Dry van vs reefer

I didn't like waiting, but $12.00 hr. sure helped. I worked for several reefer outfits and they all paid detention; one paid after 1 hr. and the other paid after 2 hours. $25.00 stop pay made up for the wait until detention pay started.

 

Do both then decide

 

In my case maybe 7 out of 10 loads was a drop&hook empty for a loaded trailer. I also worked for a carrier that had mostly old junk. At least one out of every 10 I picked up had an issue of some kind. Still, I was paid for my downtime when it happened and over the long haul, I made more money. The bad part about my carrier was they did a lot of deliveries in South Florida, NJ, Chicago, and I was forced to cross the GW bridge a lot. Still, I did make more money yanking reefer.

 

Imo go dry van. Unless of course you love sitting for 3-12 hours at a rip getting loaded/unloaded, possibly missing your next pu or drop then having to go to the back of the line because you were late. Not to mention fighting tooth and nail for detention pay if you're not working for a reputable company.

Dry van all the way unless it's a D/H reefer gig which prob won't happen. They might say that in the adds but being the new guy you'll be getting all the #### loads. Live load, live unload. Save yourself the stress and pull a dry box

 

Having done both, and worked for a couple of different reefer outfits it totally depends on where you work. Get paid detention and the waiting sucks, but doesn't hurt as much. Sitting for free, great way to lose money. Also, if your company charges detention you're less likely to sit in docks as long.

 

Dry van, I like to sleep at night.
If I owned the truck it would be reefer.

 

Reefer is an extra level of hassle on top of dry van hassle. Some reefer customers are very little hassle. Many are terrible, all day wastes of time and increased chances of having some of your reefer load rejected. Once rejected you have a half a day of finding and getting that load re-worked for re-delivery or finding a new receiver.

I've never in 25 years of trucking heard even one driver claim hauling reefer has less hassle than other forms of freight. Oh yeah, you get to pay people to unload the freight they ordered. That can add 1 to many hours to a delivery.

 

The company pays the lumper service to unload the freight.
I liked the challenge of refrigerated trucking; night time running and tight schedules.

 

I’ve driven dry van for the last two years and have never had to worry about not keeping busy.