I’m Not Getting Paid for Tarping
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Tarping is an hour or more of physical work per load, in whatever weather there is, and it’s the accessorial most consistently agreed verbally and never invoiced. Flatbed carriers lose more to this than to almost anything else, in small amounts, every week.
It’s not in the posting, so it has to be in the conversation
Load postings frequently say “tarp required” without saying what tarp pay is. Some brokers build it into the linehaul, some pay it separately, and some assume you’ll do it for free because the last carrier did.
The only reliable version is asking at booking and getting the answer into the rate confirmation.
Price it properly
Tarp pay varies by how many tarps and how difficult the load is. What matters is that you have a number before the conversation rather than accepting whatever’s offered.
Work out what an hour of your time is worth, add the physical toll and the weather risk, and set a rate. A four-tarp load in February is not the same job as a single lightweight tarp in June, and it shouldn’t be the same price.
Establish this at booking
- Is tarping required?
- How many tarps, and what type?
- Is tarp pay included in the linehaul or separate?
- If separate, what’s the rate?
- Who provides the tarps?
Question three is where most of the confusion lives. “The rate includes tarping” and “we pay tarp on top” sound similar on a phone call and differ by a hundred dollars or more.
Get it on the invoice
Tarp pay agreed at booking still has to reach the invoice. Submitted separately and later, it gets treated as an afterthought and queried. On the original invoice, referencing the ratecon term, it’s just part of the load. More on accessorials.
When to decline
A load requiring extensive tarping at a rate that doesn’t reflect it is a load someone else should take. Flatbed carriers who tarp for free train the market to expect it, from them and from everyone.
Where Hey Bubba! fits
Hey Bubba! is an AI back-office automation platform for fleets. Securement and tarping requirements are read from the load, tarp pay is established with the broker during negotiation, and the term is captured on the rate confirmation and carried through to invoicing.
Frequently asked questions
It varies by tarp count and difficulty. Set your own number based on the time and physical work, and negotiate from it rather than accepting what’s offered.
Sometimes, sometimes separate. Establish which at booking; it’s the most common source of confusion on flatbed loads.
You can decline the load. Once accepted with tarping specified, it’s part of the job.
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