How to bid LTL flatbed

Sounds like a good application for a curtain van or a roll tarp.

 

That’s the best way to do legal LTL work. I’ve done LTL with tarps and quickdraws. QuickDraws are much more efficient. Lots of times I would be unloaded by the time I had my straps rolled up. Sign the paperwork and close the trailer in less then a minute. Screwing with tarps 5 times a day flat out sucks in my opinion.

 

My experience is LTL is all about time management and communication. I have many years of experience doing what you’re describing and I have a hard time seeing it done on a regular opendeck flat with tarps. We ran building products in 53’ curtains used and that was difficult enough on a two to three day 1200 mile 9 stop run. If you’re bidding to do it traditional open deck I’d be looking for A LOT of money. Taking into account the physical issues you mentioned I think it would exacerbate them being in and out of the truck and tarping/untarping the load.

 

So you’re bidding on hauling cargo for someone else to
Make all The profit ?

or are
You going to buy your own truck and use it for this new customer ?

 

This isn’t LTL, sounds like it’s more truck load freight with lots of drops. Stuff like this I don’t price by miles but rather by time. If I was approached to bid something like this I would look at the load and figure how many days I would have in it, out and back, and just put a daily rate on it.

 

I agree with Oscar. This is day rate and/or hourly IMO. Use a conestoga or curtain side for it figure out what your time is worth. As the driver forwarding such a solid sales lead to the carrier, you should get a nice sales commission for your efforts as well.