Flatbed questions, how much physical work is involved?

Ask good questions.

 

1. Pay, tarp pay, breakdown pay, detention pay, holiday pay. Ask how much the average driver makes and how much the highest paid driver earns. Top drivers usually make 1.5-2X average. The exception are those communist places that try to insure that all of the drivers make the same amount. If you are average, that’s good, but if you are a hard charger, you get penalized big time.
2. Micromanagement. Some places will try to micromanage you. They will have securement checklists that you have to sign and send back in, take pictures of the load, securement, tarp jobs…etc.
If your company pulls brokered freight, beware. Brokers will try to micromanage you to death. Most companies can track a load, and share the tracking with brokers, but brokers will still blow your phone up every 30 minutes. I personally don’t micromanage well and so brokers will usually text threatening messages (your travel agent will give out your number). There’s nothing in my operation contract that says anything about me agreeing to micromanagement or having my phone blown up, SO I dont play.
3. The truck. Governed speed(65 minimum), engine idle policies, bobtail policies (if you pull OSOW, you WILL bobtail), maintenance…
I don’t know how true this is, but I heard that some companies make their company drivers pay for their securement and tarps. I’ve never dealt with that, and I would have to read the contract before speaking on it.
4. Self defense policies. Most big companies are no go. If they don’t mention anything about it, don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t volunteer personal information…get my drift? If the person you’re talking to has stones (you can tell, they don’t ever get offended or get defensive in conversation…always chill), you can ask. If they read you the official answer and then say something vague, read between the lines.
5. Freight lane. Most companies will have dedicated customers. They may run all 48, but the more you go out of their lane, the more you will sit (no detention pay since you are empty)and the more you will have to deal with load board freight and slumlord brokers. Stay in the freight lane and make much more money.

 

How much physical work is involved?

It's no worse than chopping firewood.

In weather like we've had of late.

In the middle of the day.

Hey....you can handle that, with no problem....right?

-- L

 

bunches.....

 

The company will be vague because they never know if the applicant will sue them or not. The usual exception is if you clearly don't meet some objective standard. If their insurance company requires new-hires have X years experience and you only have 80% of that X, they might say you don't have enough experience. If you have too many gaps in employment, they might say that or they might say nothing. If it comes down to some personal characteristic they almost certainly will never say why they didn't hire you. The company doesn't want to be sued and they don't know who will sue. Companies with agility tests, for example, may not want to pay for a 75 year old driver with a history of office work, to travel across the country to die while carrying a 100 pound weight the length of a trailer, so they just don't reply to the applicant. The company cannot say the applicant is too old as age is one of the few protected classes you aren't permitted to notice, so you don't write an email saying "you are too old". You can say nothing or say your job history doesn't make Elmer a good candidate. Employers get to make choices.

 

Just to footnote tscottme's post above -- given how bad freight rates and freight volumes are right now -- it's tough to grasp just how picky carriers are getting about who, when...and where they hire (if/when they in fact do any hiring, at all).

This is not your usual, normal "get a CDL and then get a job" commercial job market that everyone has been used to.

-- L

 

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