Deciding Between Roehl And Swift Flatbed

Chris: Thank you for the información. I live in Wooster, OH an hour South of Cleveland. I have been told by other Swift flatbedders that there rarely is freight to or from that area, so it would be difficult for me to get hometime. Your thoughts?

Honestly, most of the guys that I hear about having trouble getting home time, are the ones that wait until the last minute to make a home time request. If you communicate and make your request 10-14 days in advance, getting home is not an issue. Being on the flatbed account, if there is not a load that can get you home, they may put you on a dry van load just for the purpose of getting you home. Some guys complain about that, which is in my opinion completely stupid. If you have to take a dry van load, you still get paid your normal flatbed rate, which is higher than what dry van makes.

The other thing that I've found, regarding hometime, is when you're communicating with your driver leader about getting home, let them know when the situation is not a "must happen". If you have a doctor's appointment, obviously you need to be home before that day, so that needs to be communicated, but if you're just wanting to go home and unwind for a couple of days, let your driver leader know that if you are a day or two late getting home, it's not a big deal. I've talked to other drivers that think if they put in a home time request, their driver leader should get them home on that day and never a day late. But the reality is, sometimes that is tough. These other drivers think that if you tell them that you can be a day or two late for home time, then they'll always get you home late. In my experience, that is not the case. If you tell your driver leader that you don't have a deadline where you absolutely must be home, that's actually helping to build your relationship with them. So later on down the road when you do have something you have to be home on a certain day for, you communicate that, and he or she will be able to better understand the sincerity of your request. It could mean the difference in the planner finding you a 240 mile dry van load to get you home barely on time, versus your driver leader getting the OK to deadhead you home.

Glenn,...Chris is hitting home-runs with his advice. Hope you are taking notes.

Good stuff Chris.

G-Town:

I am absolutely taking notes on what Chris -and others- are advising.

Glenn it sounds like you have some choices to make. Roehl and Swift are both good companies and no matter what you choose to do you will make as much as you want if you work hard and prove you deserve it. Of course experience comes with time and that will prove your worth. I am going to be starting school this March on the 16th with CFI. Good luck to you. There is a vast amount of information on this site.

I've waited a few days to post on this thread because it looked like you were really set on those two companies. Any reason why you haven't mentioned any other flatbed companies? Specifically maverick? Biggest downside is probably the fact that you don't have a clue yet. Our school we use has quite the waiting list. But don't limit yourself to just 2 companies. Lots of options out there.

I am familiar with Maverick, but unfortunately, Maverick doesn't allow pets. I have a pet (dog) that I would like to take with me when OTR. Roehl and Swift have Pet ride-a-long programs.

I've waited a few days to post on this thread because it looked like you were really set on those two companies. Any reason why you haven't mentioned any other flatbed companies? Specifically maverick? Biggest downside is probably the fact that you don't have a clue yet. Our school we use has quite the waiting list. But don't limit yourself to just 2 companies. Lots of options out there.

Just to throw out another option. Prime has a flatbed bed division and pet policy. They are a butt load of Prime drivers here, so I am sure they are more equipped to help you.

I've waited a few days to post on this thread because it looked like you were really set on those two companies. Any reason why you haven't mentioned any other flatbed companies? Specifically maverick? Biggest downside is probably the fact that you don't have a clue yet. Our school we use has quite the waiting list. But don't limit yourself to just 2 companies. Lots of options out there.

Lol, I’ve been wondering the same. Every one of my loads for the last two months has either started, ended, or gone through Ohio.

Completely understandable glenn. And yea I usually get stuck going up and down 77. Got lucky and ran Midwest this week