Booking reefer loads vs dry van?

Off topic but the height of madness in European football,but then 96 Liverpool fans died at Hillsborough '89,only just came out last year police lied about what happend crazy what went on in so called sport

 

@rollin coal Would you recommend the path you took to get to your Reefer trailer? Start with Van for a few years to get some money to get a Reefer and go from there? Or wait longer/Rent a reefer trailer and just start that way as a new OO?

 

I never bought one. I'm leased on to a reefer company. I was running my van when I first leased on and got tired of fighting so hard for decent rates with it. The owner of the company told me he had a couple of extra reefers sitting around and I was welcome to get one and give it a try. It was a great opportunity to give it a try without having to buy or lease a reefer. Because if I didn't like reefer all I had to do was give it back to the company.

It cost me another 10% off the top of the linehaul but the company pays for the reefer fuel, washouts, and upkeep on it. It worked out awesome for me I've had it almost two years now and it's been a huge boost to my income. I still have my van and run it occasionally. I expect later this spring to be doing a lot of van work as long as I can hammer the brokers really good on the rates.

Reefers are expensive. Brand new can be around $70,000 give or take. I wouldn't have one older than 5 years. In fact if I was buying one I would only buy brand new. I want a reefer that I can trust to haul ice cream in it when it's the middle of the summer in the deep south and I don't want any claims. If you rent a brand new reefer you're going to pay pretty much the same money monthly on that as you would to buy a new one (assuming you don't buy one free and clear). There's no cheap way to do it. Or you could if you are ok with the risk of an,older cheaper unit. I wouldn't be but everyone is different.

How do you get there depends on your financial situation and the path you take. I did van first for several years and I never really thought I'd pull a reefer. My path to actually getting a reefer was the easiest way because I wasn't out any upfront cash on buying one. Longer term I'd likely be better off getting my own reefer but for now I'm content with things as they are.

 

Thanks! I worked for a Reefer outfit for a while and it wasn't too bad. I thought the noise would bother me but it turns out that the APUs are louder than the reefer (when its not accelerated of course).

 

We always haggle on every reefer load and we get them to come up from posted rate every single time. Sometimes (rarely) it's only a hundred bucks, record so far is $1300 over the posted rate. Most of the time it's $400-500. I do not ever book any reefer loads under $2/mile. My average is around $2.30 for all miles including deadhead. I cringe when I see posted rates of $1.30/mile, I have no idea how anyone in their right mind could run a reefer that cheap. You can blame the brokers all you want, but it is your own stupidity that makes you ruin yourself and the business for the rest of us.

 

I couldn't agree more. New or relatively new equipment is an absolute necessity. Dealing with breakdowns, lost loads, insurance claims can absolutely ruin what is already a pretty thin profit margin.

 

Sometimes I think I got it figured out they I get in a slump. I come back to these post and read positive energy . Gets me amped up for next load. Appreciate all your opinions. I have practiced them and made $$$. Consistancy is my biggest problem and recovering from bad areas. But the experience learned from those bad decisions makes those decisions not so bad

 

Loved this, what do you personally strive for in regards to revenue per day during this time of the year? Would also be great to hear if that personal target number changes throughout the year.

 

I've just about given up on van freight. The van's been parked most of the year and I probably should get rid of it while it still has good residual value left. Van rates in the southeast have been terrible all year. Yes, you may have heard the average rates are at historic highs. This is true.....

However, keep in mind most of the desk jockey "experts" on social media who get all excited about that dont actually book any freight. Most of them are industry leaches hawking various BS services to carriers and drivers. In other words they don't really know WTF they are talking about. They just read industry publications and are parroting useless, junk info like "rates are at historic highs". It reminds me of drivers who get excited when they tell you they got $20 a mile on a load, but when you ask they say it went 10 miles.......

The real problem out here is volumes have been way low for most of the year and freight is flying off the boards really fast on bookings the day of. You're really behind the 8 ball if you're looking for a load the day of in a lot of areas.

There's not a whole lot of haggling over money either, not for big swings anyway. The best money is booking days in advance. I'm sure it's a great time to be a broker or a carrier with plenty of contract work using brokers as little as possible. Spot is going back to its normal role as the pits. 2017 was a stellar year, 2018 has sucked, from my viewpoint, and not everyone agrees on that.

Right now I feel fortunate if I can book a steady $1,000-$1,200 a day reefer freight. There are times when I'm looking to book $1,500 or more in day but that's not been happening for a long while. To answer your question, yes I adjust my daily revenue expectations with what's happening out here.