Dry van or flatbed or reefer?

If you gotta ask should I run flat bed the answer is no.

 

do you want to drive for a living, work for a living, blow up for a living have to check cargo a million times...btw Stevens Transports has awesome trucks and runs reefers
















for .26 a mile

 

I'm 5 days detention, I'd take .26cpm right about now.

 

geez your detention pay must suck

 

100$ for the last 5... But i stick around because i love driving.... Atleast loitering around my truck... I love it

 

I could and probably have wrote a speech on this subject, but I will keep this short.

The customers in the reefer world suck. They have taken it to hart that your time is free and no one likes to pay detention.

The companies in the flatbed world think you will work for free. I like to work but $20 to tarp will not cut it. Unless you find someone that pays for your time to tarp and your skill in load securement, I would look elsewhere.

The dry van world is not problem free. CPM sucks. But those same problems exist in the flatbed and reefer world.

Don't forget car hauling, equipment hauling, trash, dump truck, tanker, dry bulk, LTL, agriculture, mixer. All those avenues seem to treat their drivers better.

 

Flatbed (except for steel loads) have always had the best loads and customers I have dealt with in more than 2 decades. I always liked building materials going to job sites.
Brick, block, shingles, insulation, etc...all first come - first serve at the shipper, and most job sites start at 7am., and are darn happy to see you.
Steel is a whole other animal. Sheet rock (dry wall, gypsum) is a 50/50 gamble on both ends...you are either in and out, or you're there for hours.

Unless you can find a good drop & hook reefer operation...I DESPISE 99% of the shipper/consignees in this type of operation. As already stated: "The customers in the reefer world suck. They have taken it to hart that your time is free and no one likes to pay detention". @Toomanybikes is not lying.

Personally, I have found that I get the best of all worlds with a Van trailer. But ONLY because I drive for a company that does NOT haul food or go to grocery ware houses (and the like).
I don't have to worry about if the tarping is worth the money. And hauling general palletized freight, most of my work is first come - first serve. I'm not working 3rd. shift hours with time sensitive perishable freight and obnoxious early a.m. appointments.

Some of these other guys have mentioned other trailers---don't know why---you didn't ask about them.
Like asking "Do you like regular potato chips, or sour cream and onion" and someone answers Doritos.

 

Especially when a Need-of-maintenance reefer parks right next to you in a lot that has 20 open spots...

 

I parked in an open area in the truckstop; there was nothing but bushes on my left and 7 empty spots on my right. Some flatbed clown parked right next to me, then knocked on my door and wanted me to turn the reefer off so he could get some sleep. I said, no this is a frozen food load. He got all bent out of shape and stormed off. There was dozens of empty spots in the truck stop, but he had to park right next to me.

 

Who the hell does that? Freaking ####### man..