flatbedding, tough group to get into?

With the rider? I think if they want to take the dog it's either O/O or lease, a rider however, just ask the FM for the slip.

 

Backfires some times. I had a driver in CA totally lose it. Jumped off his load and trailer, got out his winch bar and started screaming and smashing his truck with the winch bar. Did this on and off for about 3 hours. Shipper unloaded him and kicked him off the property. We nearly lost the account, can't afford to lose backhaul out of CA.

 

Anger control is good when getting a preload, use the rage to get a bend out of the rubrail, shove the cheater bar in there and pull or push it.

 

I want to be a flatbedder... Of course I'm not as young as I once was! But, friday was one of those days that every interested in flatbed should experience early because if you can't stand the heat...well stay of the deck! Jerk mngr at the tractor supply in sherman Tx "couldn't" unload me because they were short handed but everytime I went to check he was just standing around.. 4 hours in the parkinglot finally unloaded then jet down to get next load at 2pm north dallas, 105 degrees and 1 jacked up load. took me 2.5 hours to secure, no shade, no wind, no time to say forget this. I don't care how good I feel about securing my load, I still look back at least 50-60 times driving to make sure there is no shift! bumper to bumper for 1.5 hours just to get to the south side of dallas so I could put it in the wind but yes I did it, I stopped to check that the load was still secure. Then well lets just say I cheated a little between the 75 mph signs! I still remember sitting in the a/c waiting on the green light then sweating while I closed the doors and ran back to the comfort of my cab. Whose idea was it to get into flatbedding?

 

It's not always roses, but it sure in the heck beats slamming doors. Sitting in the truck for hours, brain rotting away waiting for the lumpers to get that crap frozen load broken down from 20 pallets to 200. I'll deal with the heat.

 

I am presently in school and have it narrowed down to Maverick (Glass division) , Watkins Shepard. Roehl and Boyd. They all seem like good companies and seem to have great training and support to all the experienced drivers for their wisdom. I would look forward to comments with regard to flatbedding glass. Thanks Btw, choosing a company is harder than the school...

 

JimmyT, check in to the Roehl Driver's forum. There are an awful lot of honest current and former drivers on there. I'd listen to Lantern, Treefork, Mic, and Tank to name a few. I've left some out, not because I woudln't listen to them but mostly because I can't spell their names and I'm not going to look them up.

 

I'd chose Maverick over Roehl. Better equipment and seems like the Roehl drivers are always sitting empty at the truckstop. I see the maverick guys loaded, going down the road.

 

I work for roehl and do fairly well. You'll be paid more at maverick but they have automatic transmissions which was a deal breaker for me. They also don't hire out if Florida.

I make decent money at roehl, my last three paychecks were 4 digit net. I'm empty at truck stops a lot but usually because I deadhead a lot to loads, so I usually empty out and shutdown for the day. It also depends where your at in the country at that time.

I'll bet money on it though that maverick will have more freight. Our freight for flats is growing fast also. We get paid to tarp and untarp, the maverick driver I spoke to in Alabama said he doesn't get paid to tarp. Its all in his cpm. Which he did make 10cpm more than I did. He also got a lot if miles and was home every weekend because where he lived.

Ethan