What is better Dry Van or Reefer?

I consistently gross $1000 a week pulling dry van.
I took a pay cut cpm wise to run the south only.
I'd like to see some company settlements from solo reefer drivers showing a consistent check showing $1000 gross.

 

My runs mainly involve 1200-2000 miles,the only real sitting I do revolves around the fact I usually run on recap a few days.
My dispatcher nearly always gets me an early am appointment so I can get reloaded by noon and find parking.
I have 0 headaches at my current employer...I put reefer and dollar accounts in the same category..

 

I would not do reefer as a new guy. The places you will more than likely have to go, along with the way you will be treated, will shut down a new guy to trucking in short order. Reefer is not for sissies, not saying you are a sissy, but you sure can and in many cases get treated like a home invader, never a pleasant experience. You are to new to the industry to find the humor in these places and keep your head above it all. And yes, I have drug around a reefer, and no way would I ever do it again. That was in the very early 90's, I have never looked back.

 

The problem is companies like Tyson get around detention by having 24hr load windows and using drop and hook. Meaning your load might be ready anytime in the 24hr period and the ddt time usually gives you barely enough time to get the load to the shipper.

Naturally, you as the driver dont want to put yourself in the situation of showing up at the ddt time and having to push hard to make,e the appointment. This means you act responsible and show up at a reasonable time only to find out Tyson doesn't have your load ready and it lilely wont be ready until 15 mins before ddt so you sit there getting no detention pay for 15-30hrs....

 

See, that is the issue, you are still sitting... Sit, you are not making money. Another reason I ran from the reefer racket. To much wait time, at both ends.

 

Well, the kicker is it's not always that way. Sometimes the load is actually ready but there is always the option to call ahead to see if the load is ready or what it's eta is before accepting the load. I was just pointing out how some companies get around detention pay.

Well granted if you are lease guy at my company you can turn it down but company guys are forced dispatch. Usually though the loads pay pretty well. Im hauling a Tyson load now that is roughly 800 miles and I had 40 unloaded miles to get to it. The load pays $1,627.00 so roughly $2/mile and Im tied up with the load for roughly 30hrs including my mid trip reset which im on now. (That includes load time on this one but not unload, because I'll be doing my reset at the 90 so I dont care how long it takes to uload)

No its not some $3 or $4/mile heavy haul that some OO might get, but roughly $2/mile isn't bad IMHO.

 

Well, you are not being compensated for your wait time, that is the real issue, but I know where you are coming from. Sometimes that wait time is put to good use, like sleeping or finding a good steak house.

 

Well at least this load being it's live unload I can get detention on the unload side. It was just the 01 where the appointment window came into play.

 

Actually this is a very good question i often ask myself as i hauled reefers for 4 years quite simply i just got used to that style of work and just choose to stick with what i new, the only down side is putting up with the noise from your fridge motor and having to pre cool your trailer if picking up temp sensitive freight. I waited for over 5 hours one day when my reefer refused to go below 30f for a frozen load.