Difference in difficulty of labor in Tanker and Flat Bed

Tanker or flatbed? Tanker.
You don't have to tarp a tanker.
You never see chains and binders on a tanker.
You don't have to deal with forklift drivers who pretend they don't speak English.
You usually load and unload yourself.
A tanker's load is never side heavy.
A tanker's load won't fall off in the middle of rush hour traffic.
If you're hauling a lot of the same material...wet or dry... you'll learn your capacity and your weights will be easy to keep legal.
Customers are usually glad to see you.
There's more, a lot more, but I'd personally choose tankers over flatbed.
I've seen drivers switch from flat bed to tanker but I've never seen anybody switch back.

 

It takes really good backing skills to pull a flat. Sure half the time its a side load or unload but the other half is blind side backing into a hole at a steel mill built when trucks were much shorter and trailers were only 40 ft long, or backing under a crane at a jobsite and you need to be positioned perfect so he can lift your load and you don't have the benefit of lines on the ground.

As for the physical labor, neither are tough. Anyone saying dragging hoses out for the tanks or tarping a flatbed load just means they have never done a day of real work. Yes you will break a sweat and get dirty tarping in July, but that's why truck stops have showers. Just stay hydrated.

 

Burn units are very brutal.

The loss of your skin itself uncovers everything under. You will learn two things. First you cannot get and stay warm. You will freeze as your core temp drops towards room temp. Once below 80 your brain ceases to function towards death.

Second, you will need huge amounts of fluids. They will run gallons via IV and take it out of you by catheter before said gallons kill you by water toxicity.

Third, the pain. There is a big fuse in your brain that will simply take it off line when you have experienced very special pain at very massive enough levels for you personally. There is no pain medicine strong enough to fight such a thing.

It will be worser in pain as the new skin begins to reconstruct your new nerves for everything over time.

If you are in a burn unit and are fixing to cry like a year old (And right fully so...) sing a song instead. It's the very fastest way to have the nurses motivated to give you that little TLC.

And the worst thing? 90% of people in there with you probably blew themselves up trying to cook up drugs.

 

The pivot point on a spread floats around when backing at an angle, less if you are empty. just watch the trailer and expect it it shift to the rear axle when you are "getting under it". It will usually pivot right behind the front axle when you are putting it in the hole, if you are not too heavy, then when you start to straighten out it shifts to the back axle. If it rains and is wet then it will favor the rear axle, or if you are backing up a hill it will favor the back.

I wouldn't say it's harder, it's just different. Closed tandems seem squirlley to me after backing a spread for a while.

 

Flatbeds don’t need washed out and have bankers hours for the most part.

 

I started flatbed, tried van and reefer but hated it. Took a local tanker job but was bored to tears standing and staring at a gauge for 45 minutes to an hour at a time. So boring. The money was decent. But I couldn’t do that and then drive home 40 minutes back. And then 8 hours later back to an hour drive to work. No thanks. I went back to flatbed and I am so glad I did.

I haven’t waited 2-3 hours at a silo to hook up a hose and wait an hour staring at a gauge since lol

 

Easily bored, eh?
When I started driving tanker one of my first loads was to a lumber mill. It was raining cats and dogs and the wind was blowing about 20 knots.
Next to where I was unloading was the tarping and tie down area for the lumber trucks. I watched those guys and remembered when I did the same thing. I had no desire to do it again.
I was probably making more money watching them tarp than they were getting to do the work.

 

I saw someone working hard one time when I was a kid. That scared me so much I got my CDL.

 

I think people get shook hearing the tarping in wind stories. You’d be amazed at how not difficult hanging a binder on a D ring and going about your business is.

 

Flat is great unless you use more than two tarps.

Tankers are pretty easy. Except for the surge and breaking down hill with super singles on the trailer in the rain.