SO HOW HARD IS it BEING A FLATBEDDER

The whole point is to keep er out of the ditch

 

Geez this thread is 4 1/2 years old....lol. I'll keep it alive by asking a dumb question because..... well I'm good at asking them. How many flatbed job are out there that don't require you to tarp? That seems like the most pain in the butt procedure on the best of days, but doing it in the rain, or freezing and scorching weather would just be a nightmare.

 

You could look into an outfit that pulls connies. Or maybe some local company that only has a few customers. Otherwise you're gonna throw rags unless it's your own ride.

 

It’s not that bad. We do get paid to do it. Well, most of us do anyhow .

 

A nightmare! Don’t you understand what that means? Yep, get caught out in the rain and get wet. This is the worst thing that could possibly happen in life!

But for some reason, I have to agree with you...it’s not that bad. I mean, who hasn’t gotten caught outside in the rain before? What happens when you get caught in the rain and soaked to the bone? Well, when you get done, you peel off your wet clothes and dry off and put your dry clothes and your backup shoes on. So much for the nightmare....

I think it’s important for a flatbedder to be able to tarp. Like everything else, it’s a skill. Just like the securement and the driving. But that’s just it, the biggest thing that the majority of people have against flatbedding is ALLLLLL the extra stuff that they have to do besides driving. If there were people securing and tarping your loads for you, every doorslammer in North America would be pulling a flat.

 

If you want to get paid more than the average driver you gotta do more than average work. I don’t get what’s so scary about it? Just pull your panties up and do the job. The hardest part to any job is overcoming your own fear or preconceived notions about it. It very rarely turns out to be as bad as you think it is.

 

"Anticipation of Death is worse than Death itself."

I realized that every motorcycle trip I've ever taken, every time I go to fuel up, some guy traveling in a car will come up to me and tell me that he wishes that he could do what I am doing. Why can't you?

"Because I am afraid."

Most people that own a motorcycle will not ride 5 miles from the house because they are so afraid of being caught out in the rain. You mean that you are actually afraid to live your life, and do your thing because there is a chance that you will get wet? What's the worst thing that happens when you get wet? You have to peel your underwear off. Sounds tragic!

"But Six, what about the wind and the rain and being blown off a load...?"

I've never have had to tarp a load in the driving wind and rain at the same time. Pouring rain? Well, I've gotten caught in the rain, but it wasn't raining that hard when I started. I chose to stay in the rain because I was almost finished when it started raining.
Personally, I'd rather deal with the rain than the heat of summer, but just like every thing else, you will get used to it. It's part of the job.

 

You would still get cold, wet, sweaty balls, you name it with chaining and throwing straps... Its all part of the job regardless of if your tarping or not.

Anyone wanting to be freshly new into flat bedding and not tarp my advice would be tuck your tail and run fast.

 

Not that hard if you like to work the most for the least amount of money and dodge multiple opportunities to get hurt and screw up your record. Still remember the days when I started at 7am worked until 2 pm, normal people were about to go home and I made exactly $0 for my efforts and 11 hours of driving on top of 7 hours of working was my reward. I wonder how those ELDs work for fladbedders, before ELD you couldn't make much without cooking the book, there was no way. Those a few extra cpm flatbed drivers used to get didn't cover much. Worked more, cooked the book way more, risked health and life more, risk to mess up dac and dot record is way more. Pay was less. I was clinically stupid for almost 4 years to drive a flatbed.

 

This might be the most important untrue post of the year.