thanks for the kind words....however, if you read the entire thread without falling alsleep you might want see a doctor for insominia....lol

p.s. welcome to the board

well I'll be darned....good to see you all are still around. I'm doing pretty good myself, coming up on my 5th anniversary in the industry and truckin along!!

Like a lot of others, I stumbled on this thread during my research process and it has made for some interesting reading. I've been skimming through the updates over the past couple weeks while my student chouffers me around the Midwest (I do manage to teach him a few things when I'm not reading). I plan on buying a truck in the not too distant future and you've got me thinking about looking for a flatbed carrier to drive for between now and then. I think I would enjoy the physical work and variety of freight. It's also good to see that Landstar has worked well for you as they're one of the companies I'm thinking about once I get the point of actually purchasing a truck. Thanks for the thread and I hope all is still going well!

yeppers.....still breathing and believe it or not still having fun out here :D

well ty for the kind words......as you can see i dont get on here nearly as much anymore and update....wish i had a good excuse but truth be told i am just lazy.....lol. i started flatbedding and thats all i've ever done....it has it moments where i just wanna explode in anger/frustration but when everything is done and said i would do anything else!!!
who are you pulling for now?

I've been pulling Dollar General loads for US Xpress for the past 6 years. Hand unloading is good exercise and the paycheck is about as good as I've found for a company driver but the trade off is dealing with a dollar store manager on a power trip 3-5 times a day. lol

I noticed you mentioned Michigan in a few of your past updates. Is that a decent area for flatbed freight?

One of the things I enjoy about flatbedding is that 95% of my customers are actually happy to see me. I do run across the occasional "A-hole" but for the most part everyone is friendly.

As for Michican, I haven't been up that way in a while but yes there is a lot of flatbed freight there, however, there are also a lot of flatbeds and therefore the "supply & demand" kicks in and the rates can get a little cheap at times.

devildice, ive just started to read your thred(1 page down). and will injoy reading more, may take a year or two. but when i get to this post it might be nice to see some reflikting on your part. maybe you have and i will come to it as i read but if you havent, maybe your find some time to look over your first few pages and maybe update what you thought as you started and what realty you found leaving shool or your first yr.

ive been in trucking all my life and started driving in 86,im 46 now and things are much diferent today then back in the day. and i would say for the better on the safety side,

ouifwy bury
 

thanks and happy reading......i said it before and I'll say it again, this thread should help put you to sleep.....lol.

as for reflecting back....well you know that's a good question. I've only been doing this for 5yrs now so I'm not real sure i have the "experience" to say much. i have had the pleasure and in some cases displeasure to see changes in the industry. i guess the only honest thing i can say is that i have zero regrets getting into the business and buying my own equipment ...