Tarping is the practice of covering freight on an open-deck trailer with a large plastic or canvas tarp to protect it from weather, road debris, and contamination during transit. It’s one of the defining tasks of flatbed trucking, and for many drivers, it’s the hardest part of the job. The process involves draping heavy material over a load, pulling it tight, and securing it with straps or bungees before hitting the road.
Why Loads Need to Be Tarped
Flatbed trailers don’t have walls or a roof, which means everything on them is exposed to rain, snow, road salt, and debris kicked up by other vehicles. Tarping keeps freight clean and undamaged so it arrives in sellable or usable condition. In winter, dirty snow and road salt are especially problematic because they can corrode metal loads or stain building materials.
There’s also a legal reason. Federal cargo securement rules require that commercial vehicles be loaded and equipped so that cargo cannot leak, spill, blow, or fall from the vehicle on public roads. For loose materials or items that could shed parts, a tarp serves as that containment. Shippers and receivers often have their own tarping requirements too, specifying exactly how and when freight must be covered regardless of weather.
Types of Tarps
Not every tarp works for every load. The three main types you’ll encounter in flatbed work are steel tarps, lumber tarps, and smoke tarps, each designed for a different load profile.
- Steel tarps are shorter in width because steel coils, beams, and plate don’t stack very high on a trailer. A common size is 16 by 27 feet. They’re built from heavy-duty vinyl-coated polyester, typically 18 ounces per square yard, to resist tearing against sharp metal edges.
- Lumber tarps are wider to accommodate taller, bulkier loads. A standard lumber tarp measures around 24 by 27 feet with an 8-foot drop on each side. Despite the name, they’re used for any high-stacking freight: lumber, drywall, packaged goods, machinery crates. Individual lumber tarps weigh between 76 and 108 pounds depending on size and material thickness.
- Smoke tarps are smaller covers, usually 6 by 8 or 8 by 10 feet, placed over the front of a load near the cab. Their main job is to shield freight from diesel exhaust soot and road grime that gets thrown backward during driving.
Most flatbed drivers carry at least four to six tarps on their trailer at all times, since different loads and shippers have different requirements. A full set of heavy-duty tarps can add several hundred pounds to the truck’s weight, which slightly reduces the payload you can legally haul.
How Tarping Actually Works
The basic process sounds simple but is physically demanding. You climb onto the load or use a ladder, unfold the tarp across the top, and drape it down the sides so it covers the freight completely. Then you climb back down and secure the tarp using rubber bungees, ratchet straps, or rope tied to D-rings along the trailer’s edge. The goal is a tight, smooth fit with no flapping material that could tear loose at highway speeds.
Experienced drivers roll tarps out from back to front so they can see edges and gaps as they go. A single tarping job typically takes 30 to 60 minutes depending on load size, weather, and how many tarps are needed. Some loads require two or more tarps overlapped to cover the full length. On a windy day, the process takes longer and becomes significantly more dangerous because a gust can catch an unfolded tarp like a sail, pulling a driver off balance.
Edge protectors are placed where straps cross sharp corners of the freight. These prevent the straps from cutting through on metal edges while also keeping the cargo itself from getting damaged by strap pressure.
The Injury Risk Is Real
Tarping is one of the most hazardous routine tasks in trucking. Drivers regularly climb 8 to 12 feet off the ground onto uneven, shifting loads, often in rain, snow, or wind. Falls are the primary danger, and the consequences tend to be serious.
A CDC report on tarping-related fall injuries found that the shortest recovery time among the cases reviewed was two months off work. In one case, a 49-year-old driver fell when wind caught the tarp while he was on top of a load, landing on his shoulder and developing serious complications. Workers’ compensation costs reached $170,000, including over four years of lost work time. Another driver fell just 10 feet from a plywood load and fractured his ankle, missing 12 weeks of work. Boot heels catching on straps, wet surfaces, and unstable footing on irregularly shaped freight are recurring factors.
Safety recommendations include using a proper ladder rather than climbing the trailer’s side, taking advantage of tarping stations at shipping facilities when available, and always rolling tarps forward rather than pulling backward so you can see where you’re stepping.
What Drivers Get Paid for Tarping
Because tarping is extra physical labor on top of driving, most carriers pay a separate tarp fee. The standard range in 2025 is $50 to $100 per load, paid on top of the driver’s regular mileage or hourly rate. Some companies pay per tarp rather than per load, which means a multi-tarp job pays more.
Whether that extra pay is worth it depends on the driver. Some flatbed drivers view tarping as a fair trade-off for the higher overall pay that flatbed work offers compared to dry van or reefer jobs. Others see the physical toll and injury risk as undercompensated, especially on loads requiring four or more heavy tarps in bad weather. It’s one of the biggest reasons some drivers leave flatbed work for enclosed trailer operations.
Automated Tarping Systems
Manual tarping is slowly being supplemented by mechanical alternatives. Retractable tarp systems mount on the trailer itself and use a sliding track mechanism that lets one person cover a full load without climbing on top of the freight. The driver pulls a tarp assembly along rails from the front of the trailer to the back, covering the load in minutes rather than the 30 to 60 minutes a manual job can take.
These systems reduce fall risk dramatically since the driver stays on the ground or on the trailer’s catwalk. They also cut turnaround time at loading docks. The trade-off is upfront cost and added trailer weight. Automated systems work well for consistent, uniform loads but can struggle with oddly shaped or oversized freight that doesn’t fit neatly under a fixed tarp profile. For most flatbed operations handling mixed freight, manual tarps remain the standard.
Some dump truck operations have moved almost entirely to automatic tarping, where a motor-driven cover rolls over the top of the trailer bed at the push of a button. This is practical because dump loads are always roughly the same shape. Flatbed freight varies too much in height and configuration for a single automated solution to cover every scenario.