Looking for Flatbed Opportunities – Owner Operator

Check with Mercer,fill out an app and a recruiter will contact you.They have a basic training program for load securement that takes about a week for new flatbed drivers.
It's a lot of work.Money might be tight for a month or 2 once you start hauling freight,but it gets better if you stay with it.

 

Landstar.
They do securement training.

 

Get this manual on Amazon. It gives the legal requirements for strapping things down. Probably better training than a lot of companies will give you.

 

If you add that those requirements are MINIMUMS and any smart driver should almost always exceed those minimums.

 

Just a heads up for anyone considering Mercer — especially if you’re thinking about doing a lease-purchase through them.

I ran for Mercer for years under a lease-purchase deal on a brand-new trailer. I made consistent payments, was near the end of the lease, and then they suddenly terminated my contract, refused further trailer payments, repossessed the trailer, and sued me anyway for the full trailer value plus $60,000+ in legal fees.

They even filed a Texas judgment abstract with a handwritten amount that no judge ever awarded. The legal abuse I’ve gone through is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in trucking.

So yeah — the securement training might be solid. But if you're thinking about leasing equipment through Mercer, especially if payments are tied to dispatch settlements, you need to read every word of that contract and ask what happens if they cut off your settlement stream. Because that’s exactly how they turn drivers into debt targets.

More info here if you're curious: Mercer Trailer Lease – What Happened After They Took My Trailer Back

 

The FMCSA has that securement manual available for free in .pdf format.

 

If they do, you need should provide a link to that free securement manual in .pdf format so they can download it.
I've been searching, and haven't found it, but since I use the online html version for references, I don't need it, but this person might.

Whoa, look what I found. It's not FMCSA, but it's the North American Cargo Securement Standard that the OP can download and use. Very good graphics and explanatory descriptions to understand the basic theory and purpose.

 

Could this be it:

Understanding FMCSA's Cargo Securement Rules | PDF | Cargo | Rope

 

It might be, but if I have to give it my email or sign on with Google, it's not free, so no, but if I can download that from a .gov site, then it's free. It's also a little dated, isn't it? 21 years.
However, thanks for an additional link.