How do refers make good money?

When I pulled reefers, had no problem making $55K per year and many reefer drivers make much more.
Tyson Foods drivers post they make $60K+ if they hustle.
Change companies is the answer.
Danny Herman Trucking is dry van and they run everywhere EXCEPT northeast.
Abilene Motor Express is mostly drop & hook and 100% no-touch freight. Mostly dry van and some reefer.
You're with the wrong company.

 

I pulled Reefer for FFE and only dislike was their low pay. Keep you moving. Reefer wasnt that bad and wasnt always live unload

 

Run ltl reefer and get paid by the hour with time an a half after 40 like me.

 

Temp controlled pharmaceutical, and hazmat.

 

There are some shippers who will absolutely not load a reefer with dry freight, some times it doesn't make sense, but it is an issue.

 

Really it's all about the company you work for. I have live loads and unloads for 90% of my loads. I started with my company in the middle of January and my year to date is 13,905 for basically three months. If it keeps up I will gross over 50K this year. I don't know about you but that is good money to me considering I have never made over 31k in my life.

Try working for a small company with between 20 - 50 trucks. You will most likely be kept busy. I work for an outfit that runs 30+ trucks and I rarely sit.

 

Reefer loads pay more to the truck than dry van loads. If you are getting paid by the mile as a company driver and getting a whopping 2 cent premium to pull reefer, you are getting the stick end of the lollipop.

If you are a company driver or driving for an O/O with a reefer, the best deal is percentage pay. A coast to coast run can pay up to $10K in peak season, why settle for chump change? Make at least 25% TTT and you can start to make good money.

 

If it's regular palletized freight, it's pretty dumb.

But things like paper rolls that need a flat floor, I can understand.

FWIW, you can't haul Freeport-McMoran copper rod out of the El Paso mill in a reefer or metal floor trailer. Loads are 8-10 containers split between the nose and tail and require wood nailed to a wood floor for securement.

 

This is true but these shippers for the most part just want a dry trailer. I lost count of the situations where I had to run my reefer unit as I drove to a shipper to dry it out. Water dripping on some consumer goods will ruin them. After a while you learn when and how to set a reefer so there is no condensation in the trailer.

 

Refers make good money because long ago mega-carriers found drivers would take CPM instead of hourly pay. These mega's now capitalize on that fact and bank on well paying runs with low miles. The driver's time is free, and the whole grocer system has learned to use and abuse the driver for their benefit.

To make it clear to those that don't know. Most refer runs are of the short nature; around 400 miles or less. Few cross country runs as most of frozen food is put on the train.

Most trucking runs are from distributer to grocer and both ends of that journey have worked out a scam where management makes bank and the work is done by lumpers. The driver gets to waste his time bankrolling the whole scam.

Most refer loads are long and excrutiating live loads and unloads. All customers involved are of the mind that they don't have to pay detention. The refer company is of the same opinion, for fear of loosing a customer.

The theory behind being a refer driver is that everybody eats year-round so it must be immune from the seasonality of van or flatbed. That school of thought misses the whole story. Other then the regular runs buy the groceries own drivers, most frozen food is seasonal. The exception is meat processing, where they strive to waste as much of a driver's time as possible.