Load Types

It looks like there are basically four load types.

Reefer Flatbed Tanker Dry Van

Would it be advised for a rookie to stay away from any of these?

I pretty much found that I had to start in dry van. Thats where the positions are for new people. Thats not entirely true across the board, but if you look enough, most of the jobs outside of dry van want you to have some experience. Even then, not all dry van jobs are the same. We do expediting work, and the majority of our freight is drop and hook. That means we have less time waiting to be unloaded. Its not uncommon for us to run one load, and pick up another from the same shipping company. The down side is a lot of those loads are air freight and on tight deadlines, so we have little time to stop in between. We do seem to get a lot of high value loads too, and those tend to be lighter. There was a private school near my house, that I did not have the money to go too. Graduates of that school were being hired by Werner and a lot of their work was on Dollar General accounts. Those drivers were unloading the trucks and also doing inventory checks. (So I was told anyway. Have not seen it with my own eyes, and that counts a lot in this industry. You only half believe it until you see it, and then be skeptical.) Now while it is true, they are paid to unload those trucks, the best money comes from time on the road, and all that takes time away from driving time. So, there are differences in all of them. I have seen ads for flat bed jobs that say 90% of their loads are no tarp or pre tarped loads.

If you go to one of the major truck stops, go to the side with diesel pumps and by the entrance where the truck drivers come in, there will be boxes with publications advertising truck driving jobs. Most of those publications are 90% ads for jobs, with a few articles thrown in. Pick up some of those, and you will get an idea of the variety of jobs out there, and most of them list hiring areas, and minimum requirements for hiring.

You can't go wrong with either one, but since you're just starting out, you'll probably be in either reefer or dry van. Both have their advantages, reefer loads are normally heavier and longer distance loads, and you deliver literally at all hours. I've delivered at 330 in the morning before. It all depends on you're choice. I chose reefer because I wanted some background noise for when I was at the truck stop. I didn't know how I would handle sleeping in a truck, and I figured the reefer unit would be white noise. I never had a problem sleeping with either dry or reefer loads. But you will more than likely be in a reefer or dry van.

You probably won't be in flatbed or tanker you're first time out since those companies normally hire people who have more driving experience. And there's a lot of stuff to learn in both those divisions. So you probably won't have to worry about driving in those divisions for at least a year.

Just make sure to pick the one you're most comfortable with.

Flatbed companies do hire new drivers, that is where I started. They will train you on all of the flatbed specific duties, like load securement, tarping, etc.

Also, keep in mind that flatbed loads, 99.99% of the time, are put on and taken off with a forklift or crane, there is no driver unloading or loading. While some shippers/receivers will make you wait a while, most of my customers are pretty quick to put it on or take it off. And flatbed pays better. No worries about high winds most of the time. Usually you are heavy enough to have good traction in the winter, except with styrofoam insulation, 48'x13'6" high is only about 5000 lbs.

Forgot to say, in your area Tandem Transport is a good flatbed company, they have a terminal in Chatanooga.

Thanks, guys :)