Lady Flatbed Drivers

Hello to all, I'm heading to school in a few weeks and like always I'm trying to be the go to girl at my job. I'm seriously considering flatbedding. I'm a physical strong person already and would like to be stronger or at least stay this way. I've heard lady flatbed drivers are very rare, and that flatbed drivers are a special breed anyways. Could I please get advice or some good stories to help make my decision on which path to take please.

We had a driver on this forum.. little bitty petite gal. She was determined to do flatbed. She applied, went to orientation, and was sent home. Why? Because the tarps weighed almost as much as she did.

She didn't give up. She went home, worked out lifting weights, and some flatbedders here told her how to leverage those tarps up. She worked hard for 3 months or so, reapplied and went back. She made it.

Women in trucking, while the numbers are increasing, we're a tiny number in comparison to the guys. There are even fewer.. a miniscule amount of women doing flatbed. Impossible no. Very hard yes.

If you are bound and determined come h3ll or high water to do flatbed, kudos to you. Personally I don't want to even try lol. My company (dry van) we tend to haul a lot of what is typically flatbed type freight. I see what these drivers go through, rain, shine (hot hot hot weather), sleet, snow, out there tarping and securing their loads.. me? They just load it in the box, I close the trailer doors and drive away.

Anyway I believe her name on here was Sunshine. Look for her stories. Also go into the general forum and talk to OldSchool. He's a wealth of knowledge on trucking and especially flatbedding. Flatbed drivers are a unique breed for sure.

Sunshine

Here's a link to her experiences.

Thank you Susan, I did stumble across her posts and what Old School had told her about the roofing paper. Having unloaded a many of flatbed I understood what she meant by the lifting to the platform. I also went today and bought a roll of roofing paper.....but I'm pretty sure it's not 90lbs, but it's good exercise. LOL!

Sounds like you are well on your way. Start your physical conditioning now and make sure you know how to bring that "tarp" up to your knees and push it up to the platform before you attend orientation. My other half did flatbed for many years.. most of his 20+ year driving career actually. Some companies require you to be able to lift and hold a tarp over your head for a specific amount of time (couple of minutes?). Anyway, don't be a stranger and keep us posted on your journey.

Good luck!

Allie Knight on YouTube did flatbed for awhile. You can see her videos of her learning tricks to getting the tarps onto the truck. Also on YouTube is The Flatbed Chick. Good luck. If you want it, get it.

Thank you Big Scott, sorry for the delay, work has been a bit busy. I will defiantly look up the videos.