Should I leave LTL and go back to flatbed?

Yeah Goodluck raising a family on less than 40 hours.

 

Ya maybe I’m a bit biased because I’m raising a family on 60 hours a week with time and a half for overtime and it’s tight. We live in a single wide in the country that we redone because it was fairly rough when we got it. One vehicle paid for the other a $20,000 pickup. We don’t live high on the hog I promise.

 

It’s tough no doubt. I pay $2500 a month for a townhouse in NW Oregon. Cost of living is stupid out here. Single income family of 5. We aren’t poor, but you can’t work less than 40 hours and be anywhere close to comfortable.

 

Your post feels like you're leaning towards going back to flatbed. What's telling for me is that you said you loved flatbed. If your flatbed gig was paying you good money, I fail to see why you left it. I understand LTL will pay you more, but if what you have currently works, then you stick with it. The sexy thing in trucking is to go to LTL, linehaul, or P/D. I think the sexier thing is fulfillment. If it were me in your situation, I'd totally go back to flatbed. The money may not be as good as the Southeastern at its peak, but its good money, good enough money, and you are happy. Now here's a disclaimer: trucking gets fickle from time to time. You can't always look for a change when there are downturns. You must ride them out sometimes.