Maverick: Want to hear why people are quiting

Apparently, 4 years with one company makes him an expert on all open deck freight. My drivers haul a lot of equipment. When OD they get a minimum of .06/mi add'l. They also do lots of multiple stops that take 30 minutes each. My drivers are rarely at a shipper or consignee for more than 2 hours. They would not switch to pulling vans if given the choice.

 

I wouldn't either. I love flatbedding. I guess I'm just stupid like he says.

 

Frankly what your saying is completely 180 degrees from actual truth.

The only sitting that you will do as a flatbed would be a lumber mill or steel mill and generally unless there's a malfunction with shippers equipment the lines move swift.

If you think there's no $$ in flatbed...well, all I can say is that incorrect. Next to chemical tanks, flatbedding is a good $$ making sector of this industry because it takes more than a steering wheel holder to succeed pulling a flatbed.

 

That and most receivers for flats have you empty about as fast as you can get your securement off.

 

NO weaseling out please, I was talking about generic flatbedding, nothing specialized. I did quite a few OD load for extra 5cpm, nope, there is no great monetary gain there. Day time travel only, (lots of) extra unpaid miles due to permit routing, extra stress & butt pain. Even though I've heard about the greener pastures of specialized flatbedding, in my humble opinion, the rumors are greatly exaggerated.

 

What in the hell, I gave SPECIFIC points, you wrote generic general BS that you think somehow disprove what I said. I you want to argue with, argue specific points, leave generalities for a motivational speech.

 

No...what I'm saying is flatbedding isn't for everyone.

One unique aspect of this industry is you can choose what type of equipment you want to pull . You just said there's basically no $$ in flatbed..yeah, some co's you'll make $$ & some you might not but to generally to say there's no $$ is incorrect .

 

Your specific points are just generalizations based on your own experiences. I shower usually every other day. I get to consignee and get unloaded and put away within an hour 90% of the time. I sleep 7-8 hours a night, I eat meals and I might be at a shipper for more than 2 hours twice a month. I run 2500+ miles weekly and I'm home every weekend. I also run elogs so I can't fudge my times. Everyone's experience and point of view will be different and flats wasn't for you, but you don't need to insult people for doing a job that you decided wasn't for you.

 

Yes, small receivers generally (but not always) are fast to unload you (if fast is possible). Construction site deliveries can become very "special" they will unload you in 1 hour and it will take them 4 hours+ to verify & check their crap. Loading time depends on a load, sometimes it takes hours and hours to load a flatbed with all that junk. And guess what, YOU are responsible for how it's loaded.

Unfortunately, flatbed customers work strictly Monday-Friday. OTR flatbedding is technically 5 days/week business, it's critical to get unloaded and reloaded on Friday or you'll sit. Unfortunately #2, if you drive a flatbed your Friday load (if lucky) will be (much) less than 800 miles. Considering all of the above, If you don't get 34 hours/week home time, you should talk to a professional about your urge to drive a flatbed, it's possible you've been abused as a child and subconsciously you try to replace the old pain with an image of a tough flatbed trucker you are.

BUT, if you want loading/unloading nightmare there are enough of large flatbed customers out there. I was jumping with joy in Chicago if they loaded me with pipe in less than 5 hours, sometimes they took 14 hours of their precious time. Nope, flatbed companies don't like to pay detention, I don't know whether they cut each other' throats and don't risk losing their customers over delay charges, or they pocket every penny they get, the point is - flatbed drivers don't get even a small fraction of detention pay they "deserved". I've been insulted with $14 detention payments only twice in my flatbed career. $14/day, sounds good? I had no trouble at all getting my van detentions even with Schneider. Actually, it was automated, you send you macros, they pay you detention according to the time stamps. Nope, there is nothing like that in flatbedding.

 

Nope, you are not a "for hire" OTR flat-bedder, you do something dedicated or specialized. Your experiences and view point reflect that. Maybe you should try REAL flatbedding one of this years and then tell us all about it?