Western Express

Dry Van or Flatbed? Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed. But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed.

Manuel, when I was at Western Express their flat-bed division was less than half of their dry van fleet. They had at the time approximately 2,500 dry van trucks and usually around 1,000 flat-bed trucks. There is no reason why you should be concerned that you can't get miles running a dry van.

But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

Sounds to me like you may have just answered your own question!

Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed.

Manuel, when I was at Western Express their flat-bed division was less than half of their dry van fleet. They had at the time approximately 2,500 dry van trucks and usually around 1,000 flat-bed trucks. There is no reason why you should be concerned that you can't get miles running a dry van.

But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

Sounds to me like you may have just answered your own question!

Are there dry van miles short or can u also do otr with them..

You can do OTR - when I started at Western Express, as a rookie driver I hit 46 of the lower 48 states in my first three months. I was all over the place.

Dry Van or Flatbed? Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed. But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

Im 50 years old, petrified of heights ..But I start at western flatbedding ..on sunday .. See ya around.. Who knows I might hate it, it does sound like alot of work but, I love money and a good challenge . Hopefully see you on the road . I know in order to get some exercise I am going to want to get out of the truck whether it be busying chains or tarps so be it hope I can...nope I will...lol

Dry Van or Flatbed? Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed. But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

As long as you are not just choosing them because they offer free DirectTV with HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and NFL Sunday Ticket?

Dry Van or Flatbed? Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed. But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

Im 50 years old, petrified of heights ..But I start at western flatbedding ..on sunday .. See ya around.. Who knows I might hate it, it does sound like alot of work but, I love money and a good challenge . Hopefully see you on the road . I know in order to get some exercise I am going to want to get out of the truck whether it be busying chains or tarps so be it hope I can...nope I will...lol

I want to do the flatbedding. However, I am afraid I might fail the test when it comes to tarping the load. I have physical strength and brains, but I am afraid of heights and I am concerned that I may hesitate during that portion. I read on some blog that a doctor or physical therapist saw a guy wince a little when lifting the tarp over his shoulders so they failed him.

Dry Van or Flatbed? Flatbed pays more, and I'm afraid if I do dry van I won't get enough miles, after all Western Express is mainly flatbed. But at 45 yrs old, I don't know if I wanna do so much work in the cold, not to mention I am afraid of heights.

Im 50 years old, petrified of heights ..But I start at western flatbedding ..on sunday .. See ya around.. Who knows I might hate it, it does sound like alot of work but, I love money and a good challenge . Hopefully see you on the road . I know in order to get some exercise I am going to want to get out of the truck whether it be busying chains or tarps so be it hope I can...nope I will...lol

I want to do the flatbedding. However, I am afraid I might fail the test when it comes to tarping the load. I have physical strength and brains, but I am afraid of heights and I am concerned that I may hesitate during that portion. I read on some blog that a doctor or physical therapist saw a guy wince a little when lifting the tarp over his shoulders so they failed him.

Well we will find out soon enough I will keep you informed ..if they fail me I guess I will be driving a van .. Dont listen to all the reviews I havent heard of any therapist or doctor there for your test .. Anyways I leave sat for orientation ...

Im not sure I can lift a tarp over my head

I read on some blog that a doctor or physical therapist saw a guy wince a little when lifting the tarp over his shoulders so they failed him.

Manuel, and Christine, You do not have to lift a tarp up over your head. There is no attending physician at Western Express watching you, only the guy teaching the load securement class, and the other prospective truck drivers with you in the class. In fact, at Western all you have to do is manage to get a rolled up tarp from the ground up on to the trailer which is right there beside it, then pull it back off the trailer and do it again. They will even tell you they don't care how you get it up there, as long as you get it done. I saw a young lady there stand it up on it's end right next to the trailer tire, get her hands up under the bottom of the tarp and using the top of the tire as a pivot point she let the tire help her support the top end of the tarp while she just sort of rolled the bottom end up and managed to get it up onto the top of the trailer. Technique is more beneficial than strength.

Recently one of our female members was devastated after attempting to be a flat-bed driver and she got sent home from orientation (not from Western) because she couldn't lift the tarp. I'm copying and pasting the advice I gave her here for you. She claims she went back to the same company a few weeks later and "Lifted that thing like a Boss Momma" - Hopefully you'll fine it as helpful as she did.

How to lift a tarp:

Listen Sunshine, I want you to try to think about this lifting aspect a little differently than you've probably been doing up till now. It seems that you are focusing on improving your strength, and that is good, but realistically where the problem lies is in your lifting technique. I've seen some smaller ladies than you handling this job. Just because you can lift 90 pounds up over your head in a gym is a completely different thing from lifting that bulky rolled up tarp out on the job site.

Let me explain the technique, and then I'll share a little tip with you about getting it on that shelf. (or trailer at Western)

You want to stand the tarp up on it's end first. Then half bending your body and half squatting you are going to need to get one hand underneath the bottom of the tarp (gripping in the rolled edges down there) and take the other arm and bear hug that thing up against that same arms shoulder area. The tarp will be standing in between your knees at this point. Now, while trying to stand up and straighten up your torso, you squeeze the tarp against that shoulder and pull up with your hand underneath the bottom until you get yourself up into an upright position. Now when you get yourself upright, you will have the tarp hugged up against your body with one hand still underneath the bottom, and the bottom of it is down around your mid thigh area. At this point you are simply going to give the tarp a few bounces with your body and your lower hand by bending your knees and bouncing your body upward so that with each bounce you are lifting that thing up higher against your body and holding it there in that position until you can get it up high enough to sort of roll it on up onto your shoulder.

I recommend you go to a large building supply place like a Lowe's, Home Depot, or a Menard's and look at their rolls of roofing tar paper. See if you can find some that are close to the 90 pound weight amount and practice with those things. If you can get the technique down with that large roll, then you should be good to go.

Now here's the promised tip: That shelf (or trailer) they are having you put the tarp on is just about the average height of a flat-bed trailer - that is why they chose that height. When you get the tarp into the position where it is hugged up against your body then all you've got to do at that point is keep bouncing it upward until you can get the top of the tarp five or six inches above the shelf. Then you are going to push the tarp against the shelf, and lower your top hand so that it is now at the bottom of the tarp along with your other hand, and both hands and arms are now supporting the full weight of the tarp. At this point you are going to use the edge of the shelf as a pivot point to get a little leverage to help you swing the tarp up onto the shelf. If you decide to purchase on of those rolls of roofing paper you can practice this at home, or you can probably find a way to practice it at the building supply warehouse if you want to save your self the expense. I hope this helps! I love your attitude and your gumption - keep at it and you'll be out there before you know it. And by the way, when you are out here doing this stuff, 90% of the time there will be a fork lift operator out here willing to help you get your tarps put where they need to be.