Why are 53 ft van trailers the first type of driving job

Just a thought, not saying it's right or wrong, but if a person learns to control something that is 70 feet long, then when the eventaully move to a 48 footer it is a lot less intimidating.

 

I'd hazard a guess that it's this way because dry van work is the low hanging fruit. And most dry van work consists of 53 foot trailers. And it's cheaper when a new hire rolls a load of toilet paper in a $20000 van trailer and a cheap Freightshaker vs a owner operator spec'd Kenworth with a $70000 tank behind it.

Then again, nobody ever said that dry van work must be your first driving job. I started in flatbed, moved to lowboy, and I'm doing tanker now. I've pulled a dry van maybe 5000 miles total in 16 years.

 

Heck of a place to break down

 

Well, a bit silly, but a question is a question. 53 foot wagons are the standard of the industry, even though, many never fill that capacity. The reasoning is, better to have the longest wagon possible, in case you haul toilet paper or some other bulky product. I doubt you'll ever see 53 foot tankers or dump trailers, as those are pretty much single purpose units ( although, I have hauled freight in a dump trailer,,,don't ask) And there's a huge difference pulling a 53 as opposed to a 48,,, big difference.

 

It's obviously because there are so many of them.

 

1)Most freight is delivered in a dry van

2)You don't have to worry about teaching load securement in a dry van. You should- but that is another story

3)The brain-dead can get a dry van loaded or unloaded.

4)Dry van is the simplest vehicle to get scaled right.

5)Forgetting to fill the refer is not a problem in a dry van.

6)Setting the air temperature is not a problem in a dry van.

7)Knowing the product weight is not a driver's responsibility in a dry van.

8)Harder for the clumsy and unfit to fall when working a dry van. Yes - it is still possible.

9)The real reason is ----- dry van is highly seasonal. The mega training companies have figured out a way to harvest a seasonal work force without paying increased unemployment taxes by laying drivers off:

They pose as a training company. Sell the training school to the driver $$$$. Put them on a van load or OTR for a few months. Then when freight drops off after Christmas, since they have mostly new drivers, they have plenty of drivers that have safety violations and just cause for firing. When dry van season picks up, sell more training, get more drivers, and repeat.

 

Something like 50-75% of freight is dry van