Thinking about driving for a refeer first if i can get on

I've seen their trucks and know a little about them. Their headquarters is within spitting distance of C.R. England up in Salt Lake City. They have some decent equipment from what I see. Have no clue as to how they operate or what their maintenance looks like.

I never considered them as one of the grand daughters of the England family helped found the company after she learned she would not get the company when the sons died off. After a stint at C.R. England I was left with such a bad taste in my mouth about that whole family I won't work for any company that has one of their clan heading it up in any shape or fashion.

That's just me. You may go there and it works out for you just fine, and you end up staying there for 20 years. Use my first paragraph to go off of and do your homework on them. Use my second with a grain of biased salt.

 

Knighted,

I agree that your refinement of my unrefined comments are generally accurate and everything revolves around your company's policy.

Even if I didn't have to use cash I still had to have that comcheck number and my dispatcher seldom gave me a heads up (I guess he really didn't know because the computer didn't keep track of it) so when I arrived after 5 PM and before 8 AM (dispatch hours for a 300 truck company) without one I could never get unloaded easily.

If I only had to deal with one dispatcher I could build a relationship and go from there but when I gotta do after hours on-call calls all the time to get money, it gets old really quickly. I always got #####ed at from the on-call guy because he had to go back to the office to get the comcheck number. He'd tell me I needed to prepare better. Now how on earth could I prepare anything when my dispatcher would never alert me to the need for or lack of need for lumper money.

This brings up another point I want newbies to think about. My first company let me carry truck money. I could leave the midwest with $300 if going to Delaware for example. If I didn't use all the money for tolls or scales, or any other legitimate truck purpose I could carry it over to the next load simply by filling out a form that I turned in with my trip packet. I didn't know how great I had it.

Next company always acted like I was trying to steal from them and if I didn't use all the money I had requested on a trip basis, they took the balance out of my check. Now given my legal background, I had been trained to NEVER co-mingle business funds with personal funds so I hated this. Mind you, I have not much need for Mr. Trucking Company's money or crap so I just started paying for everything upfront and turning in reciepts. Then they #####ed at me for this. They are getting a zero % interest loan and they are ######## at me? So then I had to go back to getting a comcheck for a single scale event. Ya, that's really efficient. It would take at least an hour to scale by the time I got a comcheck cashed and I scaled and that does not count unpaid out-of-route miles to the scale. And it took my dispatcher's time too. And he always acted like he didn't have enough time to manage 40 trucks. Well I wonder why?

Argh!!!

BRI

 

If you believe that, then you don't know the first thing about reefers. Go ahead and load a reefer incorrectly, in Salinas, CA, and see what you deliver in New York. A rejected load. If you're an O/O the company is going to look at the temp. recorder, load pattern etc.; if they find you at fault---you own that load. Run a sub-zero load on continuous, when it should be intermittent on the back haul? Well, you bought the load coming and going. In my experience, I have never really known specialized haul drivers to be overly concerned with "bragging rights", rather they tend to be more concerned with mortgage payments, putting their kids through college, and meeting the obligations of the average working man. I've hauled flatbeds, dry vans, tankers, and reefers. Each type of haul was just as important as the other, and none were as simple as 'flipping a switch' or 'pushing a button'. I would hope that one's life would not be so lacking, that all they have to 'brag' about is what's reflected in their side-mirror. I have never heard it said, that the measure of a driver is determined by the, size, weight, or value, of what he/she hauls.

 

Never had a problem paying lumpers? How about when you get to an account at 4 am and they don't take checks, like many produce markets? Or, take Comchecks, but your company uses Tchecks. And then there's always washouts. Scaling a load is generally money out of your pocket, not a lot, but it all adds up. Want an advance? No problem, but the company charges a fee. When you advance money to the company? Don't even think it!!! But, the bottom line is: That's how it is, that's how it's been, and that's how it'll always be. Life's not always fair and if we are forever toting up all the little slights, then we'll always be disgruntled and unhappy. If we didn't have anything to complain about; then what would we gripe about?

 

I don't know about other companies but this is how the one I work for goes. I dock, the lumpers tell me how much it's going to be, I QC the amount on a lumper request, they send me back a PO for that amount and I call Comdata to make the check good. As for scales they always repay the scale ticket, just send it in with the trip sheet and the signed bills.

If you really want to run reefers just be prepared to arrive to load or unload at funny hours (I mainly deliver to grocery warehouses). Usually a lot of night and early morning involved. If you can't sleep with an engine running right behind your head you might want to reconsider. The newer reefers run fairly quite but we have some older ones that will shake you out of the bed when they fire up. Makes for a very long night.

Good luck with your choice,Joe

 

I'm glad I have it the easy way. I feel for you guys having to deal with all that stuff. I know very well how to run the unit, but we don't have to deal with lumpers or any of the other junk.

 

[/quote](Now this by the DOT regs you are supposed to be on line 4 while docked and being loaded. If you do this you will burn your hours. This is true for anything you haul though. Refer, tanker, Van, flatbed, blow tank, whatever. If you are being loaded or offloaded you are supposed to be on line 4. Even if you are just sitting in the cab or in the bunk. If you do this say goodbye to your hours.
In reality you will see people sleeping, I've done it, while being loaded. I checked in, backed in, and went to sleep. I've been detained for 12 hours before. Was detained at Wal-Mart for 5 hours on occasion. All on line 2. I was not wrestling with lumpers or dispatch or management at the Shipper or Receiver. Now if you want to burn your hours so be it. Company policy states 15 minutes check in and check out required, that is what I do. DOT never busted me on it and I have had my logs checked many a time. If DOT has a problem I hand them the page with company policy and let them take it up with the company (while I look for another company at the same time of course.)[/quote]




I'm new here , what do you mean by Line 4 Line 2 on your Log Books ?
What is a lumper ? Dock workers / unloaders ?

You just back in the dock , hand in your paper work , they unload you , you catch some sleep. Is there something wrong with that ?