Flat Bed vs dryvan/refer

No good answer here, everyone is different. Depends on you Van/Refer get ready to keep count of pallets and make sure you get good pallets back. You will sit waiting to get loaded with both. alot of wasted time. Flatbed get ready to have some warm cloths in the winter, Rain suit, and sinker weights for when the wind grabs your tarp. Good side most all places happy to see for loading and unloading. Like i said no set job for everyone

 

Here is the pay breakdown; though not carved in stone, sometimes flatbed & reefer switch places.

#1 - Tanker/hazmat
#2 - Reefer
#3 - Flatbed
#4 - Dry van

Most drivers go into one of these 4 areas. There are specialty areas such as car hauling, household goods, boats, mobile homes, heavy haul,etc.

Don't be afraid of flatbed, it's great and gets in the blood. It's not that hard. Tarping's not hard after you get a couple weeks experience. Most quality flatbed companies teach load securement before sending you out on the road. Some like Melton Truck Lines and System Transport even have APU's.

Tanker/hazmat is easy and pays very well. With the endorsements, passport, TWIC, you can be in the $60K to $70K payrange within 12 - 24 months if you spend time researching companies.

Reefer is good, I did it many years, just get with a good OTR company that pays detention pay while you wait to unload or load. Usually will make more money OTR than regional. The exception is food service; great pay, lots of hometime if that's what you want.

Don't have anything positive to say about dry van, from my brief experience with it.

 

flat bed has more long range opertunities like over size which pays good.ive done the dry box and refer alot of waiting around in line, there is hard work in flat bedding,tarping is not always easy they are heavy,more so when tarping odd shaped over size loads,but it's somthing i love doing wouldnt do any thing but flat bed.As an O/O i hated dry box and refer with lumper fee's and pallet's and I waited for load and unload a lot more then I wait doing flat bed.

 

My suggestion would be start with a dry van or reefer. Get some miles and slow maneuvering under your belt first then look at tanks or flats. There is plenty to learn about handling tankers with shifting centers of gravity, high centers of gravity and load securement on flats, without also learning to be a proficient truck driver too. Good luck.

 

i wont do anything but flatbed anymore been doing it to long and still love doing it.there is a lot to learn but still only one way to learn it.most company's wont even look at you until after at least 6mon's, but i would be looking then if you want to do flatbed.i currently do heavy haul and oversize along with flatbed loads but i really enjoy the challanges it provides. but what ever you decide to do happiness is the key, good luck