Does Pulling a Refer Really suck that bad?

I prefer dry van. I can't think of anything about the reefer loads I have done that were in anyway preferable to dry van.

At my company a reefer load usually means a broker backhaul and I have yet to do a broker load that wasn't a pain in the ###. Long delays at grocery warehouses, having to deal with lumpers and worst of all are the constant phones calls.

Seriously dude, I already told you 5 times what temp my reefer is set at. Its the same temp you told me to set it to before I loaded and if you can't remember what that temp is, write it the hell down so you don't have to ask me another 5 times before I am rid of you and your load.

 

Appointment @ 1:30am. By the time you're loaded/unloaded now you get to go play in morning commute, with sunshine in your already tired eyeballs. Now....that IS assuming they've gotten the job done. Hasn't changed in 20 years that I can see. Not all places, but enough

 

Appointment @ 1:30am. By the time you're loaded/unloaded now you get to go play in morning commute, with sunshine in your already tired eyeballs. Now....that IS assuming they've gotten the job done. Hasn't changed in 20 years that I can see. Not all places, but enough

 

I have no idea what type of customers you guys or women have but every cold storage I go to its always no more than a hour or two full truckload loading/unloading unless there's a difference between produce & frozen but I guess it depends

 

In my experience, cold storage places have it together...but grocery warehouses are the worst part. I've loaded Kraft, Schwans, all the underground storages w/no problem.
Go to Safeway, Krogers, etc ( there are threads here ) & yer in for a wait. Did I mention WallyWorld?
Good Luck

 

Oh ok I was wondering cause I never had a problem with frozen I barely load produce appreciate you breaking it down

 

That's gonna be a ##### to get under, better back slow and drop your air bags

 

For the penny or two more most refer companies pay, refer is not worth the hassle.

- refer is seasonal only slightly less then dry van.
- always have heavy loads - always
- lots of night driving.
- Most refer customers are total tools
- Lots of overweight loads and pallets that pays the driver nothing for reworks.
- Lots of detention that refer companies don't like to pay
- Lots of time wasted on wash outs.
- Lots of time wasted on trailer inspections
- No pay for filling up the refer
- Crapy customers like grocery warehouses
- Lumpers - more free work and time wasted - ¿habla espanol?
- Lots of time donated to OSD problems - grocers always have OSD and will reject a pallet of product for a bit of torn shrink wrap.
- Lots of short runs.
- Wasted time on refer maintenance.
- Repair refer walls for free.
- Lots of hard appointments and few drops and hooks
- noisy ### refer

I sure I am missing a few disadvantages. Pulling refer is not the end of the world. Their are some good companies that specialize and refer, but on the average dry van has more advantages for the driver.