Dry Van or Refridgerator? Pros / Cons

Strange. I do refrigerated but don't experience most of what is noted so far.

We rarely do dry loads. We don't do fresh meats, rarely do produce and never deal with USDA holds and never need more than 2 load locks. In the last month, I can think of maybe 1 load or unload that took more than 2 hours. Most average about 90 minutes in and out. But, we mostly operate on appointments.

Point is, your experience with reefer hauling will vary, depending on where you're working. But it has become more competitive the last several years. Almost as competitive as dry van segment. But generally speaking, when you ONLY haul people food, the freight volume is consistent. It's only a matter of how many way you have to split it at a given time of year.

Once the chain laws kick in, we get real busy all of the sudden.

 

agreed! i've started getting away from food. it seems like everyone has gotten into it. after the crash of 2008. the rates have gotten to low.

 

Sound like those guys need better customers. wow.

 

Well. Carriers develop their niche market. Some are mostly "meat haulers", some are mostly "produce haulers", some are "dairy/frozen" haulers, some work 100% with brokers, and they get the freight nobody else wants that varies all over the map.

 

no, i treat cheap freight like fast food. i'll take it when there's nothing else. but it doesn't fill the tank up.

 

Now it sounds like you need a new route too. Fast food will eventially kill you and in this case, your business. Better off leave the cheap freight on the dock.

 

Those ####### are expensive!

 

Theoretically you could haul ice cream in a dry Van...if it was February in Alaska!

 

I really, really, really could have done without seeing this.

Reefer if you like PAIN.
I think you could make more with a reefer if you had a direct account. I see these boys come in from California everyday with a $60K trailer, and most have decent to nice tractors. The ones with nice tractors, I'm certain aren't working off a load board.

I've done fine with van. And it's not 1/10000th the hassle reefer is. Reefer is a lot more risk. Load rejected / or even damaged then you gotta negotiate. Reefer breaks ( Oh #### me to tears ).

I would like to have a reefer though, just if the opportunity presented itself for good freight. Some loads they require a van though, won't put it in a reefer even though it's dry.

I think the key is a very common topic all over this site, and that's you need a good direct customer.
I think you better have some above average coin saved up too, for when something goes bad.

I look at reefer like sitting in a higher limit blackjack or poker game. You can win a lot, you can lose your ### real easy. Van is a lower limit game, but you can always up the ante.

Just about every true HORROR story on this site, as far as load rejected, detention, broker broke it off in my ###, involves reefer or food stuffs, there's a clue.

 

The only advantage I can think of for reefer over van for an owner-op would be "you can put van freight in a fridge, but you can't put cold freight in a van".