Why do flatbed over van/reefer? I don't see the extra money

For company drivers, I don't see why you would choose based on pay.

I don't see why they couldn't just pull dry van instead for less hassle than either of them.

 

3 years ago I went to cdl class with 15 other students at the mega R out of Gary.

50% didn’t belong driving a semi much less securing a open deck load and a few were begging to get transferred to reefer before they even learned to secure a load .

I never did my over the road training with them but remain in contact with a fellow classmate who remains in contact with all the other students .

Within a month all the other students but him washed out of trucking for good .

He lasted 3 months and quit and went to driving reefer with another company stating the risk of fall at our ages of 55 and bs of tarping in winter wasn’t worth it for the pennies extra.

Kind of my thoughts these days also possibly going out as a O/O in the Spring.

I’m no stranger to securing loads or risk of falling having drivin a 24’ dump straight truck delivering loads to new construction as a teen.

I took a hard very unexpected fall out on a boat on a calm Atlantic 25 years ago breaking 3 ribs despite growing up sailing large sailboats in heavy weather from the age of 5 .

Than 3 years ago took a wipeout on a icey step and instead of taking my fall I reached for the railing adding a blown out shoulder to my cracked ribs and herniated disc.

3 months bed ridden healing and shoulder that still has pain if over used.

I have always looked at the consequences of Actions after experiencing a painful snow skiing accident at 12.

For an O/O Add in the cost for a quality open deck and the securement equipment and tarps and the startup costs are quite a bit more than a good used van.

Add in the poorer fuel mileage it starts to even the playing field for cpm at today’s rates.

Just my observation lately.

Having spent 15 months hauling milk there is a few dairies I spent many a night playing leapfrog every hour that would put reefer wait time deliveries to shame.

 

Careful picking on the Tarp Monkeys.

They’ll Fling Poo at you from atop of their lonely perches of lumber .

 

A couple of observations:

1) YOU ALWAYS TAKE THE FALL, NO MATTER WHAT!!!

2) The skills of water skiing transfer directly to the skills of snow skiing. This Alabama redneck excelled at snow skiing on his first day (just don't jump out of the lift if you lose your ski at the bottom. Lift attendants have a hissy fit).

 

@Western flyer is correct. I mean, Geez, some (not all) act like they're landscapers or construction workers. If a team of flat-bedders and a team of roofers did a "work hard" competition, who would you bet on? Flat-bedding would be a cake walk to me. "Oh, dang, I have to roll up a tarp tomorrow after sitting on my buttox for 30 hours. I'm so manly! Manly I tell you!"

Please note that I'm just kidding around, y'all.

 

Of all the stupid stunts I pulled snowskiing as a young and dumb bulletproof kid I ultimately got Put down by a Mental Rental and left for dead while standing idle on top of a slope that was intersected by a higher slope .

Skied 2 more years after recovering but never as hard and carefree as I used to.

Lost interest at that point though growing up skiing from the age of 4 with a much older brother who was a excellent skier.

And being a heavy duty wake jumping water skier growing up skiing at age of 6 behind a 26 foot twin engine cigarette boat that minimum speed was 30 to maintain plane I did myself in with a hernia 20 years ago skiing.

Being in the parasail business all the kids working for me were getting into wake boarding and I used to tow them around behind my 31 foot parasail boat with the wake of the titanic

I dragged out my old favorite slalom ski and Proclaimed I was going to show these kids how it was done.

About the fifth face plant jumping a 2 foot wake at twice the speed those sissy kids wake boarded at was the end of my water skiing career.

Still have the hernia today to prove it.

 

I’ve done both flat roof tar roofing up north and shingle roofing on my own house down here in Florida and only on a 4/12 in April .

I’ve dug a lot of ditches and hand backfilled many basements and garages along with spreading stone in basements growing up working in my dads construction business.

I’ll take a shovel any day over a roofing hammer or throwing 50 acres of 40 pound hay bails 8 tiers up on a 50 foot implement trailer in the evening after already working 10 hours farming .

Young nDumb was my motto as a kid.

The main reason I looked at trucking was the contained environment of the cab after suffering through too many SW Florida summers

Even in 50 below hauling milk in Wisconsin couple years back it was Pure Luxury compared to my work environment of the past and that includes being out on the Gulf of Mexico with boatloads of bikinis parasailing for a living.

Now an hour ir 2 of doing Tarp Monkey duties in 50 below would just be Stupid.

Would kind of defeat the whole thought process.

 

I’m going to be forced to give up the physical labor side of my job toward the end of the year, at least for a few months (shoulder surgery).

One option is becoming an estimator for a contractor friend of mine (Bob). He actually wants to start a roofing company. The owner of the company that reroofed my house told Bob that he currently has 140 homes contracted for new roofs, and current lead times are weeks, if not months.

All those roofs put on after hurricane Ivan are now 15 years old, and insurance companies are forcing all of them to get a new roof or be dropped.

Bob admonishes me frequently that my income will always be limited if I work with my hands. He points out that the way to do it is to make money off 10-20 other people using their hands.

He’s right. I think I’m going to download Duolingo and learn Spanish.

 

That all sounds great until the customers start calling you (the estimator who promised them the moon) complaining and cussing at YOU because the neighbor behind them spotted one of the roofers pissing on the back side of the roof. Or, favorite flowers were trampled, roofers ogling at their 13 year old daughter, left debris all over the yard when done, didn't properly tarp the roof after tear-off and thunderstorm rolls in dropping 1" of rain in 20 minutes and destroyed part of their inside sheetrock. Man, I could go on and on. I was in that industry for 25 years. I'll take being a one man owner operator any day of the week