When asked about the Trans Am or KLLM or any other reefer company there will always be a SLC and lumpers involved. Please think of this when chosing the box you want to haul. Food unlike any other item will always keep moving. Reguardless of the economy people have to eat. I dont mind the SLC or lumpers. SLC usually means drop and hook at the meat plants and a nap while the lumpers unload you. Just to be fair you could end up spending more time than you like at a meat plant. Loads are D&H but are not always ready when you get there. I just try to tell people that TA and KLLM are good companies to start with but please please please stay away from lease programs until you have more experience.

Yup your reply was to a new driver whining about pullin a reefer. I think I'm talking on a CB radio? Really? Funny I don't remember mentioning anything about a CB. And FYI, I don't pay for washouts, lumpers,and pallets. It's called comcheck and every comcheck advance for said purchases are on every pay statement. Maybe you would have gotten reimbursed had you checked your pay statements and knew what you were looking for. Nope sorry, hate to burst your bubble since you seem to know it all and how I get paid. Ya see once that comcheck number comes across the qualcom, it's automatically reimbursed at that millisecond. See how that works. Duh how did dey do dat. When you can pull your head out and get your facts straight before you run uneducated mouth, then you can talk. Go turn your keys in and get off the road.

Let me clarify the post above. The new driver wasn't whining about pullin the reefer...It was the driver that's affraid of a little bit of "extra" work that he might have to dictate to another person to do or whip out a pen and write a comcheck for said work. Oh the humanity...

I just had to lump a Cargill load and it really sucked. I had to unstack and restack them, cause they were all mixed up. It was either that or reschedule. Had a trip to Florida with 4 stops. It took 5 logs sheets to cover that trip.

1st check from TA was 430, then 540, then 980, all take home (weekly).

Been through lot of BS & now see what trucking is really like.

[quote=DaveinKC;506006]So 5 log sheets to cover the trip to Florida. That means it took you 5 days to get the load finished. I don't see the problem with that. Looks like you had something that kept you busy for 5 days rather than sitting and waiting for a load. Don't know why you lumped a Cargill load. Thats what lumpers are for and TransAm pays for them. They pay for mine. Restacking is the main job of the lumper after pulling the pallets off the trailer.

i'm also strongly considering KLLM, but what i'm really wondering is does KLLM and for that matter any refer company have lots of irregular hours as far as pickup and delivery times?

What i'm refering to as "irregular" is not non-9-to-5 hours, but will you have to pickup at 3am one day and maybe deliver the load two days later at 3pm?

So, in other words, will your sleep and on-duty times be inconsistent and flip-flopping all the time?

i have done lots of refer work, but in one instance it was for a dedicated carrier and all the customers had daytime recieving hours and thus you can pretty much have a consistent work/off duty scedule this way.

The other instance was long-distance produce and basically, while there may be plenty of night driving this way, at least it is consistent and therefore your work/sleep schedule can also be fairly consistent this way.

As far as the refers themselves, i have no real issues with them---except for the noise, but they're getting quieter at most companies.

i'm really leaning towards refers this time because i feel there's more miles especially the way the economy is right now. But if it means irregular work/sleep schedules, i'm not so sure about it.

I wouldn't nessicarily say the hours are inconsistant. It has been my experience that most of the delivery times for reefer loads are early in the morning around 5 to 6am which usually means all night driving. Middle of the night pick ups, not so much unless it was a drop and hook somewhere or if got somewhere for a drop and hook and the load wasn't ready, I might get it around 10pm or so. That usually only happened at meat plants and they have a drop dead time or a time to have the load ready before it will be late getting to where it has to go.

i don't mind night driving (though i much prefer day driving/working---even with all the traffic and heat etc.) as long as it is consistently night driving all the time at generally the same hours-give or take maximum 1 hour difference per day(24 hour period).

The occasional flip-flop is ok---even welcomed every 2-3 weeks. But no more than once every 2 weeks.

i've worked for many companies that have erratic schedules and it always looks "doable" on paper, the money looks and is good. But it never works out physically; When it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. There's no arguing with nature and biology.

If i don't get regular good sleep, it's just not going to work no matter how good the money is.

It would be interesting to know the percentages of drop and hook for each of the major refer companies. Although even with drop and hook there might be twilight hour appointments(?) because i've had to do them before----Sysco.

i am a recent grad from a truck driving school in florida. i just wanted to know if trans am or kllm had parts of florida they dont hire out of . i live in vero beach about an hour and a half south of orlando hope someone can help me thank you for your time

lots of people from Florida work for TA, but getting a dispatch from Florida is what can be a problem. This is where hometime can work against you.

I've been to Florida a few times now, Jacksonville, South Daytona, Bradenton, Plant City etc and always shipped from Tropicana in Bradenten. Always back to Colorado so far.