Cool my cab from the reefer?

You should wake up before your alarm goes off thinking about getting the electric blanket.

 

He will pay for hotels but not for an AC charge?

Bullspit..

 

$22

 

i rebuilt my system sunday. vacuum and recharged it. then wrapped pipes and it blows 35.9 degrees

 

Well, 1st of all, an APU is pricey, and A/C repair can get incredibly expensive as well, and good luck getting in, you aren't the only one with a/c problems in June. I've found a/c complaints go way down around November. I know it's bad trying to sleep in hot or cold, BUT, this is the job you chose, and bosses have been ignoring drivers requests for years. It's just economics. You're right, a motel is a giant PITA, but seeing the boss is willing to sport for one, is a plus. Look at the bosses view. These a/c units are total crap, it's a money making deal, and the boss fixes one, and 3 days later, it's not working, multiplied by x number of trucks, something has to give. And I give you a thumbs up for thinking about the reefer,,,American ingenuity right there, but not too practical. If it's that bad, maybe get it fixed yourself, then you'll see what the boss puts up with on a daily basis.

 

I'm quitting as soon as another local company hires me.

Choose carefully. Many of the small companies are hanging by a thread right now. Larger Companies, for the most part, keep their fleets maintained and have new equipment constantly rolling into the fleet. Due to their size and cash/credit position, they usually offer much better Bennie's too. Med, Dental, Vision, 401K, etc. It really sounds to me that you need to move on. There are a ####load of reefer companies hiring right now. If your driving and background records are up to par, you can be in orientation by next Monday, and rolling by Wednesday and barely miss a paycheck. Put your application on Driverpulse and you will be good to go in a nice power unit in no time. Good luck!

 

Right now, a lot of shops are running A/C system tests for $39.00 to $49.00. Take the truck to one of these shops, have them test it. It may only need a refrigerant top off. They should do that as part of a proper test.
If it is more than that, stop, get a report of needed repairs, hand to your boss, along with the bill for the test and a polite request to be reimbursed.

 

Yeah, I get a kick out of that, run tests, hey it blows warm air. So the "test" ( for $49 bucks) is usually followed by, "yep, gonna need a new ______( fill in the blank) currently on back order, they should be in around October",,,

 

This sort of generalizing annoys me. How do you KNOW that "many of the small companies are hanging by a thread right now?" How do you KNOW that many large companies are not "hanging by a thread right now?"

I've worked for two smallish (less than 200 trucks) companies. They both keep their fleets well maintained and are continually adding new equipment. They also both offer benefits as good as or better than any of the megas.

We agree on one thing... Choose carefully.

 

By small companies I was referring to 10-50 truck companies. If you subtract the MEGAS from the equation, by industry standards, 200 trucks is actually quite a large operation. I was not trying to be disrespectful of your company or any others. It just sounded to me that the OP may be working for a "small" operation that just doesn't have the resources available to maintain their fleet that a "larger" company may have.