Two different spectrums but heres the question

You listed two companies. Give me a five year plan...where do you want to be? It's like going to college. If you want to play football, you look for the schools with the better football programs. Some schools have better basketball programs. Some play cricket. Where would you like to be in 5 years? See, there's the chance that neither of these companies would be a good fit for your goal. If you want to be the greatest KungFu fighter in the world, you wouldn't go study at Jimmy's Self Defense For Women, would you?

 

Did you just mention cricket? If you even think rugby, we're going to have words . . .

 

IMWO (w=worthless),

Flatbed is for real men.

That's what I want to do.

For the challenge.

Until now, I've been playing with dollies in the middle of the playground. I'm too old for that.

 

I pulled flatbed back in 2009 / 2010.. and I really enjoyed.. so.. I am considering and more than likely will return to flatbed... but I have also been considering giving tanker a try...

But, loose the attitude.... that is going to weigh you down no matter what you pull..

Your first post was lacking.. it did come off as if you were asking someone to decide for you...

Also, could be wrong, but you come off as someone with an over inflared ego... and lugging that around takes away from the pay load...

 

What's to understand? You're asking us if you want to do flatbed. How should we know? By all means, if it appeals to you, go for it. It does open up some doors later on, and, if you don't like it, then you can always switch back to vans.
As for the physical labor aspect, when it comes to hauling freight, I think it tends to be a bit overrated. Of all my jobs running various open deck trailers, freight hauling was probably the least labor intensive. So if you're expecting it to take the place of or serve as a workout regimen, don't.
If you're diligent about making sure it's loaded and secured properly, go for it. If you don't mind that it'll suck ### sometimes when it's cold and windy out and you've gotta throw a tarp out there, by all means, go for it.
For freight hauling, flatbed is something you should probably look at more for the experience than the amount of labor... you might put in a couple hours loading, then just be driving for the next few days. Yes, there's labor in flatbed. But someone who often has to unload a van with a pallet jack or do driver unload for something like, let's say, tires, would probably not be impressed with the amount.
You'll be scrutinized a bit more by Barney. If you do what you're supposed to properly, it's no big deal. Do your load securement checks, ask questions of other flatbedders (but be discriminatory about which ones you ask) and you'll have what you need.
None of us know you from Adam, so how are we supposed to know which one you want to do? Sorry, but ask a question like that, and you kinda leave yourself open to it.

 

As for the companies you mentioned, I'm afraid I don't know much about them or what they haul. Another thing about flatbed is that you can see quite a bit of variety out there insofar as what kind of freight you get goes. So you do have to be a bit adaptive. My last OTR gig, I ran a lot of loads out of Daktronics, and they'd have LED billboards like you'd see at stadiums and other arenas, the accompanying hardware, etc., and these boards were all varying sizes, so you often had to be creative in how you had it loaded on the trailer, how you tarped it, etc. IMO, that's where the challenge in flatbedding lies, more so than the labor aspect.
By the way, invest in a good ladder if you go the flatbed route, as well as a good hammer... WalMart sells the Stanley FatMax hammers.. they're single piece, very solid.. a prybar would be good to have, also.

 

I pull flatbed 1 day out of the week on my regular local route in the greater Cleveland metro area, in my `96 PB 379 with a 48' fontaine spread.

On this route, I pickup cardboard bales from companies that compact cardboard, but have no realistic way of getting them into a roll off container (it's simpler just to have a local boy roll through with a forklift and take `em away in under 10 min.) Some of my stops are in areas of the city that the infrastructure was never meant to have a modern big truck roll down, let alone alley dock in/around.

It's a pain in the ###, but I love it. Tossing straps, yanking chains and turning ratchets ain't sissy work. Neither is the open top dump I do on Tuesdays and the residential sanitation I do for the same company between wed-thurs, between all of them I've gotten back into great physical condition.
However, the long term costs of that are my joints. Without a second of a doubt, if I do this job for a long period; my joints will be destroyed. Part of it is my weight, part of it is that I'm impatient and more likely to jump off the skateboard than carefully climb down. That and I climb down and out of a mack/volvo cabover garbage truck about 3,000 times a week. Oh and I throw 20,000 lb's of trash, by hand into the side of a truck over a period of three days. And fall 3 times a day when there's ice on the ground.

POINT IS. Ya' better have fuz on your nuts to get that job done. And if you don't, you'll get some, or you won't make it.
Simple as that.

 

If you're debating between flatbed and box, consider the places you'll be picking up and delivering.

I chose flatbed because cause I liked what I was hauling. I like job sites, warehouses and new construction. I like seeing what the product is being made into. I had no desire to be sitting at a dock at a walmart DC.
A year in and I still love flats. It's dirty. It's a pain in the ###. And it takes time. But, I'm happy with it so it's not a chore (most days, Lol)

and i I know nothing about either company you listed.