What's your experience with Flatbed, Reefer and Dry Trailer

I'm a new driver on the forum about to start CDL school on monday. I know the basic differences between the types of trailers and companies you could pull. I'm looking for some experienced drivers to chime in on the pro's and con's of each one and which one you prefer to drive. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Flatbed drivers are sweaty and fat. Reefer drivers are cold and fat. Dry trailer drivers are just plain fat

 

Tanker drivers are the best. Won't see those guys hanging around truck stops waiting on a load. They keep the wheels turning.

 

Thanks chinatown, am I right by thinking you need hazmat and tanker for most of those jobs?

 

If you have a dry van, at least you have some shelter in bad weather if you have to wait in a yard or construction site for someone to offload you...each one has its positives and negatives, though.

 

Yes, for most of those jobs, unless it's food grade product.
Tanker drivers make good money right out of CDL school and throughout their career.
Which city are you near?

 

I enjoy tanker the most but just starting off it might not be great, it can nerve wrecking for sure. I got started in flatbed, never done reefer or dry van. I'd highly recommend going to a good flatbed company that has a student driver program. You will learn so much more that way about the industry than you will jumping into van.

 

You can gain valuable experience from any and all of them, but I'm not sure you can definitively state that you'll learn more hauling flatbed over van. Yes, building a flatbed load takes some experience, but a van has challenges that a flatbed typically doesn't have: you'll typically spend more time backing a van than a flatbed, with less visibility, and sometimes in much more confined spaces. Sometimes the opposite can be true, you'll have more challenges with a flatbed, but I think this would be the exception to the rule. That being said, I have been able to gain valuable experience from vans, flatbeds, and tankers that have helped me out as the years go by.

 

Don't do Reefer unless you wanna live the rest of your life on antidepressants and be sleep deprived

 

With a refer you get air conditioned shelter.