No experience but getting Authority

there is alot of industrial paints that need temp control, certain metal casting and other things. Pharmaceuticals are a funny thing. andstar handles a fair amount of them. they are extreamly high dollar, they require teams because one person has to be with the truck at all times and they are so expensive it's usually just a few pallets per load or no insurance co would touch them

 

I think when most people hear reefer they automatically think food, but as we have noted, there is much more that one can haul that requires a reefer for temperature control. I met a guy who hauled pharmaceuticals once. I believe he told me he had to carry something like $5 million in cargo insurance. With what some drugs cost, I can see why they would not want to ship much in a truck. There are some pills that can cost hundreds of dollars for a single pill. I suppose you can't blame insurance companies for not wanting to assume too much risk. I have heard some real horror stories about drugs being stolen out of trucks and warehouses. You sure would not want to broadcast what you were hauling. I also understand that they do extensive background checks on drivers who haul those loads.

 

Several years ago I tried to get a dedicated gig out of CA with Pharmaceuticals. With a perfect safety record, ex-cop and 4-years with reefers without a loss I still did not have the background for this company. One driver joked it was easier to get on as a NASCAR hauler driver.
And to the point here. Yes, you have other areas that require reefer but for a new O/O, especially one that has no reefer experience, these are not jobs to put into a business plan.
And while we are on the subject of high dollar loads. Saw a Mary Kay load that I figured the insurance would have run me about $.50/mile. That is some high-end lip gloss.

 

These pharmaceutical companies are very thorough. I would expect that they would look for carriers with a good track record. I would not think that they would turn over one of their loads to a new carrier.

I suppose they need to keep that makeup at a constant temperature. I can see how a load of lip gloss or other makeup could be a bit pricey.

 

Knock on wood, it seems like we're getting back on track. This week has been pretty decent and we're off to a start with a good load booked for tomorrow already.

The load he brought in Friday was a local Sunday morning delivery so I did a ride along followed by some work on the truck. The ride along had us both passing "driving tests." The delivery was at a DC that was built in the days of 28' trailers. On the way in the young man impressed the hell out of me with a nice piece of backing up work, putting the 53 in a real tight spot in a couple minutes that had three other guys struggling 15-20 minutes with. On the way out we switched out and I exercised my permit privileges for the first time since getting it a few weeks ago and drove back. Kind of funny having a supervising CDL holder that was probably just out of diapers when I last drove a semi. A little lurchy on the brakes for the first 1/2 mile but it all came back pretty quick. A pretty uneventful ride back to the yard and some backing work to get parked. I'm feeling pretty good about my plan of going out on the road with my son for a week or two to build a little more confidence for the DMV driving test.

When we got back we worked on a nagging electrical issue causing the a/c to intermittently stop working. My son had narrowed it down to the wiring going to the high side a/c switch but couldn't go any further with it. Turns out the terminals were just loose and a little heat damaged. I took the connector apart and put in new terminals, but I'm not satisfied with it. I'm going to order a new switch and connector tomorrow. As we were packing up to go home, I heard a slight air leak and walked back to check it. It was a pinhole in one of the air bags in the back of the cab. Looked like a pretty easy fix so I'll pick up a pair of those too.

After the engine harness repair in Memphis last week I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some trouble-free weeks for a change. Coming up on the three months in business mark, I'm getting some good working relationships with a couple of brokers and the load hunting is getting a little easier. Now if we could just have the truck where their load is when they call me LOL.

 

It sounds like you are staying on top of your maintenance, RedForeman. It costs less to make those repairs as you go along than if you wait until it turns into something major. By the way, the DOT starts their national inspection program this week. If you haven't heard about it, they try to inspect as many trucks as possible during a few days in June. I believe that it starts on June 8. It is something that they do every year. Some states start early and others do it a few days after. Just make sure your brakes are good and properly adjusted and logs are up to date. Those are the two things they seem to concentrate on during this week.

 

Hey Guys just a quick question about buying trucks i drove a freightliner when i was at the last company i worked for i found very good to drive and for backing up to loading docks and plenty of room in the cab sleeper , so having said that i'm considering buying my own rig just wanted to get some opinions on how a Freightline compares to either a 387 Pete or KW 600 for cab space and driving comfort?

 

Freightliner has a comfortable sleeper. The 387 also has a comfortable sleeper. If you are tall, you need to be careful when getting up from the driver's seat to go to the sleeper or you could hit your head. The T600 has a comfortable bed, but I think they could have done a better job of laying out the sleeper area. If you are talking about strictly driver comfort in the sleeper area, I think Freightliner has done a better job. If you plan on buying a truck then you may want to check around and look at the sleeper in each of the brands you mentioned. I don't know about your part of the world, but you can also buy a Freightliner for less money than the other two brands.

 

I re-read this thread, did some more research, and decided that reefer may not be the best thing to start with right out of the gate.

I have talked with some more O/Os, including friends who haul reefer, and asked them why they haul reefer vs. flat, or van, or something else.

Every single one of them said that it's what they fell into, or its all they've done, and they don't know any different.

I have experience with skateboarding, have contacts in that part of the industry, and would be foolish to not take advantage of that experience and potential opportunity. I'm in very good physical shape overall, so load securement/tarping is not that big of a deal to me. My only problem is I tend to sweat buckets whether I take a brisk walk or run 3 miles (VERY annoying), and I hate to look like a sweaty mess/slob to shippers/receivers. I guess I'll figure out how to deal with that one way or another.

A friend who hauls reefer called the other day wondering if I had my authority set up, as he had some extra work he couldn't handle and wanted to know if I could run down, use their trailer, and do a round trip. Would have paid very well, but I haven't finished going through all the steps to get my authority yet. I would be interested to hear from some of the old hands how to handle that sort of transaction in the future so as to be legal; it would be nice to slowly get some experience running reefer and not have to dive all the way in and buy my own trailer. I've looked up trip leasing here on TTR and seen varying opinions; I'm going to dive into the regs and see what I can dig up.

I'll keep y'all apprised as to how things go.

- W2W

 

They way that is has been explained to me is that you want to make sure that you add insurance that allows you to pull different trailers. Not sure all the details but think it is called Trailer Interchange Insurance. It was like $100/yr extra for me.
Then you also want to make sure that you have a written note from the owner of trailer that allows you to use it. Nothing fancy but you would not believe how many people are using trailers owned by someone else.
And then the final step is to make sure that if he is paying you that he has a brokers authority. If not, you need to bill the customer direct.
This is how I understand it from my insurance guy.