Refers Ok For Newbie?

Ok, in another line here, with a refers you usually do have the live load/unload and that can be a pain.

However, when I ran with Knight (dry van, not refer division) we had a lot of drop and hook. This sounds great, until they start chasing you all over hell and back looking for an empty trailer. And you don't get paid for your time or mileage in doing this.

I didn't mind the refer work, and will certainly consider it again should I decide to ever go back to OTR.

 

I chose reefers because of the ability to haul both temp-controlled loads and dry van loads. My thinking was also that food will always have to move regardless of the economy, and items other than food must also use reefers.

The reefer is quieter than the truck when it's running, and I generally set it to continuous run which maintains a more constant temperature range (plus or minus two to three degrees, rather than ten degrees for cycle mode). Since it's always running, you don't have the start-up/shut-down noise.

My first week out I only ran about 2000 paid miles, would have run more but Christmas and a winter storm were coming so I cut my week short. As a rookie, $550 to $700 per week should be entirely doable. Only you can decide if this is enough.

 

Tichdaddy,

So far, my experience has been that dock delays are no worse than with dry van. Sometimes load/unload is very quick, sometimes it's very slow. On average, I would guess about an hour and a half to two hours from the time I bump the dock.

No messy loads so far, so I've not had to wash-out. There are wash-out services though, and Roehl will pay for it if necessary.

No LTL, but some multi-stop loads so far.

Dispatchers will always try to push you with unreasonable arrival times, no matter what you are hauling. If you can't do it legally and safely, say so.

Every live unload I've had so far was handled either by warehouse personnel or by contract lumpers who have a deal with Roehl. In the event that I go to a warehouse that needs me to pay lumpers, I QualComm the request after making a deal with the Lumper In Chief, then write a QualComm check. No biggie.

I check the reefer temp every time I walk by it, several times each day. I don't idle the truck at night, so I will know immediately if the reefer stops running. It would be very nice to have an alarm in the cab that would alert the driver if the reefer temp goes out of range, though. Do I wake up every few hours to check it? No.

I had no reefer loads in training, much to my disappointment. I received an hour of training before leaving for my first load.

 

I pulled reifers all my trucking days,some receiver co.s want the fuel tank full when you drop it,if not you"ll have to find a place and fill it,most only have 50 gal tanks,so they don't last that long,just fill it when you fill ur truck,don't run out in the middle of nowhere,like I did,not fun at 3am,santa fe nm,keep your eyes on the light,you"ll do fine.

 

By the way, I saw a couple of BRAND NEW, shiney reefers sitting at the Dorchester yard today getting inspected and marked up for the road. Imagine, landing gear that doesn't take three men and a boy to crank!! Yah!