What is better Dry Van or Reefer?

Why not? Even seacans are good for beginners. Practice their pretrips on them. It worked for me.

Thane is right, Dry box IS good for Beginners. Anything and everything is possible with them. When they think they are tired of dry box they will be ready to try out and enjoy the better things in trucking.

 

With reefer, you'll be running tighter schedules, and green drivers may have trouble running those schedules. Add to this you'll be going to a LOT of grocery warehouses, where you'll be treated with about as much respect as a bug on a windshield. Get ready to put up with a lot of BS. Add to the added....You'll be expected to unload freight a lot. Or hire a lumper. Understand the lumper scam in trucking is that...a scam. You pay a lumper 300 to unload the truck and he has to pay the dock probably 275 of that. The dock gets a kickback on the unloading fee from either you or your outfit. Make sure it's always your outfit. NEVER pay for a lumper. Make your company pay it...or you drive off. I used to do reefer. I got my fill of it real quick. Never again.

 

I did a Reefer gig that was a lot of Drop n' Hook for KRAFT, so I was doing a lot of loads without sitting at the dock.

 

Certainly some of the amounts paid to lumpers seem rather high but they are providing a service, same as us the driver. Do you expect to provide a service and not be compensated? Some facilities are simply storage and the employees do not unload. The driver is welcome to unload themselves if don't want to pay for service, you may end up doing it completely by hand if not certified for forklift and palletjack not available. Many drivers seem to think we are the only ones who should be compensated for our services, all others should be our free little helpers and service providers. Others should unload us for free and purchase and keep up on land throughout the country for our free parking.

 

Dry van.

Reefer blows. Only way I would touch a reefer again is if I knew the all customers and the runs and they paid me by the hour. Otherwise, someone else can practice their spanish, pay lumpers, and sit at the docks.

The BS about reefer being more consistent, and longer runs has played out. That was more true years ago, not today.

 

The thing with reefer is appointment times for shippers and recievers are all over the map. You may be delivering at odd hours. Get accustomed to delivering and driving in the middle of the night because that's when some grocery warehouses only do receiving. I've delivered loads at 12,1,2,3 am before. It's not fun. Drop and hooks do happen in reefer, but they are uncommon.

No one has mentioned meat plants here either. If you ever have the luck to find yourself at a Tyson, Smithfield, or other meat processor, you'll be waiting ALOT. Waiting days for them to do your load while rare, does happen because these places always seem to be behind schedule.

 

If you work for a company worth a ####, you'll get paid detention after x amount of hours, so it won't be all unpaid.

Reefer has longer loads, which is why I picked it. I came across a Vermont to Seattle load once. I'm assuming people that prefer night driving choose reefer since there's lots of that. Reefer does pay more too, since there is a little more work involved, but nothing like flatbed or tanker. Also, there is never a slow period for food, so reefer freight is less volatile than dry van.