Reefer vs. Dryvan

Dunno maybe it's the loads/customers.
I don't like to drive nights so I try to avoid it usually.
But if I have to, I have too.

Current load has 2 drops both in the morning.
Previous load I had 3 drops and all in the Afternoon 15, 17 and like 1800.

 

As a company driver Reefer sucks.
Sure it might earn a little bit more CPM but you'll be giving up a whole lot more free time and gaining more stress. The trade off isn't worth it
Don't forget about those trailer washouts and waiting in line for those and yeah you don't get paid for that either.

 

Like I said earlier, everyone has different taste. You just need to one and see how you like it.

 

There are

• "meat haulers"
• "produce haulers"
• "frozen haulers"
• and "whatever haulers"

Then factor in there are some who do lots of drop/hook, and some who do none. All of this factors in to what you can or can not expect.

I work for frozen hauler and occasionally have a late-night appointment, but this is rare. I enjoy my day-running and rarely have to operate between 22:00 and 05:00 to meet appointments but it does happen occasionally.

But I have also worked for a mid-size meat hauler that mostly suited my style, too.

If you work for a small outfit that deals in a lot of broker freight, you are probably not going to like the experience and will be chasing your tail, day and night, for weeks and months on end. But don't assume all reefer hauling business is like that.

 

I've done reefer the past 3 years and I miss pulling a dry van. None of this waiting 5 hours to pick up 2 pallets of celery, multiple pick backhauls, etc. Plus there's extra crap with equipment that can go wrong (reefer battery dying, idiot forklift drivers cutting up the reefer chute, having to sweep out a reefer to get loaded with a "clean" trailer as opposed to a flat-floor dry van). People always tell me the $ is in reefer vs dry van and I just laugh or roll my eyes. I made more $ and put up with a lot less bs the 4 years I pulled a dry van.

 

Same here, I'm usually parked by 8 pm and start out my days at 6:30 to 8 am. The one positive of this gig...

 

This is probably the best post in this thread, and really could apply to all types of trucking, but we'll stay on topic, which is reefer hauling.

I tried it and flat out hated it. I'm the opposite of you STexan. I'll likely never pull a refrigerated trailer again. I ran into the long waits to get loaded/unloaded. The lumper fees and issues that go along with it. The waiting to get a washout, refused product, etc. All of it frustrated me to no end.

Give me a dry load on a dry trailer and let me close the doors and roll. Sure you can still go to grocery warehouses and deal with lumpers, but for me, dry freight was just less stressful overall and more driver friendly.

 

And I thought refused/rejected product was one of the good parts.
Doesn't happen too often though.

I once got like 30 lbs of beef.I couldn't fit it all in my fridge I gave some of it away.

 

I've had entire loads rejected which were delivered back to the shipper. I've only once had "free product" I was told I could keep or dispose of. It was 7 cases of frozen churros that were short dated. I had no interest in them so I got on the CB at the truck stop and offered them to anybody who wanted them and where they could find them. I then stacked the cases next to the trash can.