Are they hurting for drivers ...I ask because they keep flooding my mail with job offers. Every time I think flatbed I get ill thinking of all that work...while I like lifting weights I don't like manual labor in the job place go figure I'm lazy like that .

 

Well man, I left there in August and went to the oil field because they were hurting for freight and I got tired of 1500 mile weeks. I was basically living on tarp pay.

They send me at leas 3 letters a month and refused to release an employment verification to my current employer (I guess trying to keep me from getting hired???) so I finally brought one of the many letters they sent offering me my job back to prove my employment with them.

It sucked too because I liked the company equipment, terminals, and all of the people I interacted with aside from my own DM were great. I only lasted 6 weeks with them though.

Week 1, 2700 miles (I was happy)
Week 2 1008 miles (seriously, anyone can have a bad week right)
Week 3 1450 miles
Week 4 700 miles
Week 5 1600 miles
Week 6 350 miles and 3 days sitting in a truck stop in Kansas City getting loads and then having them cancel as SOON as I left my parking spot at the flying hook. That was when I just gave up and took a load to the yard area and then tunrned my truck in after I delivered it.

I came from running teams with Conway TL where you run 6500+ miles a week together and don't do well with sitting. Similar to O/O's having to run for fuel and a truck payment with these rough times, I was running for showers and food because that was all the money I was making.

I miss it and wish it would have worked out but I get a legitimate 60-70 hours a week driving tankers in the oil field and sleep in my bed everynight plus get all that overtime.

 

I figured them deserate B/C I never applied there,but keep getting messages ...They do have good equipment ,but it's flatbed ,and those miles look just like what I got at GTS ---not good at all . Im looking at going back OTR ,as I'm getting tired of running as a yard dog ,So I'm looking CON-WAY and Crete I was already green lighted for hire at both ...Conway might offer better miles than Crete and a possibility at a T-660 if I get lucky ,but crete is only Freightliner ,and their only .03 cpm apart ,which could easily be made up if mies are better at Con-way .

 

I had a Melton driver come up to me asking about Superior a few months ago. I told him about Superior and the tanker side of trucking.

He then told me how much he didn't like his job there. He said they don't get him home when he needed, even after he stays out 4 weeks (his choice). They moniter over speed and idle very strictly. IMO Melton is not a place I would want to drive for.

 

Just for future reference, if a company is "flooding" your mail or you see an ad in a trucking magizine, 98% of the time the company is not worth working for if you have experience.

 

At one time i thought about driving for Melton but then i realized iam to lazy to chain,strap,tarp and tie down every load i pull in the rain/snow.

 

I had that realization before I even got my CDL .

 

I don't mind doing that as long as it isn't directly followed by a 300 mile drive, unloading, and then sitting for 2-3 days waiting for another 300 or 400 mile drive with more sitting.

I love flat beds, just couldn't stick it out with them long enough to make the required skateboard experience needed to go with a good carrier like Lone Star who wants 6 months of flatbedding before applying.

I have bills that have to be paid and 6 months at melton would have had me homeless, carless, and probably 50 lbs lighter from lack of food.

 

Early in my driver days, I did flatbed for a few months. I remember having to use my strap tightener bar to break the ice off of the load to get the tarp off. Ever try to fold a frozen tarp? Flatbed may pay a little more money, but you sure earn it.

 

Been there and done that. Marquip used to ship oversized, with a single oversized tarp on the load. They did the loading, securing, and tarping, but...

The load sat in their yard a day or two, and anywhere the tarp sagged down, you could have a foot of water that froze into a big chunk of ice. Spent a lot of time with a hammer, breaking up the ice and getting it off the load so 4 guys could pull the one tarp off the load. Or, if it was a bit warmer, 4 guys would take a cold shower pulling the tarp off the load. Tarps were 60' long with a boxed end. Weighed over 300 pounds. Took 2 guys to lift them off the ground. Usually, a forklift would put them back on the empty trailer. But, I got a real sense of accomplishment backing a 13.6' wide load into a 14' door. That's where I learned the value of a hand-held CB.