When Pulling Reefer....

Wait times can be horrific. I did reefer for 4 years. Between the multi-pick backhauls, trailer washouts, dealing with brokers and/or people who barely or who don’t speak English, etc, never again.

Also, more can go wrong obviously with a reefer unit. Starter can go out on the unit, a careless forklift driver can tear your reefer chute, other issues with the cooling unit can arise. And product rejections can be an absolute mess, gotta find a place to dump that stuff off to who will take it before you can get another load. That can cost you a day and detention pay is often a joke or nonexistent.

 

My company has a few reefer trailers, I've only pulled them on two occasions so far. One of our OTR guys brought a load of young pine trees back from Oregon here to Michigan and I delivered them to a local nursery. It took the nursery folks forever to unload me and they made a mess in the trailer spilling dirt everywhere, and they did almost tear up the chute in the trailer unloading the trees carelessly. They probably figured it's not their trailer, so oh well.

I had to sweep the trailer out and spray it out when I brought it back to the yard. There's a little bit of extra work when hauling reefer trailers

 

All depends on the carrier and their customer base and niche. I like temp controlled work where I am but no doubt it might suck elsewhere.

 

In my case I did a large amount of drop and hooks. I woukl say less then 50% of the time did I do live loads and unloads. I also did a lot of Walmart live unloads. These live unloads depended on how the load was broke down. I have took loads to a warehouse (bananas from Florida comes to mind.) No unpacking needed. I was backed up into a door unloaded within an hour and on my way. However I once took a hershey's load to a warehouse near Miami and if my memory is right there was close to 20 pallets on that load that broke down to almost 100 pallets. I was in that warehouse all day. I am guessing but i would imagine my average wait time was around 3 hours.

 

I have been with my current company going on 5 years ..
In that time I may have had 3 or 4 reefer unit problems. We don't run old trailers/units and almost never any issues with the units.
Just like a truck really.
Stuff can and will eventually will go wrong with it.

Wait times . It depends on the customer..Sure I will have some 5 hours+. But I also have a lot than 2 hours or less.

 

I can recall a time this past spring I backed up to a dock, unloaded with signed bills, drove to next pickup nearby, loaded with bills, drove to nearby scale and received good weight, all in the span of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Both temp controlled loads. Had to do an 8. Got over Donner about an hour before chains required lights came on and did my 2 in Fernley

Frequently do unloads and reloads, same door, in less than 45 minutes, docking to all bills in hand.

Unloaded Vons in Brea yesterday. Arrived 07:30 for 08:00 appointment. Full load, 2,200 cases, 41k pounds, 8 products, Lumper. Out the gate at 09:50

 

The problem with reefers and waiting is that you're always tied to the truck, either with dock time or waiting for a loaded trailer, which could be ready at any time. Then you have to haul ### to the receiver on a moments notice, often in the middle of the night. It can wear you out, both mentally and physically, after a while. For me, it wasn't worth the extra pay....and was a bit less healthy and safe than pulling dry vans.

 

That's why I stay away from "regional fleets". Sit 2-4 hours then drive 2,000-3,000 miles on your schedule, sit 2-4 hours, repeat.

 

Those are nice runs, and I wouldn't mind pulling reefers in that scenario. But industry average seems to be around 1500 miles or less, and that was my experience.

I've been out of trucking for 8 years (getting back at it now) and wonder how the e-logs have affected the reefer business, with regards to the OP's query. Before, It was expected to be creative with your logs to make OTD, and fudging a bit could make your life a whole lot easier on JIT loads. Better or worse with e-logs? Hope thats not off topic.