.
Soak a rag and wipe on and off, wait 5 and wipe again, if it fades continue.
You can also use acetone to clean for glue-patching or heat-patching tarps too.

 

At the end of the day, pay in most forms of trucking is a wash. I did flatbed in the past, and now I pull reefer/dry van freight, and the pay is pretty similar to me. I think I might make a bit more pulling reefers because of the steadiness of it. I did like flatbed when I did it. Since you can drive and need load securement classes, it wouldn't surprise me if a company sent you out with someone for a couple of weeks so that you'll get some live time practice. Flatbedding does take practice and understating of working load limits, not to mention you'll need practice on folding tarps. I think if it were me, and I was making such a big change, I'd consider a company I which I could go out with a trainer for a while. You already know how to drive and such, so the work will be reduced with that trainer. I do like the idea suggested of going to a company that hauls a variety of loads. Maverick, TMC, Melton come to mind for me. Alabama has a smorgasbord of flatbed companies it seems.

 

Cheap freight= cheap pay, you can call companies that train and have specialized freight, J.K. Hackl might train you? And they have the most flatbed tools and equipment around so you will learn alot.

 

There is still a handful of guys like that out here , but unfortunately the majority is getting to be like any other type of trucking. Flip-flops, sweatpants, no speako english senor

 

And they throw one chain on a coil and they call it a day