Dry van or Reefer

Idk about land star....but alot of companies and brokers will use a reefer trailer for a dry van.....but some dry van stuff arent allowed in a reefer....

 

Like for instance.....a hay load....im pretty sure isnt allowed in a reefer...

 

Fixed it for you.

 

Idk....alot to.think about there....reefers are KNOWN for long unload and load times....USUALLY this is true....also have to think of the maintenance on the reefer.....

 

Reefer is a PITA. It's true, you can use a reefer for van freight, but remember, a reefer is going to weigh more empty, sometimes even another pallets worth, so up to you. For me, reefer wasn't worth the extra hassles of the reefer, even though, generally, it does pay more. Some of my WORST experiences in trucking, and I've had a lot, were the nightmares at the "cold side" of these warehouses. Sometimes, these places literally don't have room, ( I've worked in coolers, so I know) and your wagon is nice and cold, guess who sits until there is room. Go with the van, it will probably save your marriage, if any.

 

I pull both reefer and a van. Its only very seldom that I see anything paying really well that will load into either/or a dry van, reefer. That would include doing a LOT of one or 2 pallet full truck loads into a 53' dry van that would easily load into a 53' reefer but customer requirements strictly prohibit such. The flip side of that I haul plenty of frozen freight that pays really well which obviously isn't going in a dry van.

Typically it's bulk commodities that can go into either van or reefer. And these commodities are almost always cheap. Once in a while you get exceptions to that. In a good hot summer bottled water is in high demand and shipping out of the right area can be very lucrative for vans and reefers at the same time. But this is unusual and the window on it is always limited. For the most part loads that go into either/or are not any loads you want to be bothering with. They're going to be heavy and cheap.

If you had to go with one I'd go with reefer. However, being that you are leasing with Landstar. That is a question mark in my mind. I don't know if it's any good there for reefer or not. On the open market with a van there's no way I'd ever lease to Landstar. With a reefer I dunno. The thing with Landstar there are a few guys who have found specialized areas that make kick ### money (they're mostly not ever hooked to vans, and likely not a reefer either) and many thousands of others who don't and haul a lot of cheap freight. Really have no idea what you are capable of and what category you will fall into.