What is better Dry Van or Reefer?

The driver, ultimately, ends up paying lumper fees in the form of a lower pay-per-mile. Yeap. Didn't see that one coming. Forget reefer.

 

Deck requires a bigger investment from the driver. There are a whole set of securement requirements you have to follow when dealing with deck freight. Equipment varies by company and APU's generally don't make it onto deck trucks (because they often maximize payload, and APU's weigh a lot).

There are opportunities to unload early, but it's never a guarantee, and often steel mills take just as long to load at as any box warehouse.

I'm not familiar with most American deck companies, but I'm sure @Chinatown can help you out.

 

The DOT gives a 400-lb grace weight if a rig has an APU. Max gross would be 80,400 if it has one. I assume the grace weight applies to tandem weight as well.

 

Hold on. I'm almost 100% correct, but not quite. Four states don't allow the exemption for APUs--California, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Rhode Island. I didn't know that. The rest, with some being 400 lbs and the others 550 lbs.

Map of the State Recognition of the Auxiliary Power Weight Exemption | Department of Energy