Question:
Can someone give me some information on what all is involved in pulling a flatbed, I am considering McElroy but a lot of people I talk to say that I don't want to pull flatbeds. Is it really that much work. I hung drywall for 15 years before the Mexican market to over and the money was gone. so I'm not afraid of a little work. Anyway if anyone can be of help I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks

Answer:
Flatbedding is a lot of dirty hard work. It can also be very dangerous and you must be aware of everything going on around you at all times.
Securing a load is not that bad, and can be done fairly quick, but it is the tarping that sucks and puts the real work (and dirt) into flatbedding. Some tarps can weight more than 70 lbs dry (and a lot more if frozen or iced over).
You are often climbing on and over loads that may place you 10 to 14 feet above the ground and one slip could end your trucking career (and maybe everything) in an instant. Wind can get up under a tarp while trying to secure or remove it and cause serious injury in the blink of an eye.
Now that is the "bad" parts of it. The good parts is that for some reason you seem to get treated better at shippers and recievers. Most of the time you are loaded and unloaded faster than with vans/reefers (though that time can equal out fast with a difficult tarp job), and you will get plenty of excercise pulling a flat bed on a regular basis, and you will almost never have to do any loading or unloading. Also learning flats can lead to some of the better paying specialized freight.
With that said people who try flats either love it or hate it. You need to make up your own mind as to do it or not. There are pro's and con's no matter what type of trailer you pull.
Answer:

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Answer:
Not a driver, but as the nag that sat in the other seat and rode along here is what I saw.
Agree with uturn, hubby took me along to help with tarps, chains and straps. My memories: my vacation week from work, Claymont DE and steel plant in Sparrows Point MD to Detrioit, loading at 4AM sometimes, gee it was cold. Steel coils and thinking about them being behind the sleeper (took me a while to get settled for the night).
Having to wee wee outside in the AM at construction sites before the crew got there (not a good way for the other half to vacation). Company drop yards with horrible facilities. Unloading in the summer in the Miami heat and almost passing out before I got all the straps off.
Most places loaded quickly, especially the construction sites, but plants where you had to wait to get loaded, sometimes were a pain. Mandatory tarping when the stuff was already rusted. Wrapping stuff with plastic then a tarp. Many times other drivers we didn't even know would help when waiting for their loads, and I've seen him have many scrapes and bruises. Some good insurance would be in order, a slip could mean you would be out of work. I didn't do the real hard stuff, after all I was not on the payroll and not insured, just hated to sit and not help. Oh, and sitting at the gate in the guardshack 'cause many companies only allowed drivers on the site. On the other hand, having to take a silly safety test just to get in.
Good thing was we lived in a freigh lane where he got home often. He liked it, but he's now doing LTL and making more, but not home as often. I didn't marry him until he stopped doing that O/O stuff and got a real job (company driver). Less hassle tax time and actually more money.

Answer:
I'm glad I am a flatbedder..
Don't let all these guys scare you, flatbedding isn't all that bad... I pulled reefers for years and dry vans.. they wore me out more than flatbedding..
I get paid detention time if I am there more than 2 hrs.
I get paid to tarp most of the time..
I RARELY ever have an appointment.. I just show up and they take it off:)
(This is what I like the best)
I'm not a company driver any more, I went out and bought my own.. If your thinking of doing that some day, I bet you will find better paying freight in flats and step decks than any reefer or van out there.. (unless you are refering to explosive haulers, or radioactive.. or somthing specialized like household goods)
You have to pay attention to your load, securing it might be a constant battle depending on what your pulling..
But all and all It sounds like you are in shape, and are smart enough to research stuff before you jump in..
You have a lot more equipment you will be responsible for : Those tarps chains, binders, pads, ratchet straps, ropes, coil racks, 4x4 timbers ect... are $$ and bosses don't like it when you tear up a new lumber tarp because you were too lazy, cold, wet, to pad the sharp edges first before you took off with that load of machinery.. now that tarp is shreadded
Never be afraid to ask questions, and never get so arrogant that you think you know everything.. I startede out in 1988 and I know I don't know everything... In fact I try and learn somthing new every day from someone!
Good luck in your decision
Answer:
just keep one thing in mind about flatbeds snow, rain, east coast in january,
Answer:
BigChicken wrote:
Just read what happened to Skid Row Joe.


Answer:
I'm glad I made the switch. Then again did it in April, right at the end of the cold weather. I've only tarped in the snow and ice a few times. I also have the option of choosing what freight I haul. I can cherry pick whats available and take things that don't require tarping or are easy to wrap. I find that I am more motivated by greed than money though... I grab the loads that pay, and sometimes end up with a nightmare of a securement and tarping job.
You'll probably hear one big misconception about flatbedding so let me head that off at the pass. They say that flatbedders don't have as much backing to do. That is hogwash, you'll back up just as much pulling a skateboard, and sometimes it will be much more intense. I once had to back down a service road at a job site for four miles, around bends and corners, and then out onto a busy road. Jobsites are very hazardous to your tires, and I get plenty of jobsite deliveries hauling shingles or lumber. Backing up with spread tandems is a whole new experience too... Especially if you can't dump the air off of one axle to make it easier to turn the thing. You can get to bouncing and break stuff in short order if you mess up. I've seen it happen twice now to other drivers. One lost a driveshaft and the other probably broke a ring and pinion set.
Yes you do get dirty... I carry hand cleaner, several gallons of water, and those baby wipe type things. I go through a lot of gloves, and come home every week with quite a pile of dirty laundry. I get plenty dirty, sweat my (edited) off, and suffer my share of cuts and brusies. On the other hand I am making better than TWO TIMES the money I made pulling vans for Roehl. I rarely drive 3,000 miles a week, and I have a lot of days off. I am very glad I made the switch... Trucking is not a lifestyle for me anymore, it's back to being just a job.
BTW, buy a good pair of safety glasses... Tarp straps will take your eyeball out with glee. It's as if they know exactly where your eyes are too. I have a pair of tinted ones I wear outdoors that don't look like safety glasses. I actually get challenged on whether they are or aren't at some places that I load. Also, get a hard hat. They are usually under ten bucks, and owning your own lid spares you from being the brunt of the joke at some places where you must borrow one. Some places give you a loaner that is a awfully gay looking color, and are usually as small as they can find. I was at one place where they loaned out small red hard hats, then announced "Dog D!ck Walking" before you entered the plant to get your paper work.

Answer:
I pull a double drop RGN and rarely ever have to tarp. Actually I've only tarped one load. Those things really suck and the piddly amount of money they pay you for it is not worth it. I've heard several drivers say they get paid for tarping. but most admit they are not paid for tarping when a load is "pre tarped". Pretarped is usually bs anyway. You still have to tuck the tarp in most times and dragging and folding that thing when finished is a royal pain. Less is always better when it comes to driving. So less work the better also.

Answer:
Screw flatbeds, I wouldn't pull a trailer that required me to tarp unless it was an end dump trailer tarp. Just roll the tarp over the load and secure the tarp at the rear and go. Takes all of about 30 seconds.
I don't understand why drivers that haul coils don't use covered wagon trailers and just bungee the tarp instead of tarping just the coil. Saves time and looks better in my opinion.This is USAF 2T2 and I approve this message.

Answer:
I pull a covered wagon on my dedicated run every other week. It sucks... Tarping is a lot easier, and less work. The covered wagon isn't too bad at the delivery, but it is a pain to load with. I rarely get any coils on my loads, and if I do they are little skidded coils. That means I rarely have to break panels down, if I did I would just sh*tcan that sidekit all together. I get some 99" plates though so that is a real pain in the rear.
Aside from breaking it down, there is the cover. It looks easier to put up than it is. It's not too bad when the trailer is empty but when you have freight in the way it sucks. It also makes securement more of a hassle. Unless you have a trailer like a Reitnouer with the plates, you run into issues with strap placement. I pull a trashcraft eagle and damn if those little floor chains aren't always in the wrong place.

Answer:
Company drivers and O/O's that are leased to large companies tarp A LOT. CRST brokered loads have a notation on every confirmation that "every load must be tarped unless otherwise noted".
Have done vans, reefers, doubles, flats and tankers before. Love my stepdeck and RGNs, probably won't ever own another box of any kind. I don't carry tarps, so I don't have to worry about using them. I will smoke tarp or wrap something small (pallet sized), but not a load of freight.
Most people don't have the option of just not tarping, so it is a large factor when considering flatbedding.

Answer:
I like flatbedding. I have been away from it with current job but I am after boss to get me into it this fall.
I like the fact you really have to get off ur butt and use ur head. I see tarping and straping as a challenge. It may only be finding a new way to do the same job better. But you get to learn things from it.
I always tried to get my tarps looking neat and snug. I wanted it to look like a christmas present all the time. Unless it was a goofy load then you just tried to get it to hold tight.
I did not care for big tarps in the winter but you learn how to deal with it. I always tried to roll my tarps up in away that was easy to unroll incase it was windy or rainy next time I use them.
Also really enjoyed trying to figure all the ways you can tie down a load.
I used the old strap it like im afraid of it then strap it twice more.
Flatbedding has its ups and downs. To me the satisfaction of getting a load on the deck tarping and or straping it and delivering it in the same conditon you got it in outways the downs by allot.

Answer:
I've only had to tarp two loads my entire life. Over all, flatbed pays more than box & reefer. As a company driver I'm making 55.5 cents a mile at the end of the year; all miles included. However, my pay is based on 25% of freight revenue. I've never had to load, unload or pay a lumper. There are a lot more regional oppertunities. I'm mostly home every night. Maybe two or three times a year I have to spend a night in a co. payed motel somewere. And heck I look forward to that there are usually casinos nearby were I go.. It all comes down to knowing whats out there. You can kill yourself to make a buck, or kick back and enjoy the ride.

Answer:
Man, I have done some flatbed work and I would go back to doing it and would only have to think about it for about a half a second. I was doing some of the easiest work in the world up until last Thursday. I was running a belly dump as my name says and all I had to do was drive, get loaded, weigh out, drive to a job site, go where they want it dumped, flip a button, and drive off. You can't get any easier than belly dump work. I pulled flatbed some when I was doing dry bulk work and I loved pulling the flatbed. If you have been doing dry wall for the last 15 years then flatbed work won't be that hard for you. If you have been doing dry wall for that long you ought to be in pretty good shape and pretty strong physically so you should physically be able to do the work involved with flatbed work.