Difference in difficulty of labor in Tanker and Flat Bed

You are working too hard. he he hee. Over thinking it.

The split axle ravens covered wagon I had was a dump valve on the aft axle. Once dumped everything stood on the forward spread axle for turning and backing purposes like a giant pivot.

Flatbed is more of detail work. Precision. Securement most expecially and wrapping the load like a present.

Weights in particular. Spread axle allows you to put 40,000 pounds back there. I like to pick on our dear Louisiana Neighbors and their scales back in the day, if them axles are not wider than say a gator under there, how else can they understand numbers that high?

Less work than lumping 48000 pounds in a grocery after waiting a day for a dock. You are loaded in 10 minutes when that coil or coils are set on the deck.

It's not so much rigorous, but once loaded and rolling with say Logan Aluminum for Busch out of Kentucky crossing the smokies in any weather for Busch in Williansburg in the morning, you have to be there in the morning. If you are not, that entire facility will stop when they don't have your coils. And you probably will lose your job and that will be that. It never stops. You will be there in the morning.

If it happens to be the day of the Second Coming, wal, the Good Lord will just have to wait a minute until those coils are in the beer joint, be a awful lot of celebrating fixing to happen right quick.

You will be taught the ways of flatbedding with a older trainer who has done it enough to teach you right. Don't you worry about that.

None of that silly van and reefer crap (No offense, Im being a little bit... oversimplification)

Tankers are even less work, but the devil is in the details with that work. You can absolutely be killed climbing a pressurized bulk tanker trying to undo the hatch. It will throw your body near 100 yards and make a BIG BIG BIG MESS OF EVERYTHING. POOF CEMENT everywhere for say 20 yards a few feet deep. But you are dead by the time your body impacts the ground or something else downrange.

 

It is more rigorous than most types of trucking. So, if you're afraid of breaking a sweat tarping a load in 100 degree temps, or tossing chains over a load of steel at 20 below zero, it might not be the choice for you.

As for backing, I've always felt it is easier to back a flat. They don't turn as fast so they're easier to control, IMO.

 

If you want west coast runs try Melton Truck Lines or Senn Freight Lines.
Also, look at www.daseke.com which is the umbrella company for several flatbed companies.

 

The hard work with hazmat tankers are the customers that require you to be in a chemical suit to unload. I air-off loads and that usually takes 1-2 hours. Wearing a rubber suit in 100 degree weather for 2 hours isn't fun. Most of my customers don't require a full suit-up. Those are easy, other than wrestling the hose for a few minutes.

 

Holler at me if you wanna go flatbed. My company is hiring and pays out the ###. They also train. We are owned by the Daseke mentioned above, but operate independently. Amazing company for real.

 

And tanker is very easy, with regard to labor. Flatbed isn’t bad if you’ve ever worked in your life. You’ll get dirty and sweat for a while but the pay is excellent and the way you’re treated by other drivers and customers is night and day. You get treated very well as a flatbedder.

 

I was untarping two 100lb+ tarps, rolling them, unstrapping etc. yesterday in western MA. It was 95 degees with 100% humidity and it sputtered rained just enough to make everything steam when the sun came back. Spent 40 minutes and including water break and changing shirts because it was at maximum sweat capacity.

Untarping and unloading is the easier half.

You have spurts of intense physical activity with flatbed but the weather can make it easy or.... Yeah.

 

thick products pumped through a lot of 3" hose can require a lot of effort and the potential for something to go amiss increases with each extra length of hose.

When something goes wrong you do stand a good chance of wearing something you might not like.

Chem suits avoid the necessity of long stays in a burn unit, skin grafts and plastic surgery to possibly look human again.