Reefer load wait times

It's fairly common. Between that and lumpers is why I no longer pull one.

 

Probably depends on what the product is and the customer too. Seems to me 3 hours is typical. I have learned a few things to never book. Fresh chicken. Seems drivers are expected to hang around for many free hours on these loads sometimes 8, 10 or 12+ hours.

Never book anything from any cold storage where they tell you you're a work in. Usually this is because the broker tried to get the load covered for cheap all day then when it's 16:30 and they are ready to go home they become more amenable to a decent rate. A work in on places that typically require appointments is the kind of load I avoid unless the rate is exceptional.

Just some common sense stuff but even so a driver can get burned from time to time.

 

If I lived in Florida I would pull a reefer 100% of the time.

 

Yes, when you're sitting behind a desk or on your sofa, it's difficult to believe that real hard working folks are actually getting shafted by brokers who have never been thrown out of a shipper regardless of DOT HOS, or treated like garbage by people you call 'clients'.

But yes - it does happen. That's why I'd rather wrestle with tarps in the wind than turn up at Tyson.

 

Reefer has a price. The driver pays that price usually. I know it because I was taught reefer work to be done just so, and avoid the losses in lumpers by doing the work yourself to load and unload. That takes hours. Even if you were waiting it will be hours loading. Best case is you sleep and rest for the coming morning delivery 500 miles away overnight while they load. Or you learn to get tough, and run the night after waiting all day.

Ultimately meat loads cut to order loading can take up to 4 days and nights of waiting. Then it has to be on one of the coasts immediately. It's not a problem because you are all rested beyond rested and ready to GO.

Sometimes as a team in later reefer work we would be rushed to a dock only to sit and wait two days, Americold in Salinas CA comes to mind. Right there in the dock waiting. We learned not to let dispatch rush us anymore like that ever again. We would call direct and get the goods on the load status and then use that time to our advantage doing laundry etc.

Finally but not least leaving the food behind and going with McKesson for very high dollar medicine million plus in value, unloaded in 30 minutes, reloaded with waste bales going right back to memphis to drop and hook another load of medicines... No lost time, too much wages earned hand over fist to spend it all. Glorious gravy train.

It will be very hard to go back into reefer for meat and foods. You lose so much time doing that. It's literally does not pay anymore to sit. If wishes were horses, beggers ride eh?

 

Most cold storage i every visited asked how many hours I had left which means it's going to be a while

 

I drive by Unified Grocers every week in Santa Fe Springs and the street is always full of trucks waiting to get in.

 

UNFI, Kroger, Mejier, Walmart, Trader Joes,.. I could make a good list of receivers I had been screwed at. Waiting for a green light to come inside,.. only to find out after 5 hours I could have come in 2 hours ago and got my paper work. I waited 5 because after 2 hours I went inside to find out what was taking so long to count 2 pallets and I was given the wait for the green light speech.

I did reefer for only 1 yr. I hated it. Waiting for 18 hrs to get a load of Cherries out of Washington because they needed to be chilled before being loaded,.. meanwhile your reefer must be set to continuous while you wait. Burning up the fuel. Wedding Cakes that needed to be set at -10. I dont have the patience for that ish.

Its why I love my stepdeck and doing mainly equipment that I can self load and/or unload myself. Only one holding me up is generally,.. me.

Hurst