Can Flatbed Make Or Break A Rookie?

I love seein' more skateboarders on this site.....it makes trucking interesting, not just the same day to day grind. AND you don't have to mess with lumpers..... In the winter, we were fortunate quite often, to load and unload in buildings. So I hope ya'll get to enjoy that...its warm and cozy, well lit, and a nice break from the snow, ice and frozen fingers. The only down side is that you have to wear the safety harness...which bites in weird ways...

Personally, I was broken of flatbedding through my experience of loading freight into shipping containers. Serious injuries are a matter of entropy, when something's got to give and my body is the weakest link in that equation.

Steven...I see your point...but flatbedders don't load it...we just tie it down and tarp it

Exactly, all of my injuries involved the securing of freight after I loaded it, when I had to monkey around with heavy objects in precarious positions (and I wasn't even out in the elements). It was a rare occasion, but my scars are a reminder—luckily that's all I got.

Not to say I wouldn't drive one, but I would feel safer in a tanker.

Sloshy tanker....or a skateboard.....hand me the straps and tarps, please..... I did flatbed for over 10 years, and the worst I ever got was a broken nail...which for me is bad, since I do really "have "nails...unlike some pink wearing truck driving women I know 'But I'm super safe, always have been. No one hurries me, or makes me tie anything down with less than what I think is safe. I've had em try, and I told em to get their crap off my trailer....I neve wanted to see anyone's frieght fallin' in the ditch...but I also never wanted to see my truck followin' it into the ditch. You will get a ticket for goin' in the ditch...but you will get a HANDFULL of tickets for going in the ditch, and you load doesn't stay on your trailer....

Know thyself, as they say, better you than me (and I mean this as a compliment).

Sloshy tanker....or a skateboard.....

I'd still take the sloshy tanker (neither stop well on a dime, but at least it has brakes)!

Sloshy tanker....or a skateboard.....

I'd still take the sloshy tanker (neither stop well on a dime, but at least it has brakes)!

What do you mean by "but at least it has brakes!"?

What do you mean by "but at least it has brakes!"?

The tanker as opposed to the skateboard (wheels... mine didn't have brakes, or tread to run over rocks without stopping).