Reefer Mileage Price Rate

I never delivered produce to Houston, but most big towns have a farmers market where all the produce is centralized and distributed. Your best bet is to find that place and talk to the people on the docks and the drivers there.

 

I wouldn't haul any produce any distance in anything that didn't have a reefer. If you get stuck in traffic, breakdown or don't get unloaded quickly you will be the proud new owner. Produce markets are the biggest cutthroat operators I have ever dealt with.

As for these loads, smaller than a full trailer load, I wouldn't have a clue as to how to price them. I doubt that produce markets and vendors would pay the rates I would charge for this kind of operation. I would look at the hourly and daily earning potential based on OTR rates, hourly rates and my minimum. Then I would probably charge a minimum rate based on half a trailer load with increases above that capacity. It would be more than half what the truck could earn fully loaded though.

I have never hauled loads a short distance, so I'm no expert. Maybe someone else will come along and offer some better advice. I'll throw out some numbers. To get an idea of earning potential by the hour or day look at OTR rates. Let's suppose you have a 1.70 CPM minimum, need a 2.00 CPM average and try to book 2.20 CPM loads with a 60 MPH average speed. This comes out to $102 per hour minimum, $120 per hour average and $132 per hour asking rate. Figure this on a 10-hour day and it's $1020 minimum, $1200 average and $1320 asking rate. Based on the product and the headaches associated with it, I wouldn't move any quantity for less than 65 - 70 % of my calculated rates.

Obviously these rates are based on truckload, no unloading/loading time, a good day and quality OTR equipment. Still why would I tie my equipment up for much less than it's earning potential. If you look at oilfield contracts and dump contracts that pay by the hour, you will find these rates are supported. My research has shown that these contracts pay from $95 - $125 per hour. You might find lower quality equipment, local equipment with lower costs, smaller trucks or desperate rate-cutters that would do it for less. I have no idea what cost this market will bear. The only way to get quality service and a lower rate is to use equipment with a lower cost of operation.

If you break down my business model for a year, it comes out to about $80 per hour gross. This is a dry van running for rates not miles, running regional and home most weekends.

IMHO the only way to price something like this would be by the hour, based on equipment capacity and cost of operation. Evening rush hour traffic could easily double the time needed to move a load.

 

If your just doing "local" reefer work that is one pick up and one drop I'd say make it a flat rate - say $300-400 depending on how time consuming the load is. If you're "distributing" product, as in picking up or delivering multiple stops, you should consider a flat plus stop rate or some kind of hourly rate. I don't know of much produce moving locally around here "for hire" other than some import loads out of Freeport and Galveston and those don't pay enough for me to bother with it.

 

There really is no answer to your question. It depends on what the load entails. I have done local loads that took all day and I only charged $300 and it was a real loser. I have done a "favor" for a good customer and only got $150 to run a few pallets across town but it took about and hour total and didn't affect the rest of my day so I figured that was a winner.

If I was going to do local work I'd figure out my costs and build in a profit margin then rate it from there. Fuel is not such a big issue with local work unless your reefer is going to be running nearly 24 hours. The key is how much time is invloved in order to charge enough to make it work.