Dry van vs reefer vs flat bed, what’s best for solo money-wise

It’s not about the trailer you pull as much as the style of running (local, regional, or OTR) and the carrier’s average work load and compensation scheme. Lots of different combinations and gross pay possibilities. Also where you call home and what you want and what you expect from the job and what you can bring to the job are important.

 

Refrigerated is good, if you go with a high quality company. Those long wait times aren't so bad if you're getting stop pay plus detention pay. For example, Freymiller stop pay and detention pay is automatic based on your Elog. No begging and pleading for the money that's owed to you. To go there though, you need to be a new cdl grad or have 6 mos. experience.
Which company are you going with. Better ask about freight lanes for dry van & flatbed. Many flatbed divisions are short haul.

 

Ltl regional. Out 5 home 2. Hotels are your sleeper. High 60 cent range on pay.

 

Take the flatbed, you wont be sorry.

I automatically reject anything less than .40, they have been paying .30 something cents since many of you have been alive on this earth. Cheapstakes.

 

Depends on how hard you want to work, especially if you have a large load needs tarping. Dry vans are already tarped. I'm with Chinatown, reefer frieght pays well, just stay away from lumping, it's bad for your body, take it from someone who knows.

 

Man, honestly, if it is your first gig just go with what you think you will enjoy doing. It's a crap shoot because cpm is only a fraction of the equation. You will definitely be more active doing flatbed work, but it's still not very physically demanding. Every division has pros and cons. If your planning on going with TMC later, it might be a good idea to start out flatbedding. Though keep in mind, TMC has a specific way they train their drivers, so you might have to "re-learn" some stuff if you switch to TMC.

Does pulling a tank not interest you?

 

When it comes to tarp work, it can be 30 minutes or 6 hours and more. All depends on the load and the work needed to do the job.