Multi-Stop Flatbed Loads

Here I am sitting at my second stop in Farmington, Connecticut. I was expecting a good bit of snow last night so I arrived here at about 1700 and backed my trailer up under a covered area in hope of keeping the snow from building up on my tarps.

They loaded me so that this second stop is all under the rear tarp. So I just removed that tarp completely. Once they unload that section I'll stretch the rear end of the next tarp tight with a few bungees and be ready to roll to the next stop

That area I'm backed into is the area where they unload us. Backing into it when I arrive here and plan on taking my ten hour break here does more than protect my load from the snow. It also establishes me as the first truck to get unloaded here this morning. You have to think about things like this out here. "First in and first out." That's a mantra for productive drivers.

How do you go about clearing all that snow from the top of the cab? With the truck being so tall, looks like even a soft bristle broom with long handle still wouldn’t reach

Old School, this is great information.

Old School advises:

Once you learn to handle them it's not too bad. Rookies struggle with tarps at first, and it's understandable.

I'm guessing the learning curve with tarps is proper positioning before you unroll them. That once unrolled you want the flaps to drop into position without any repositioning of the tarp. Otherwise, you will have to pull an unrolled tarp against significant friction at the corners.

Old school how do you drive for if you don’t mind me asking?

Old school how do you drive for if you don’t mind me asking?

Old School drives for Knight on a dedicated flatbed account.

How do you go about clearing all that snow from the top of the cab? With the truck being so tall, looks like even a soft bristle broom with long handle still wouldn’t reach

Flatbedders are known to carry some unique tools with them. I usually have an extendable paint roller handle with me. That thing will extend to about fifteen feet. Many flatbedders also carry a ladder of some sort. All of the tools we carry are multipurpose and get used almost daily, even if it's not for their typical purpose.

On this occasion my next stop was just about three miles away. It is a place where I will pull inside their heated building, and be there for a couple of hours. I didn't bother with getting rid of my snow. I just pulled up in the airflow of their heater and by some magical event the snow was gone when I left.

There was a nice puddle of water standing there when I pulled out, but this time of year they expect that. As a dedicated driver, I have the privilege of having many of my customers well acquainted with me. They don't mind cleaning up after me. If they ever did say something, I would certainly do it differently.

Old school who do you drive for if you don’t mind me asking?

Jay, PackRat is correct. Knight has a small flatbed division that's dedicated to hauling loads for "Hydro," the world's largest producer of aluminum extrusions. It's a worldwide company headquartered in Norway, but they have approximately 25 mills spread across our lower 48 states.

Old school who do you drive for if you don’t mind me asking?

Jay, PackRat is correct. Knight has a small flatbed division that's dedicated to hauling loads for "Hydro," the world's largest producer of aluminum extrusions. It's a worldwide company headquartered in Norway, but they have approximately 25 mills spread across our lower 48 states.

Oh awesome. I didn’t know they ran flatbeds. If it’s small then when I see a truck it just might be you!

Great pics Old School. Like pulling the bed sheets up for someone to hop in.

Your Hydro people were the last ones to give me a multi stop and it was good practicing, as I honestly don't run across it enough. I was ready at the first stop, un strapping the tarps on one side and after I moved to the other, the "nice" plant workers wanted to help out and two of them pulled the tarps off from the opposite side as I was walking around the front of the tractor.

But after re doing all that plastic and tarping I did get to perform your method at the next three receivers.

The tarps really do become a monster in your first few months before they work some useful seams and "relax" a bit. Then they become much easier to work with and are second nature.

As far as weight, you can always improve your ability to lift and safely carry or place similar weights before and during training. I would focus on squats, bicep curl, overhead press (unless you don't have a top tarp box to worry about eh?) and especially safe lifting technique from the ground up.

My first few weeks I was hustling and trying to put the alphabet of things I had to do in proper order while racing that evil clock. At one point I realized I was wrenching my back just bending over and lifting them quickly up and on to the flatbed to strap them down for transit. It made me consider how much money I would lose slowing down a few seconds and properly lifting carefully versus how much money I would lose for time dealing with a back injury.

In all things physical, be careful out there. Sometimes there will only be you and no cell reception.

Curious. When hauling multi stop loads, do you get compensated for retarping the load after each stop or is the tarp pay a one shot deal for entire load?

Reason I ask is, if you were hauling long items and the top half of load was one stop and bottom half was another stop, it seems you would be starting the tarping and securing process from beginning again after 1st drop off