reefers - procs and cons

Personally i liked pulling reefers. The humm helped me fall asleep. Most people hate it but i liked it. Plus you get more load availability and arent stuck waiting on non reefered frieght, cuz you can pull n e thing from paper rolls to ice cream. A reefer trlr isnt as wide as a dryvan but you can still get around 45k in the box as long as your truck isnt too heavy. There are pros and cons of both. Alot of reefer loads have late hr pick ups and deliveries. Less it seems with a dry van. Good luck.

 

Most anything that can go in a drybox will go in a reefer. I said most, not all. Point - reefer.

Flatbed days were great with the housing boom, up untill recently. But people will always have to eat. Point - reefer.

I personaly would not want to own anything other than my reefer right now. I will take the cons to boot, with this crappy economy. That is my opinion as an O/O with my own trailer.

However, if I were looking to drive a company truck with one of the many mega carriers, I'd probably pick a drybox. Less noise, less 3 am appointments, less mechanical failures to worry about, and one less unit you gotta pump fuel into. Maybe the big reefer mega carriers pay a penny or 2 per mile more than mega drybox companys do though.

 

How bad would it hurt you if you had a 48' reefer right now?

My dealer has 2 of them for 7k a piece and wondering if that's a good deal considering the loads available. His 53's are well over 20k... big difference.

 

The bottom started to fall out on 48's once 53's became the standard. Personaly, I like a 48, but I haul cheese to Florida and produce back, which works great with a 48.

There are certain people in this biz, primarly newb brokers, who think that if this load is 24 or 26 skids, by God we need a 53. Little do they know that you can get 28 skids, all on the floor, in a 48. It's just that they're all sideways and will need a forklift, not a pallet jack to load/unload.

Money always factors in when deciding what trailer to buy, as yes the 48's will be cheaper. I really try to stay away from giving general advise on weather to get a 48 vs 53, but I will say that if I was looking to buy a closed tandem reefer, I'd probably opt for a 53. 53' spread axle reefers just look whacked to me

A 53 foot reefer will offer you more loads and the most service. I'm just old skool and can get buy with a 48 no problem.


My 48 is in my sig, below

 

Pros of a reefer, which is all I have ever pulled (except for 2 months with Werner after a recruiter lied to me): In ANY economy, people still eat. Food always moves. Freight even for us has been down, but not as bad as dry vans or flat beds. I wouldn't want to pull anything else. The unit starting and stopping all night is something you get used to. The appointment times can be obnoxious, like 3am. But at least you have an appointment, which means you have FREIGHT and are not sitting in a truck stop somewhere spending money you are not making.

 

I'm curious to the year models, unit hours, and condition of those $7k 48's vs the $20K 53's

Are they listed on truckkpapper dot cm??

(purposely spelled inkorekly)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong on this but if you have a reefer trailer you can transport most any kind of freight weather it's to be kept to a safe temp or a load of dog food. To me you have the best of both worlds being able to transport either or. Keeps you with a loaded trailer all the time. Looks like a WIN-WIN.
Just my thoughts.

 

Due to the weight of the reefer trailer, we can not haul as heavy as loads as a dry van. But people need to eat, and food moves, and dry frieght gets me out of some cities. I love 3am appointments on the east coast, no traffic Now the lumpers at some of the grocery docks nuff said.

 

Most costomers want 53's these day's but for $7k a trailer sound's like something is wrong. Bad shape. Unit's don't run, etc. Could be any number of thing's even including scrapes inside and outside.