Less work

Who is “they”?

 

I actually want to unload my reefer. But it’s far and few between. Company would rather pay a lumper. I wouldn’t mind the exercise and depending on the load it could be a couple extra hundred bucks for an hour of work or so. But they won’t let us.

 

Might be an insurance thing.
They want you driving the truck, not taking the chance to injure yourself while unloading.

 

I know guys in thier 80s that can barely climb in and out of the truck that run tankers. The hardest part is walking out a 3 inch hose to drain it.

 

That’s true, but in their documentation or employee handbook it states how much they pay per pound for unloading and it’s pretty good pay. And I know I’ve talked to other drivers that occasionally or they go to regular stops mostly, have dedicated routes that unload all the time. Some of them making $500 a week or more by unloading their own cargo. I guess where I am at all just depends on which facility. But every time I ask, they say I can’t do it.

 

Another vote for tanker. Once you get used to the slosh, it’s easy peasy.

 

I used to pull a reefer. Never once did I touch a load, because my employer already had lumper arrangements taken care of and billing was internal. I only needed to verify the cases unloaded, sign their form, and leave. And, $30/hr past 2hrs. It doesn’t get much easier.

 

I'd also recommend agriculture belt trailers, especially if you can get one with auto tarp roll. Occasionally you might need to climb small ladder on rear to sweep trailer..... But our company, and other companies I've run into operating belts have drivers in late sixties and even a couple in late 70's. Not as much pay as I've heard from tankers ... But decent.... Usually 25% of load pay or I've seen some as high as $25/hr or $.60+/mile. I work a ton of hours by choice and am on track for $110k+ this year. But I'm a definite outlier w great company and boss. Just saying it's possible depending on company and how much you want to work.

 

More the trailer rather than the lading.

The 'spec' trailers offer a huge margin of safety in their construction and most provide a good amount of crash survivability though all most people see in media often is the massive results of something flammable.

Once any flammable gets loose the conflagration makes headlines.

The current level of testing with the required use certified repair facilities, when followed, helps reduce the number of catastrophic barrel failures.

You don't see them as often these days...yeah, I'm almost 70...and I remember seeing a lot more failures 'back in the day'...

 

i’ll do the tarping