Tarping sucks!

Thats waay cool.

My wife,.. bless her heart,.. bought one of the el cheapo flea market versions 2 yrs ago. Not sure who was more frustrated with it,.. me or my Rotti. I was finally so fed up with it I let my little girl get it and chew it up. Problem solved. I sucked as a pilot. Between the wind and chasing it to get it out of our tree,.. I couldnt fly that thing to save my life.

My wife felt bad when I told her our dog ate it,.. then had the brilliant idea to buy me a larger helicopter. Aside from be afraid it might take off a limb,.. I'm afraid tofly that thing too. Its sitting on the shelf here in my bedroom with maybe 1hr of crashing flight. Got my neighbors kid to climb up on the roof to get it the last time I tried to fly it. I've hinted to her that I really want one of those gas powered Traxxis. She looks at the prices and thinks $60 make for a nice helicopter. I'll never get her to spend the money for what I really want,.. LOL

Hurst

 

It's all part of the game. Like Ron said, I'd rather be tarping than delivering to a grocery warehouse. I've done my share of Wakefern and C&S. I also don't get a mere $50 for my tarp jobs either.

 

The tarp job (unless its machinery load) adds an hr to the load, the untarping, straps, and/or chains are done during the delivery! 30.00 an hr for a single trlr aint bad pay.

I used to sometimes tarp and haul up to 3 loads of plywood a day for Boise Cascade, could strap and tarp a good square load on a set of maxi's in 45 mins. Tarp pay was 40.00 x 3 = 120.00 a day for tarps.
~40,000.00 a year local job in the 80's~

When I hauled cars, I would sometimes spend up to 6 hrs loading. Walking up to 1/4 mile for each car (dead batts etc...).
~62,000.00 a year average over 9 yrs in the 90's~

Reefer, about 3-4 hrs to break down a load of lettuce/celery = 80.00
~50,000.00 a year average over 2 yrs~

Hey its part of the job! I have learned to think of trucking as a salary job, otherwise I would have quit my first year (1984).

 

Well? I don't know what's under that tarp, but I have hauled freight of similar size, with lots of sharp edges, furniture blackest help out a lot with that, still never took 3 hours, I'd post pics, but I've never been one to hang around carrying a camera, once the work was done, it was time to get rolling

 

I see you're from Spokane. I worked for Cliff Reed for 8 years. Almost always tarped. Imagine some of these people if they found out that sometimes you had to tarp and chain up once or twice in the same day!

 

My wife will pay me not to have sex with her lol

 

Could not agree more with this post, and that's exactly what I did! After taking a two day securement course, I dived in head first. Yes, I was able to get a lot of help from drivers along the way (both on and off TTR), but you really do have to accept that there is going to be a learning curve along the way as a new owner op in a niche that you have never hauled before.

Now that I've gotten some experience in dealing with agents and negotiating rates, I rarely take less than at least a $150 break out for tarping, $250 if it is large/extensive, but no less than $100 if it's just a small tarp job. I used to carry 2 8' tarps, but after my first full trailer lumber load, I said never again! Wind and 8' foot drop tarps don't mix haha. Now I carry one 8', one 6', one 4', and a coil bag .

About the actual work: I'll admit that it's a guilty pleasure, especially now that I've become half-way quick about it! It really is a good feeling to step back and see a load tarped up nice and tight, not blowing around or ballooning out as you drive down the road, and even getting compliments from other drivers.

 

Now that's a keeper!

 

Wrapped that up in about 50 minutes. Including putting on and taking off my coveralls and putting everything away.

Sure it's a simple load but if I had stood around and moaned about it, then complained about it on TRR, it might have taken a lot longer.

 

So, what do you think MJ? Turned out to be an awesome thread. With pictures for the illiterate and the ignorant! Not from just one driver, but multiple drivers showing top level abilities. Gentlemen, I salute you.

Rookies and wannabes, whatever company you go to for flatbed training, take full advantage of learning on their dime. Because if you ever want to pull high end freight, if you ever want to be an owner operator, if you ever want to heavyhaul and pull stupid money loads, you are going to have to be able to tarp and tarp well. Learn on company tarps and learn as much as you can. When you can tarp loads without ruining the tarps, then you're ready for the next step.