Longhaul Hoppers & End dumps ???

They haul a lot of feed from meat packing plants and rendering plants . (Pork meal from Swift in Louisville , chicken meal from Griffin industries in various locations and blood meal from both) . There are also a lot of loads of distillers grain from ethanol plants and whiskey distilleries . There can be long waits . You don't here much if anything about loading or unloading by appointment . Unloading can take anywhere from about 20 minutes for corn to over 3 hours if a load of distillers grain was loaded hot and set up in the hopper . You find yourself behind 4 or 5 trucks and there's no telling how long you'll wait . Most mills don't pay detention pay unless they have a breakdown or they don't have room for your product . Loading is also a problem . It takes over an hour to load and you may find several trucks waiting ahead of you . If their storage bins run low and you run as they produce it could take 3 or 4 hours to get loaded . I was loading at Swift in Louisville one night when my truck was only 1/2 loaded at the end of second shift . There was no 3rd shift . I was there until day shift came in and finished the load .

 

Something to remember is that the rate are not what they used to be. Many large farmers have decided to run their trucks year round to off set the purchase price, so you have to compete with them also. RickG is right on the money about the wait times. I did the hopper think out of Hutchinson, KS about 10 years ago and the lines at the terminals woulld kill ya. It was especially bad when corn and beans would start coming in together. I remember some days only getting one load delivered and the haul was only 25 miles each way.

I always loved hauling wheat mids until I had the load from hell. The dang thing setup like you can't believe. It took me 4 hours to get it all out of the trailer. Not to mention I was covered in it. Also this work can be very hard on equipment if you are going in and out of farmers properties, but I'm sure you know that already.