Preparing To Go To Trucking School!

Rick, where are you located? The more info about yourself you provide, the better we can assist you.

I'm in Oklahoma City, but I'm willing to bus, fly, wherever for training. I've been doing a lot of reading, researching different companies and the like. I'm also working on the practice tests here on Trucking Truth. I figured with the holiday weekend, it'd be a good time to get as much info as I can, and fill out applications before I start receiving or making calls on Tuesday.

Rick, where are you located? The more info about yourself you provide, the better we can assist you.

Update: So far, I'm really liking the idea of driving a flatbed. Getting out of the truck, checking the load, learning safety and securement is all really interesting to me. I have no problem being out in inclement weather, that sort of thing was the norm growing up in Alaska. I'm very safety-conscious, and I believe in being prepared. What do you all think of flatbeds? All opinions are welcome, please!

Glad to hear you are getting the ball rolling on your own. It shows you are motivated and willing to learn all you can. A great attitude goes a long way👍

We have several flatbedders/former flatbedders here. They are eager to help and answer questions for the most part.

Rick, you are in a great location for almost any type of driving job. Flatbed would be great if you can handle the physical aspect of it. Maverick near Little Rock, AR is the company that comes to mind first. I’ve heard and seen good things about them and they have a really good looking campus and training facility that I drive by regularly. Where you live, you could also look into oil field driving as one possibility.

So your location is very favorable.

I was stationed at Fort Richardson from 02-07 and worked on the North Slope from 07-16. I'm in Tn since 2008 but kind of wish I never left Ak.

Maverick does have an excellent flatbed division and their training and training facility are top notch. I'm sure there are other good ones but Maverick is worth considering.

The physical aspect is one of the reasons I'm looking at it. I like the idea of hard, physical work mixed in with the driving. It'll help keep me awake, alert, and it'll help me get in shape. Well, I'm in shape now. Round is a shape, right?

I'm doing a lot of reading on flatbed driving, watching a lot of videos. Both from companies and from drivers. I'm trying to get as well-rounded an outlook as I can before I begin anything. I am hyped up, excited to do this. Hoping to get the ball rolling starting Tuesday!

Rick, you are in a great location for almost any type of driving job. Flatbed would be great if you can handle the physical aspect of it. Maverick near Little Rock, AR is the company that comes to mind first. I’ve heard and seen good things about them and they have a really good looking campus and training facility that I drive by regularly. Where you live, you could also look into oil field driving as one possibility.

So your location is very favorable.

I have a buddy that worked for Pam until he had to leave due to medical reasons. Pam is a good company. He spoke really highly of it. Pam does not do flatbed, however.

If you're dead set on that, here's a few flatbed companies that will help you get your CDL. Click on the company to see their program details:

Maverick

TMC Transportation

Cypress Trucking

Swift Transport

Roehl

McElroy Truck Lines ....I'm not sure if McElroy will pay for your schooling or just reimburse you. May want to call about that.

Above are links to each company's cdl program. Swift and Roehl have multiple divisions, including flatbed, but also others like dry van and reefer. (Not sure if Roehl does reefer)

The other 4 I listed, as far as I can tell, are exclusively flatbed bed companies. So there ya go. Many of these companies have physical fitness tests beyond your usual DOT physical due to the demanding nature of the job so just be aware of that.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.

Dry Van:

A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

Swifttrans:

Swift Transportation began operations in 1966 transporting imported steel through the ports of Los Angeles to Arizona and Arizona cotton for export back through to Southern California.

Jerry Moyes, founder, began with the same entrepreneurial, can-do spirit that is one of Swift’s core values today.

Today, Swift generates over $4 billion in revenue and operates nearly 18,000 trucks.

Update: So far, I'm really liking the idea of driving a flatbed. Getting out of the truck, checking the load, learning safety and securement is all really interesting to me. I have no problem being out in inclement weather, that sort of thing was the norm growing up in Alaska. I'm very safety-conscious, and I believe in being prepared. What do you all think of flatbeds? All opinions are welcome, please!

Do it! I did flatbed for almost a year and then switched to a local gig after that doing pneumatic tankers. Now I’m going OTR again and planning on switching back to flatbed because I enjoyed it so much.

As far as the physical aspect I really didn’t think it was that bad at all. I’ve worked way more physical jobs. Strapping is easy. Chains and tarps are a different story because they’re heavy but unless you are a local flatbed driver you’re only going to be securing/unsecuring loads once every day or two on average. The rest of the time you’re driving. Even so, I did put on some muscle when I did flatbed just from lugging around those tarps all the time. Where I worked, even though I was regional , we happened to have a lot of local freight so I typically untarped multiple times a day.

My favorite things about flatbed driving were… 1) the physical aspect, 2) the schedule, 3) the lack of waiting at shippers/receivers, and 4) the camaraderie

I already touched on the physical aspect. As far as the schedule, that can vary significantly for you depending on various factors but as a general rule your deliveries and pickups will typically be during daylight hours. Flatbeds typically carry construction materials so you’re generally hauling to warehouses and construction sites which all tend to accept delivery in the ballpark of 5 am to 4 pm give or take. Because of this, combined with doing multiple deliveries most days, I usually ran daylight hours. Also most flatbed customers I delivered to were closed on the weekends or at least Sundays. It’s not hard to find a flatbed job that has you off or gets you home on weekends specifically.

The other thing I mentioned was not waiting at customers. There’s no guarantee you won’t have to wait. I did often have to wait but my wait times in general were way better than my dry van/reefer days. Flatbed is just different. You roll in with the product and a lot of times the customer just rolls up in a forklift, takes your paperwork and quickly unloads you in less than 15 minutes.

As far as the camaraderie, I generally found flatbedders take pride in what they do and are very accepting and helpful if you’re out there busting your rump tarping and securing with the best of them. My gf‘s first driving gig was flatbed and I got to train her myself (don’t recommend that btw lol). She stayed at the company for a while after I left and there were plenty of drivers that took her under their wing and looked out for her and helped her when she had questions.

Yeah flatbed was a good gig. I’m planning on making a career out of it. Highly recommend it. Let us know what you decide!

My gf‘s first driving gig was flatbed and I got to train her myself (don’t recommend that btw lol). She stayed at the company for a while after I left and there were plenty of drivers that took her under their wing and looked out for her and helped her when she had questions

If you/she dont mind, How's trucking and balancing the home life working out for her? I recall her story and the challenges she was running into and was curious how it's worked out for her.