Do you turn off reefer right as you dock ?

bingo....

 

I used to leave it running if I knew the receiver (lumper) was pretty quick. By quick I am talking relative terms; within 2-3 hours.
But If someone decided to take TOO much time.... Well then, off goes the reefer. If someone decided to make a fuss and ask to turn it on, I would kindly reply, that if they paid for the fuel that was needed to keep them cool after 4-5 hours being at at dock, then sure I would turn it on.

That usually would prompt them to quicken the pace a little bit.

Sure a couple tried to call my bluff and say they would refuse the load, but as soon as I tell them that I've been sitting at the dock for 5 hours and will let the company know of the details...

Well, that shut them up pretty quick. Oh and I did get my detention pay on top of it all.

But I will say a scenario like this is few and far between... Most times I kept it running until I got the green light. (meaning they were done unloading and now needed to case count/check the load) and had no issues

 

Frozen loads, I’ll turn it off. Anything else, I ask if I can turn it off once they start. My new trailer will have a door sensor that puts it in low speed when the doors are open. Can’t wait for that.

 

Many of the carb compliant carrier units will throw a code for temperature out of range when doors are open and reefer is running full blast too long... I had a argument with a shipper that my unit was operating fine when he saw the blinking code.. I pulled forward closed the doors and 5 min later it was at temp.. he tried marking on bol that trailer was out of range at pick up..

 

Btw I pick up at places that require me to precool reefer and back in with doors closed once they stage load on dock the forklift driver tells you to pull forward open doors and shut off reefer when you back in again