Thinking of loosing the reefer

Why not have a 53 foot reefer and cover most of your bases????

 

This complexed me too, i mean i had a 53 , company driver i am, but i treated myself like a o/o, most times, and i could never figure it out ether, they yell for a 53 so here i come too get load, then they load it like a 48, had one fall over, the freight, the back of load as i load locking the load, that so called thin lightweight wood box they use too hold chard, well they just sprayed the load with water , loaded it up and that was on top , with the bottom gave out of box, fun fun,, but there may be no freight for produce for 48, but i'm kinda thinking outside the box here, and being in Ia, the humidity here is high this time of year, have consder renting your trl out and just getting a reg box, the reason i say this , theres lot's office type places that need there papers nice and dry and a reefer can do this , mayby im blow smoke , but i thought there varable temp controlled only had a 2 years pulling em, love too make drivers mad, yes you can throw your oil cans at me now, i wacth many a driver pull out as soon as i back in, Everett.

 

When we ran reefer, about 20% or less were dry van loads..................

We went where the reefer loads were located, .........

I realize that isn't practical for everybody.

 

I don't have any input on the van loads, but if you're thinking about getting a flat, you know there are lots of folks here that would be willing to be on call for help with advice on securing loads, etc, including me.

 

Reefer frieght is the only segment of the trucking industry that had a increase last year.Maverick starts buying reefers this year.

 

yeah why not replace the 48' with a 53' reefer that way you ll be able to do both and wont run into problems with brokers wanting a 53'

 

Pesonaly I thing the best trailer an O/O can own is a reefer, mine too is a 48 tho I wish at times it were a 50 1/2 footer. I say this because people will always need to eat. Demand for flatbed freight volume strikes me as to volitile, tho now "appears" to be making a comeback, although people arent building like they were 5 years ago. A 53 ft stepdeck would be my pick were I ever to make the jump. Tons of LTL out there to fill any unused space. Good luck Gears

 

I've been pulling a 48 or 53 foot van or reefer for the last three years... plus open tops during the veggie harvest in the midwest.

My last outfit loaded bulk taters outbound with 48' heated vans and we'd backhaul most anything we could find...mostly a midwest operation. We also utilized 53' reefers hauling fresh and frozen loads outbound from WI and, again, anything we could find on the backhaul.

Quoted freight rates have come up some in the last year but they still aren't at pre-2008 levels. We had a pretty consistent backhaul from Indy to the Wally World DC in Tomah, WI. It did pay $1100.00 to the truck but declined to $480.00 by early '09...what a shame.

I now have a 48' reefer...I'm with a new outfit and, again, we haul a lot of bulk taters to Frito Lay and other snack food outfits. I don't need a reefer, and I'm tempted to remove the unit from the trailer, but I'm going to wait until spring. I want to run some Texas freight late this year and I'm going to try to backhaul some TX fruit and pickle loads like I did in the late 70's/early 80's. I'd need the reefer unit for those runs but I'd sure like to lose the 1500#'s to make more loads 'legal'....

I have been pretty happy with outbound rates with some loads paying nearly $4.00 per mile. One of our O/O's from my last outfit was doing $7,000.00 rounds between WI and TX last winter...I'd like to tap into that freight.

 

unless you're in really good physical condition,avoid flats like the plague.
give a lot of thought to working in blizzards tarping freight and then think about how nice and dry and warm you are in the cabin of your ride...a company that i used to pull for had only 48 ft. reefers and for the most part we backhauled 53 ft freight..when was the last time you saw a broker on a freight dock? first words out of a drivers mouth on a strange dock is "load her to the 48 ft. mark" right? so...your shipper isn't very likely to unload your wagon once he figures out that the 48 ft. mark is the end of your wagon...been there done that..shakey