To Reefer or Not To Reefer?

As others said you will be in for some long waits, but overall it's not that bad. When I was OTR I rarely put in for detention.

Now that I'm local it's a different story. 13 hours sitting in a dock at Ralph's in Compton last night. What's sad is that was actually pretty fast for them. I get paid by the hour and I have sleeper even though I'm local so I'll get paid to sleep no problem.

 

When it comes to food warehouses both dry and reefer can set. That's a given until the world gets together and tells them you ordered it you get it and get off ASAP or pay some nice money for wasting someones time. Yeah I'll live to see that happen!

Reefer gives you the option to haul both kinds of freight. That's good as you won't sit as long looking for freight.

The sit at packers has been a problem since the first truck was built. Get used to it! If you drive for a company that has drop trailers that problem usually is gone. USUALLY! There are time that even with 50 trailers on their lot not enough cows made it into the slaughter house so you'll be waiting for the cow to walk off the trailer, get slaughtered and go through the whole process to getting boxed then cooled down to the receivers spec. Yes that is how it's done these days. I want prime rib but I want it frozen or I want wings but cooled to 32* and some frozen.

As for the cool down on a trailer. I get the wash out or sweep it out, close the doors and I go ahead and keep the temp at what that load was I just dropped.I'll take the temp down to 20* and shut it down. Keep the doors shut and a trailer will keep the temp fairly cool for about 5 hours then it'll start to warm up faster then I'll turn it on for a few and shut it down and keep doing this until I get a load. If it's a cold load I'm ahead of the game. If it's a dry load and hot outside you just made a loader very happy he's going in and out of a cold trailer! I've stood and watched the whole dock walk over to cool off! You get loaded faster also! It's just as good as putting a $20 in his pocket to get it loaded faster!

A nice quiet leaf blower is better than a broom but keep a broom anyway! Have an inverter? then an electric one works just as well but you'll need 1- 100' and a 50' extension cord! Make sure the inverter can handle the blower!If the corner drains are big enough the just a 100 foot extension corn will work. Just run it up the front corner drain.

I can agree with Dna a little. Yeah we didn't need frozen or refrigerated back then but these days frozen isn't a luxury but a necessity as it keeps food longer instead of having to consume it within it's "use by date."

Anyone is under 30 years of age would all starve to death because if it's not frozen and on a ready to eat plate they have no idea how to use a just killed chicken or fresh veggies! Nor do they want to go to the corner market to buy todays dinner like most city folk used to do "back then!" The country folk know how to live on fresh grown and killed!

Lets not forget that if the tractor batteries die the reefer makes a great back up IF you have the right tools for that job!
If I ever get back I'll pull a reefer!

 

I'll sell you mine..

 

Heck,I enjoy pulling a reefer more than a dry van or flat bed any day.
Just feel like they pull smoother than a dry van to me.
My 2011 model Thermo-King you can barely hear it run inside the truck.

 

That is funny!

You know, people can cut their own trees for lumber and paper. The can also raise and slaughter their own cattle for beef, etc...

Mikeeee

 

So basically your saying without refrigerated trailers, the worlds population would decline? People can live off canned dried food just fine.

Pulling a refrigeraterated trailer is NOT job security is all I am saying. But I will say making paper from trees is hardly a good comparison to boiling a cup of rice.

 

There's been a couple times my truck batteries died, or needed help starting in very cold weather. I fired up the reefer, and jumped my truck off it.

 

I would say that canned goods can be replaced locally as easily as frozen items.

Mikeeee