Never cuss a farmer with your mouth full. :wink: :P

 

Too many chickenhaulers in that biz willing to work/haul for $0.

I thought there was a diver shortage. :lol:

 

I tried vans and reefers and found that they both pretty much sucked. From the waiting times to lousy recievers, low pay and crap hometime - it's the OTR experience in a nutshell. Between the two, dry van had a lot less head aches and a lot less waiting around to load or unload than reefer. No produce houses and less grocery warehouses. When you take into account the time loading (produce 2 to 5 pick up's) plus meat can take forever to load and then all the mutli-stop BS in reefer. Then you have the problem with lumpers, which is basically a legalized extortion racket. And lest we forget the general attitude of shippers and receivers toward truckdrivers? They will treat you the driver as though you killed their dog and cat and molested their child. No it's not worth it. I made as much (if not more) with dry van doing 85% drop-n-hook than I ever made sitting around grocery warehouses at 2am and never getting home. With the new HOS, you're pretty much forced to run hot with a reefer on your back. Oh yeah, garbage haulers like to brag on the CB about their water-to-water runs. Not so much anymore with Stevens, Marten, England, Shaffer, etc putting more and more vans on rails. The other week I was stopped at a railroad crossiing (on the clock, of course ) and I watched a whole slew of em' roll by.

Like me, my buddy did both vans/reefer and got tired of all the BS and went over to the dark side of tankers. Now he's paid by the hour for ALL time spent with the truck and time and a half after 40. Home everynight. Very little BS on any of the loads although he might have to wait for lab tests to be run on a sample. As for unloading, he just hooks the hose and opens the valve, most of the tanks he pulls can unload at about 400 gallons per min. Easy money.

If I had to do it over again, I would have skipped the whole van/reefer nonsense and went right to tanker. Much less BS for the $$$$$$.

 

I've been hauling reefer for about 5 months now. I've never touched produce, I don't get treated bad by shippers nor receivers and I haul a lot of other stuff besides food. I've even hauled hazmat (cleaning supplies).

As the company I work for is based out of Florida, we do haul a lot of orange juice, it's heavy as hell but other than just checking to make sure the reefer is on and checking the temperature it's no big deal. We are supposed to send in check calls twice a day but I never do it. I figure a lot of people just send in the check call without actually checking the freight, so as I just check the freight I don't bother with the calls. Besides the only thing I'm paid for is to drive so I don't bother with much else, and I try to stay off line 4 On duty not paid.

Above what someone said about more stuff to break is true. Last load I was hauling trees and the reefer stopped working. Didn't take long to fix at the T/A though.

As for being held up at shippers/receivers, actually the longest I was help up, like 9 hours, was for a dry load. The whole company got to know who I was at that point cause sitting for that long didn't sit to well with me and I let them know it.

The reefer noise doesn't bother me in the least; actually it's kind of soothing to me. But lately I've been hauling mostly dry goods so it is very true that a reefer does open up a lot more freight to you.

Well that's my two cents.

 

This has been my experience as well. I don't have too many problems at grocery warehouses. Just back in, give them a T-Check if we don't have an account, and tell them to wake me up when they're done. I got treated worse by people in the steel mills when I ran flatbed than I do now. I don't think I would do reefer if I was an O/O though.

And that is my 1/50 of a dollar.

 

If I am to get back into Trucking I would go Reefer. I more than likely have to go O/O with my own authority also. Held my CDL now for 11 years, but only driven for 4.

If a load needs to be driver unload, get a lumper. No big deal. If can not find a Load for a reefer, find a Dry load. there is more options. My hometown would be great to have a Flatbed, but I am a little challenge doing Flatbeds due to my bones.


To all who are out on the Road Be safe...

 

've been hauling reefer for about 5 months now. I've never touched produce, I don't get treated bad by shippers nor receivers and I haul a lot of other stuff besides food. I've even hauled hazmat (cleaning supplies).

In your Reefer?? That's pretty much a no no

 

I was wondering about that, but I figured the company would know better. Do you know if there is some specific regulation on this?

 

Hazmat in a Reefer a No no? Guess the Flameable and corrosive Pepsi, &UP and Mountain Dew flavoring I hauled in a reefer was not hazmat then.

Only thing I had not pulled in a reefer that I did in a Dry van was a Cherry picker, and Steel coils. Hauled Sugar in a dry van, and reefer, I had loads of plants in dry and reefer. there is 3 differents in a dry van and a reefer. Reefer has a motor on it, along with the exta insulation and fuel tank and the floors are metal so it is heavier. the reefer is easier to clean out if it needs to be washed out, the floor will not be wet as long, dry van has wood floors and soak in the water threrefore it would take longer to dry.

 

what in the hell are all of you smoking ?????? pass that damn pipe I want to try some of that BS...

I pull a reefer and its the bomb.....

I pull alot of dry loads from paper products to coca cola syrup to plactic pellets....I done it all dry, even tampons..

I pull refrigerated and frozen at the same time with a dual unit ltl trl...

I never have to unload a load unless its a ltl load then yeah I pull 1 or 2 pallets off truck and sort it out, sure wow 96 cases on one order, wow thats a back breaker and a half, if is a full truckload going to anybody out there the company pays for the lumper, its included with the shipping cost, its a game they play..... full load one drop they pay you sit and watch the world go by, hard part is opening the trl doors and backin in to the dock, whew you all must be feeling that whew pass that pipe for some more of that BS you got there...

I haul beef , fresh trim pieces, its time sensitive, it cannot be older than 3 days when going to oscar meyer or places like that , I get them their most times the next day, they will reject the load, no time waiting for that , well there waiting on you again to open your doors and back that damn truck up so they can ship you out....and its most of the time D & H too....

Swinging beef, yes its hangin from hooks and it swingin, dead carcasses , its a trip, like hauling a tanker, you get that surge from side to side and front to back, takes time to get use to, really heard its worse than a tanker .... its swingin whew, go slow around curves, that load is also time sensitive, most of the time on beef loads they are drop empty and pickup already loaded and sealed trl.... no time wasted here so pass that pipe and lets tear it up.......

I never have to wait for a live load, I can be 3 hours early and I get into a dock within 30 minutes, I have hauled alot in my box, trees, dogfood, kitty litter, had 43,000 lbs of non dairy creamers, them little things you see in a bowl at a resturant.. yeah them things... everyone thinks the box is more heavy well a bit but not much, I can haul up to 46,000 in the box... I have hauled potatoes that are bulk loaded onto the trailer, yup there sitting on the floor half way up the sides of the box, going to campbell soup..... they just pick you up and dump them out hehehehe what a trip you say, yup just washout afterwards, company pays to wash trl each load too..

I never sweep it, i always gett it washed so have a clean clean trl every load, better than a chewed up wood floor dry box, got nice ribbed floor pallets slide real nice on, wow thats slick, so if you were to be a owner op and had a choice, the right choice is buy a 45 foot reefer with split tandem and you my friend can haul anything and I meaen anything, I hauleed 25 foot tall trees from a nusery, they stack them in there..... just ask all them owner ops with them shiny reefer trls, they will tell you, you can haul anything.....well mostly anything, not 65 foot steel beams or nuttin like that, flat beds will though with a over sized permit too....

still choking on that pipe, yeah I though so, pulling a reefer is not as bad as you think, its really the smart way to go, most owner ops I see are hauling beef or produce becasue them are high dollar payloads, why else do you think they pull them loads, I pull them too as a company driver and all I see is owner ops at del monte.... reefers do make more money than a dry box.. another high dollar payload is from M & M Mars Co... haulin candy, yup them pay big bucks and need to be refrigerated...

Okay I got to go to bed, I got to delivery Fugi Film in Chicago in the mornin, and yes its set and reefer is runnin, hehehehe film has to be refriderated too, cant have it sit in the hot dry van all day, I think a dry van limits you to stuff thats not going to melt, alright one more hit and i gotta go .....

Just remember each company is different so some might force you to unload a whole trl of ice cream, so pick a good company.... you all must of had bad employers to not like a reefer unit, I enjoy mine.... I always have a load all year, never slows down, and never wait inline, in and out service.... got to love it...