I Got Offer A Regional Flatbed Postion!!

Hey fellow truckers, I got some good news! Even though I had a preventable accident earlier this month(Read my other thread about it), I took advice from Mr. PackRat and applied to every flatbed company that I could. To my surprise the offers starting flying in! After sending companies my driving experience and accident report; I've had a few who still felt like I'd be a good fit for their company. So now it was time to sort through who had the best options for me.

The two big keys to which company I chose was location(I want to move to Conway, SC) and home time(I have a 2 year old). There were a few companies that wanted me to stay out 2-3 weeks at a time. I can manage 2 weeks but I feel like that 3rd week would cause issues at home. I'm very invested in my son's development. With that being said I think I've made my decision to drive for Fraley & Schilling. They have regional routes that would get me home every weekend if wanted. Once my little guy gets older I plan on driving further to see more of the US and also staying out longer. They also cover/drive in the state of SC so that will allow me to get a mortgage in SC. I'm very excited I cant wait to get started and FINALLY become a skateboarder!!

What are your thoughts on this company? Anything I should look out for? Any tips for a rookie Flatbed driver so I can try my best to continue my trucking journey mistake-free? I watch try to watch alot of YT about flatbedding, I've notice some drivers have an enclosed(headboard?) box that they store all of their equipment in, How do I find one of those?

Thank you in advance!

Hey fellow truckers, I got some good news! Even though I had a preventable accident earlier this month(Read my other thread about it), I took advice from Mr. PackRat and applied to every flatbed company that I could. To my surprise the offers starting flying in! After sending companies my driving experience and accident report; I've had a few who still felt like I'd be a good fit for their company. So now it was time to sort through who had the best options for me.

The two big keys to which company I chose was location(I want to move to Conway, SC) and home time(I have a 2 year old). There were a few companies that wanted me to stay out 2-3 weeks at a time. I can manage 2 weeks but I feel like that 3rd week would cause issues at home. I'm very invested in my son's development. With that being said I think I've made my decision to drive for Fraley & Schilling. They have regional routes that would get me home every weekend if wanted. Once my little guy gets older I plan on driving further to see more of the US and also staying out longer. They also cover/drive in the state of SC so that will allow me to get a mortgage in SC. I'm very excited I cant wait to get started and FINALLY become a skateboarder!!

What are your thoughts on this company? Anything I should look out for? Any tips for a rookie Flatbed driver so I can try my best to continue my trucking journey mistake-free? I watch try to watch alot of YT about flatbedding, I've notice some drivers have an enclosed(headboard?) box that they store all of their equipment in, How do I find one of those?

Thank you in advance!

I'd suggest reading our flatbedders' threads; especially TwoSides ... who's struggling right now. It's real. Read any & all posts by: Old School, Chief Brody, Turtle, Solo, (Victor is new...check his diary, too....) and SO many others. Those are the more active ones; and I apologize because I KNOW i'm forgetting a few major players here. :(

I saw the pix of the citations; more on that later.

F & S is well known here in Ohio, they hail from 'Brilliant!' LoLoLoL..... they also pull reefers, jsyk!

Their 'Safer Web' snapshot is really decent. According to their website, they ask for 2 years of experience, so if you get in with them, that's awesome! (Look here: Safer.fmcsa.dot.gov ... and type in their name; make sure you select 'ID by NAME!....LoL...)

Best wishes;

~ Anne ~

ps: READ THIS: Persian Conversion.. VERY sobering.

pps: Here's a whole THREAD on a few to look into &/or follow: BEST stories / diaries !!

That's awesome! Just a heads up you MAY have some difficulties with getting a mortgage if you're paid by the mile. Its not impossible but you'll find some lenders may shy away because your miles vary, sometimes dramatically depending on when paperwork is submitted. I'm paid hourly so it doesn't matter in my instance but when I bought my house a couple lenders mentioned they won't touch someone paid by the mile or piece without a year or 2 at that same company to get a decent average. It's worth noting I closed just after the Covid lockdowns started which may have been the reason they were so strict.

A couple good threads to read would be Securement and Flatbed variety

I'd suggest reading our flatbedders' threads; especially TwoSides ... who's struggling right now. It's real. Read any & all posts by: Old School, Chief Brody, Turtle, Solo, (Victor is new...check his diary, too....) and SO many others. Those are the more active ones; and I apologize because I KNOW i'm forgetting a few major players here. :(

I saw the pix of the citations; more on that later.

F & S is well known here in Ohio, they hail from 'Brilliant!' LoLoLoL..... they also pull reefers, jsyk!

Their 'Safer Web' snapshot is really decent. According to their website, they ask for 2 years of experience, so if you get in with them, that's awesome! (Look here: Safer.fmcsa.dot.gov ... and type in their name; make sure you select 'ID by NAME!....LoL...)

Best wishes;

~ Anne ~

ps: READ THIS: Persian Conversion.. VERY sobering.

pps: Here's a whole THREAD on a few to look into &/or follow: BEST stories / diaries !!

Thank you Anne, once again pointing me in the right direction! I've haven't read any of the diary threads yet, so I'll be doing that now. I was having issues with getting the edited photos to upload. Turtle took down the unedited photos due to all of my personal info being exposed. Not sure if they've made changes to their requirements but I've had my CDL-A for 2 years now. Just took me a little while finding a local/regional TT position fresh out of school(Had to be home to help and support with my newborn). I want flatbed because it puts me to work! I'm an athletic built guy that likes to eat and I feel like I'll turn into an overweight guy in no time driving reefer or dry van OTR haha. Orientation is on the 28th, I THINK I'm ready for the challenges that lay ahead of me. Once again thank you for your thoughts and I'm headed to the diary section now!

You're extremely welcome, Tey.

DEFINITELY read ALL you can! We're here for ya. I saw the citations.....I wouldn't sweat it, tbh!!

Now, GO READ!

LoLoL.... ttys!

~ Anne ~

That's awesome! Just a heads up you MAY have some difficulties with getting a mortgage if you're paid by the mile. Its not impossible but you'll find some lenders may shy away because your miles vary, sometimes dramatically depending on when paperwork is submitted. I'm paid hourly so it doesn't matter in my instance but when I bought my house a couple lenders mentioned they won't touch someone paid by the mile or piece without a year or 2 at that same company to get a decent average. It's worth noting I closed just after the Covid lockdowns started which may have been the reason they were so strict.

A couple good threads to read would be Securement and Flatbed variety

Thank you Rob, I honestly had that thought in the back of mind. I was told by rocket mortgage once I get a few months of consistent pay stubs and a headed letter from payroll basically projecting what my annual income will be then they'd be able to work with that. Obviously that's just one lender but I was hoping others would require something similar. Worst case scenario I can just rent(rather not) until lenders feel like I have enough to proof of income for a mortgage. I'll check out those threads as well I like to read so I'll be doing nothing but for the next two weeks in attempt to prepare myself as best as possible.

You're extremely welcome, Tey.

DEFINITELY read ALL you can! We're here for ya. I saw the citations.....I wouldn't sweat it, tbh!!

Now, GO READ!

LoLoL.... ttys!

~ Anne ~

That's a huge relief I was beating myself up over it! Yes ma'am I got my head in the "books" haha. I love this website! TTYL

I looked into Fraley and Schilling because of the home weekends opportunity. Also I was looking for something that has more consistency, because in flatbed having the variety of loads, while is interesting, makes the securement more difficult. You're often learning something new each time.

What I picked up from and being around the Fraley and Schilling drivers and also speaking to recruiter was that I would essentially be hauling coils out of southern Missouri throughout the Midwest. I would run through the week and then get a load that delivered on Friday to get me home for the weekend. Well the consistency of hauling the same load appealed to, but tarping and then tarping coils for day loads was not.

If you're running five to seven hundred mile loads, you would be picking up Monday tarping (2 hours on the ground) then driving the rest of that day and delivering Tuesday (1.5 hours on the ground). Then get another load on Tuesday that you have to tarp (2 hours on the ground) and then drive the rest of the day and try to deliver Wednesday or Thursday. So you're going to be spending a lot of time securing and unsecuring loads which leaves you not that much time to drive miles to earn money.

As far as equipment and the learning curve on securing that's a whole other issue. Coils are not the easiest load to secure. Not because they're that difficult to do but you just have to make sure that your securement is sound because there's a significant danger with hauling coils. Plus the coils are often different sizes. So, a tarping method that works for one set of coils is not necessarily going to work for another set of coils.

From what I understand Fraley and Schilling hauls a lot of metal products. So even if you're not hauling coils, you're going to be hauling other metal products that require moving blankets or other protection for your tarps which is more time securing.

Good luck!

If you're running five to seven hundred mile loads, you would be picking up Monday tarping (2 hours on the ground) then driving the rest of that day and delivering Tuesday (1.5 hours on the ground). Then get another load on Tuesday that you have to tarp (2 hours on the ground) and then drive the rest of the day and try to deliver Wednesday or Thursday. So you're going to be spending a lot of time securing and unsecuring loads which leaves you not that much time to drive miles to earn money.

As far as equipment and the learning curve on securing that's a whole other issue. Coils are not the easiest load to secure. Not because they're that difficult to do but you just have to make sure that your securement is sound because there's a significant danger with hauling coils. Plus the coils are often different sizes. So, a tarping method that works for one set of coils is not necessarily going to work for another set of coils.

From what I understand Fraley and Schilling hauls a lot of metal products. So even if you're not hauling coils, you're going to be hauling other metal products that require moving blankets or other protection for your tarps which is more time securing.

Good luck!

Hey Brody thank you for thoughts! You're %100 correct, it seems like the majority of the loads come untarped from the research I've done as well. With me being new to FB I'm sure I'll be on the slower end with securement until I get the hang/more comfortable with it. With that being said I planned on trying to stay out 2 weeks at a time so I can make sure I get those Friday and Saturday(apparently they have cx open on saturdays)loads in: that's IF I have any clock left by that time haha. I read the securement thread on here, very informative comments in there, however I didn't know that the tarping could be different depending on the size of the coil!!