The cheapest tarp you will ever own is the one already on the truck.
We sell tarps, so of course we would say buy two. Fine — don't take the advice, take the arithmetic. Put your own numbers in and see what it says. For most working trucks it is not close.
A torn tarp does not cost you a tarp
The fabric is the small number. When the tarp lets go — and it lets go at the pit at 6 a.m., not in your driveway on a Sunday — here is what actually starts costing:
- ·The loads you can't take. You know your truck's day rate better than we do — that number, times however long it takes to get fabric on the truck, is the real price.
- ·The ticket exposure. Running uncovered in Texas is a citable offense with a fine of $25 to $500, and a commercial truck doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. See our load-cover law page for the actual statute.
- ·The gate. Landfills and some plants can turn an uncovered load around or charge for it. A turned-around truck is a lost round trip, not a fee.
- ·The rush. Same-day delivery exists — it's our whole thing — but the urgent fee and the phone calls are money and time you only spend because there was no spare behind the cab.
Against all of that sits one rolled tarp in the size you already run. It costs the same on a calm Tuesday as it does the morning you need it — the difference is which morning you bought it.
The two mornings, side by side
Same truck, same torn tarp, same 6 a.m. The only variable is whether there is a spare in the toolbox.
| With a spare | Without one | |
|---|---|---|
| The morning | Swap it at the pit. 20 minutes, mostly untying. | Phone calls from the cab while the loader waits. |
| The day's loads | You run them. | Somebody else runs them. |
| The law and the gate | Covered, no conversation. | Every mile and every gate is a coin flip. |
| What you pay | You already paid it, at the calm price. | Tarp plus rush fee plus the day — the panic price. |
How working trucks actually do it
One spare per truck, in the exact size and system that truck runs — a spare that doesn't fit is decoration. Keep it rolled tight, inside the toolbox or the cab, not lying loose in the sun; a spare that rides exposed on the headache rack for two years is half-dead before its first load.
When you replace a tarp on schedule instead of on the shoulder, the arithmetic gets even easier: the old one, if it still holds, becomes the get-you-home spare, and the new one does the daily work.
If you don't know your size, measure it once and save the numbers in your phone — our measuring guide takes five minutes and you never climb on the truck.
We sell tarps, so read this with that in mind — which is exactly why we marked the symptoms that are not a tarp problem. Selling you fabric that won't fix your truck costs us the customer.
Related
Turns out it is the tarp?
Tell us your truck and we'll point you at the exact size — in stock in Austin, or a real build time if it isn't.