I couldn't imagine doing anything but flatbed. Keeps you in shape. About the time you tire of physical labor, you get to chill out and drive, when you are about to go crazy from driving too long, you get outside and get some movement. For me, a perfect balance.

Did flatbed work for 13 years. Never minded the wind, cold, or time it took to tarp. The older I got, the more clumsy I got. When I fell off an 8 foot load, by not stepping on a solid surface. I said stick to the reefer work.

I would much rather tarp a load at 30 below with a 40 mi an hour wind then spend 10 minutes at a Kroger grocery warehouse

I like flatbed better than dry van. Yes, I don’t like to tarp or untarp in -30 nor 100 degrees or with snowy, icy, rainy, or windy weather but I rather have some exercise and feel good afterwards than sit, eat, sleep, repeat. All day, everyday.

i bought my first truck in 1977 refer then dry van boring as hell went to flatbed in 92 wish i had done this first at 71 i still love flatbed straping chaining and tarping are what keeps me young.

I just got my CDL A January 4th. The main reason I want to get into flatbed is to stay active, I think a lot of truck drivers have so many injuries because they don’t take proper care of themselves

Local flatbed work is very intense. Sometimes I had to tarp and untarp 4 to 5 times a day. That's why flatbed drivers prefer longer runs. Where you tarp the day before and untarp the next day.

Im at System Transport. I love flatbed. I couldn't imagine ever doing van/reefer again. Those were depressing days.

I just got my CDL last week and I'm basically gonna be doing flatbed local deliveries for a home depot account, with a forklift attached to the back!....

As an ex flatbed driver and 10 years later an executive in a carrier company I disagree with everything you said…

Try spending 3 hours in minus 20 degree weather trying to tarp and secure lumber load of various types and products. Then the next day, untarping that load at zero degrees and try folding those frozen tarps. Is flatbed as hard as digging ditches 14 hours a day? You got me there. The hardest, most labor intensive job I have ever done was loading boxes for FedEx, double shift. Compared to that, yea flatbed is a walk in the park. But we are not comparing those jobs to flatbed work. We are comparing it to other truck driving jobs. In the trucking world, flatbed is the most labor intensive.

I love flatbed work it keeps me moving around

I do well in a flat bed as an owner op. I don't care what anyone else does I do me you do you and stay happy.

Im a o/o with a 53 step deck. I don’t mind the labor, keeps you in shape. But I will not take a load that has to tarp. Especially 8ft tarps

I have been doing opendeck for 30 years as a o/o and a company driver. Take that by the mile and you can keep it. Local work i could make 300 dollars a day that we back in the 90s i got 30 percent . As a o /o i avg 250 to 300 grand to the truck on 90 thousand miles with 13 percent deadhead. I also pick my loads. As a company driver now i get 30 percent of a 100. This week 5200 on 1800 miles loaded and empty again i pick my loads. General freight is garbage freight always has been. If i do oversize loads they have to pay great money any more. The problem is to many brokers are plain stupid and don't know how to bid freight. I have seen brokers cut a lane just to win the freight. Had a lane for 2900 a loser broker came in and got the lane 2200 we got the lane back now we get 3300 for that lane service counts.

I have been a long haul skateboarder for 30 years. Tarp in minus 50 can be a challenge but trying to get the tarp off at -25 with 40 MPH wind is going to kill the rookie. Just the same skateboards are the only way to go. Been trucking since 1973 and still love it. Who the hell calls it a flatdeck???? Aluminum tarps make you fat, sick and you have to many ridiculous appointment hours.

I prefer flatbed to box just because 90% of my freight is delivered or picked up during daylight hours. I'm not a fan of all hours deliveries/pick ups. I don't mind the extra work involved because it keeps me in shape.

I love doing flat bed I’m not getting fat I did dry van I felt myself getting a big belly but now I done slim down plus I make more money so I’m happy

Am an owner operator, and my rates just got cut on half , I might get a course on welding am tired , of been screwed in this industry.

i been a flatbedder my whole career, look man, idk how u think flatbed makin more! listen if anything reefer is tha way to go. fucc we workn loads for tha same 2.50-3.50 a mile a loads with an off load sometimes paying $4 a mile or so. but it aint worth tha head ache.

New owner operator, the first six months was the hardest. My best month was 27,000 ever since I hit six months a lot more of the market has opened up and it’s easier to get loads. I will typically get a load for three dollars plus or just below three dollars as a flatbed driver harping and shading is awesome. It is brutal to drive a box truck hats off to all of you who are willing to sit and have nothing physical to do in my office time. I take out my badge, dip bar and straps to work out I have no idea where all of this pain comes from I will say after 11 hours of driviing My butt starts to get unhappy lol thank God you guys don’t love to tarp it leaves me a lot of options. Thanks!

People have gone soft… Here in the US, loading/unloading time is generally much quicker than any van freight and a lot of it can be left untarped, that really just depends on the customer. Also pays much better for independent O/O than can freight would. Going through a company is a whole different story.

As a retired driver I think back the only thing I didn't do was live stock and liquid tanks but between flat bed and van I would answer a job for van /refer long before a flat bed for all the same reasons he just said plus tarps are unsafe in a little bit of wind I have seen drivers get thrown over their trucks just because cause they wouldn't let go also I became too fussy tie down a load of round bar then look at it I could always find a bar that wasn't tied down by anything spend half the day trying to get all bundles tied satisfactory

Awesome video, as always! Thank you ! 👌👍💪

I have NEVER spent 8 hours trying to get a dock door at a "big wharehouse" if done right I am the 1st driver to unload in the AM and then onto my next load for the flat bed within two hours for my reload. I only have 30+ years in flat beds and yes IT can be painful but that is the price to have a good job

You fail to mention how much a refer trailer costs to buy, compared to buying a flat bed trailer. ( this of course applies to owner operators) but in the end, food will move in tough times more than other freight.

ALL trucking TODAY is not worth it!!! Rates don't pay guys just simple as that. If your a flatbed driver (company driver) doing Otr M-F you should be grossing 2000-2500 as the norm. That's 125k to 130k easily. I did flat bed for 8months before I got out of the industry & was grossing 1200 to 1300 a week equivalent to .43 CPM or 20% of the load. I got a local job paying me the same money and I'm home every night with my family plus weekends off.

I did 75k net last year company Otr driver 125k miles

Ran reefer with hand bomb every peice from pallets to ucarts for 7.5 yrs. We were happy when we got power Jack's Instead of barely working pump ups. Lol. From there a few years hauling cars on my own interstate that's a lot of work making them fit on a 5 car. Ad others 4 hours with frozen straps sucks n auction lots in the dark no starts, digging out of snow drifts in Upstate NY where most of them came from I live here. Similar to flatbed no walk in the park with many sore days but, much more active. While registering my new to me truck, again I still look at 6-7 car trailers or a step deck, doing w2 drop & hook at 53 yrs old. If you're trucking just dock bumping n roll that's maybe as easy as trucking gets. 🚚 it's gotta be in you, can't train everyone to not lose their crap with all the patience you need, traffic, run out bad weather no matter what, whichever physical demands, etc. JIT work did that 3 mo that sucked royal being ran over hours with personal conveyance ya you know that shtick some serious bs with appointments overlapping when out of hours. If you can hack that kudos. I'm sticking to cars, vehicles, machinery isn't so tightly scheduled. I'll take the work. All pay is similar.

Thank you for all this information

I disagree with your point. I have done van reefer and now flat .as an owner operator I rather do flat because I’m active and I sleep at night and have my weekends free. Meanwhile in reefer you don’t know when you will sleep and your waiting g times are super long van just don’t pay.

Only been pulling flatbed, and the company in with now (Taracon logistics),we don't trap!

Why are drivers being paid by the mile, it’s time for a change. Miles is a big scam. As for a trade drivers need to be paid more for what we do. Time to stop this madness let’s get paid for the time we spend operating a truck on a daily basis and compensation for hours over 40.

Maybe these drivers would have less back pain if they got out and threw some straps and tarps on occasion.

U nailed man, greetings from Texas

STAY IN YOUR VANS. DONT MESS UP THE FLATBED MARKET FOR US.

I’m in specialized flatbed and I’m struggling to get loads over 2.00/mile

I did flatbed before, it's OK in tropical countries but I'll never do it in North America in the winter.

Our trade needs more respect and I mean money

Any time I have a FB show up to pick up a vehicle purchased by a client, I do the best I can to make sure it is running and can move on it's own. The absolute biggest beef I have is drivers showing up at the end of the day AND / OR unscheduled. I understand that $hit happens and I am more willing to work with drivers that actually contact me beforehand and let me know what's going on. Ironically, the vast majority of FB drivers I have encountered are middle aged to downright elderly. I had one "gentlemen" show up that had no clue how to drop his trailer as he was a last minute replacement in a pinch (so he says). I felt so bad for the guy, I talked him thru the process of dropping the trailer, I loaded the truck on his trailer and thought that was the end of it, but nope. This person proceeded to "chain down" his load so ineptly that I felt it was a danger to the public so I had to talk him thru that process as well. Then had to guide him thru the hookup to the trailer just so I could get him out the gate before quitting time. Having said ALL that, watching FB drivers, it IS hard work. Often chaining loads in cold miserable weather. Is the few $ extra worth it??

I only make 50c per mile pulling super b flatbed. 2 year driving. Where you getting 75c per mile.

There is no way I’m doing that job! Not even if you pay me 50/h. I’m from EU and worked my entire life on curtain side trailers. I’m done with that! Not even reefer. Dry is the best!

Hi I am considering doing flat bed driving I have a couple questions. I am looking to buy a 2010 Chevy 3500 2W drive with roughly 287,000 kms. The flat bed trucking world seems so interesting but I am not sure how it pays and what to expect . Any advice would be appreciated

Check the stats and see fie your self since 2021 flatbed pay went 9% bellow reeefer and 6 % lower than dryvan so if you get paid per dollar like normal companies pay than you are more set paying per mile it’s a trap it’s why big companies don’t pay percentage but per mile instead

Us highway drivers are not making much money nowadays. I made 2900 hundreds (NET) on June last year and never went to reach 5k till December that I did 5600 hundreds NET. Lots of flatbed drivers are quitting flatbed as company driver . I'm a company driver.

Good job bro

I used to work at a company that had flatbeds loads all man seers hi beams all that I worked in the yard. I dislocated my shoulder for throwing chains, strapping them on to the cement slabs that they throw on these trucks and I became a truck. driver flatbed divisions will not give me a job, because that reason they’re scared that I will end up taking my shoulder out again and they going to get sued because I got a trick shoulder now

I've been doing flat bed for 6 years , I HATE TARPING

Sir I am big fan of you

Tomuchhh strappin PERIODDD

We don’t wait around that much. If anything dry van ppl be waiting hella while we out here dippin

Never tried but i guess its lack of confidence? I might give it a go this year.

Not to mention some deck loads are outright dangerous.

If the average pay for flatbed drivers is 75 Cpm, I’d love to know who is paying that kind of money. I’ve never seen a single ad by any well known company paying near that. Are you averaging OO with company drivers? How did you come to that number? In my experience 60- 65 CPM is closer to the real avg.

Flatbed loads are 48k pounds.

I found getting out and recurring a load was good for the body

I started off as a flatbed driver i never heard a company paying .75 cents per mile , the extra work asa flatbed driver is not worth it

don't haul for less than 3.50-4$ average per mile for Owner operators, in the U.S. bare minimum don't listen to anyone or anything

New drivers better do van learning how drive then flat bed

Is this video speaks to drivers in Canada or US?

What about RGNs?

No thank you 😅especially with TMC 😬

I take it you guy's are looking for flat bedders

Brokers yet want to pay flatbed drivers and step deck haulers the same as a damn door swinger. We do so much more work ….. WE ARE FULL

This is not completely accurate we do oversized and we get paid well

FLATBED IS WAAAAAAAY MORE DANGEROUS AND INSURANCE IS MORE

Sir kindly help me I am very interested to run this business

"flatbed extremely labor intensive" lol

Hard work crap pay

Absolutely dosn't worth.

lol maybe if they got out the truck and sling some chains they wouldnt be in pian

.

Don’t encourage van drivers for flatbed unless they’ve got enough training 😀

80 cpm as a w2 driver