Reefer vs. Dryvan

noticed your username, are you an MXPX fan, just curious?

 

Lumpers are people who 80% of the time don't speak good English and are in no big hurry to unload your trailer.

 

Lumpwrs are ppl you'll normally see at grocery warehouses that unload your trailer for a price of course.Which your company pays for with check like EFS,Fleetone.You'll be issued a book of checks at orientation Wal-Mart DCS have lumpers.Some drivers rather lump their own trailer and then you get the customer wanting to see a palletjack certificate which the drivers don't have so they're forced to pay for lumpers.Lumping business is a racket far as I'm concerned unless of course I owned a lumping service then I could make some serious money, lol.

 

lol, funny I don't recall the recruiters mentioning anything about that in school when we were all asking questions about loading/unloading procedures (and life on the road)....or maybe I just don't speak good English? Anyway, thanks for your reply

 

I would think night driving would be a plus, less traffic. Im hoping most of my driving will be at night. Pattyj- how long have you been in the reefer division?

 

I honestly HATE driving at night...I do it when needed, but usually have to stop a few times for mini naps. I definitely run on solar!

 

I used to back like 15 years ago...just been using mxpx for usernames since lol.

 

I don't like night driving.
But gotta do what you gotta do.


Gotta go to the restroom at 2am forget about the next rest area. You may not be able to make it from one end of the rest area to the other.

Some Truckstops can be difficult to get through as well.
30 min break? Hope you don't plan on finding a parking spot.

 

Go into dry van! Lol, in all seriousness, I have only been driving a year, so I am by no means an expert. As far as reefer goes, I would keep a record of customers from the very beginning and record things like:

Do they have overnight parking?

Do they only allow you to come on the property 30 mins, 1 hour, etc before appointment time?

How long did you wait to get unloaded?

One thing you will learn quickly in reefer is you will sit and wait at shippers and receivers...a lot! Most of those same lumpers we were talking about earlier are generally underpaid for the work they do, and therefore don't bust their ### getting your truck empty. Then you have to wait after that for the company receiving clerk to check in your freight, which they are usually in no rush to do.

Depending on how the company you run for operates, you will also frequently be getting unloaded during your break. I usually get dispatched on loads that put me at the receiver right around when my clock will be running out(tight schedules), so I go on sleeper berth and end up getting woken up when I'm called for my door, called with lumper fee, called when empty, etc., making for a rather crappy night of sleep.

One good thing you have going for you is you'll be running for a mega carrier, therefore they probably have a decent amount of drop/hook customers, eliminating all that nonsense.

I'm sorry if I came off as negative, I guess I'm a bit jaded by reefer work lol. My first company was a 300 truck company with a decent amount of drop/hook freight...my current company is approx 25 trucks, with almost no d/h, so I sit a lot, and since most of our freight is through brokers, I usually sit for free(no detention).

One good thing in general about reefer, depending on the company, is the runs are usually longer than dry van, so if you get paid mileage, you can frequent get in a full, 600 mile day of driving.

I hope this helps...again I'm sure there are some more experienced drivers on here that have more knowledge than me. Good luck and stay safe!!

 

I don't mind reefer for the most part.

Did you say long runs?
I'm solo
Went from Irvine CA to Maryland.
Right after that I picked up by Richmond going to Sumner Washington.
Less of the sitting that way. Gotta take the good with the bad.
Since I got loaded early my schedule has been a little screwy for the past 2 days.