Question:
After school is over with I was thinking about going to Roehl or Werner to pull a flatbed to get my year in and then try for Mavrick....
What would be the best company to go with? or would you suggest another flatbed company to try for before Mavrick?

Answer:

Why so gung-ho about pulling a skateboard? I don't know about the Big Blue Screw (Werner) but Roehl gives you $13.00 extra to tarp and a penny cpm over van drivers. Forgedaboudit! I'll never forget the time I was layed over at a Flying Hook in PA sitting out a snow storm. Looks like a scene from that movie Ice Station Zebra outside and from the comfort of my webasto-heated cab I see this poor dude throwing tarp around in the middle of the night battling negative windchill gusts. If you ask me, they can stick that extra $13.00 right where the sun don't shine.
IMHO, go dry van and forget flatbeds. Like reefers, it's too much work for not much extra pay. I drive for Roehl and they're a good company regardless of what you choose. Best of luck to ya.
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I think the lady has her mind made up on skateboards lol... It does seem more consistant hometime can be had there-or am I wrong again ? LOL

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Like almost everything else in this business, it depends. Hometime is generally easier to come by if you live near/on a "lane" that your particular company runs regularly. Hometime is much easier to come by if you and your dispatcher get along.

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Actually , the flats get .02 more per mile than vans and the curtains get .01 more than van. The tarp pay is $13 for lumber and $6 for steel, paid each time you throw the tarp on or pull it off.
As far as more consistant hometime, like Phil said it mostly depends on how close to one of the major freight lanes for that company, but it seems ( in our case anyway) flats rarely deliver on the weekends. In 17 months, Chris has had one weekend delivery and has only been out over the weekend 5 times. Roehl has been great for him......no equipment issues, consistant miles, home every weekend. Not everyone can say the same about them, but it works for us.

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Actually that is crap pay for the work involved. Alot of work for nearly nothing. I would try for curtain side.
You got that right.

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one is better than the other
depends on where somebody lives
cyanide years ago was asking me about crete who i was with,i suggested he go with shaffer because he lived in FL,at first he wanted nothing to do with the reefer thing,but I pointed out why I thought it would work out better for him than crete and that he could always change companies because the same guy owned them both.
He stayed with shaffer a long time ,like over a year and than found the tanker jobs
some people might live where there is no place to park a truck,so they have to try and find a job with a terminal sort of near home so they can have a place to park the truck
some people tolerate moving vans,some flats,some reefers,some dry vans,some tankers
take what people suggest into consideration and than go with what you feel is right for you.
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As far as flatbedding is concerned I never, ever had to deliver or pickup on a weekend. Weekends were mostly time spent at home or having work done to the truck. Don't know nothin' bout workin' no weekends!
As far as the lady wanting flatbed experience, go for it! Some folks are content to rot in a truck with a van, while others prefer to actually get outside in the sun (or rain, or snow ) and work. To each his (or her) own. As for Roehl or Werner, I have no idea. I worked for KTL.

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I don't work weekends, ever. Sometimes I may sneak out on a Sunday night if there is nothing going on, but basically I am home. I don't know that I would recommend any flatbed company that is forced dispatch though. There are just some loads that I won't deal with.
I don't know exactly where you are at in southeast Ohio, but that is a good area. There is a lot of flatbed freight to be had, and a lot of good jobs that you can get with a years experience at one of the big menace carriers.
You also might not want to count US Express out. I see their flatbeds in a lot of places that I load out of now.

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Then there's another group of folks who would prefer not take a swan dive off the top of a strapped load for $13.00 buffett money. As far as rotting in a dry-van, it only rots in my cab after I stop at Taco-Bell.
Answer:
The amount of home time don't matter as long as I can be home at least every other week because of my boy....
Roelh and Werner and Mavrick have terminals here and they are close to a 2 hr drive if not longer.....
I see mMavrick trucks on Rt 35 all the time....
There is another company I want to check into but there site dont have where they runs are....
Thanks y'all ......
LKW

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I'd choose Roehl and Skateboard...Course then again I'm biased. I've been doing both for 2 years now . Money is good, paid on time and Hometime to boot.
If nothing else its a great place to get some experience with many options if you should decide that flatbed isn't for you or if you should decide that you need to be home more than everyother weekend.
Yes, sometimes you must deal with inclement weather...but then again its generaly over soon.
To the Poster who saw a flatbedder tarping in the Nasty weather in the T/S...My best guess is that if he was tarping at a t/s he did a poor job the first time. If it would have been tarped and secured correctly at the shipper he could have avoided the weather and the save some time doing it right the first time.
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Thats interesting, So you guys never have to tarp outside in the open?

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"Soon" is a relative term; I've noticed that while strapping and chaining in Manitowoc, WI. in February, that winter didn't end before I finished.

Assuming that the above statement is, in fact, correct, the usual reason why the job wasn't done right to begin with is because the driver in question was a relative "newbie". Tarping isn't brain surgery but not all companies spend a great deal of time training on it either so becoming good (and fast) usually comes through "on the job training"; in other words, some mistakes are going to be made and those mistakes are generally corrected in a truckstop or on the side of the road.

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