Why I hate reefer

JCT wants the reefers washed out before every load.

 

Do they pay you anything? That could add up to a lot of hours throughout the year waiting for a washout.

 

Is reefer alot of overnight driving? Considering Prime but I'm not sure I could live on the other side of the world (sleep during the day, work at night).

 

Lumper Fee - How does it work being O/O? I've heard $50 for Walmart to $250, also heard if u want pallets pull off quicker u slide a $20 to folklift driver.

 

Lumper fees do not come out of the owner operator's pocket whether the o/o is leased or independent. So it's no different than a company driver. It is reimbursed and covered by the customer always. Wal-Mart is a flat $50 everytime from what I have seen. Other places anywhere from $50-$300.

 

I had a Sysco charge $450 to unload and the company I drive for blindly pays it.

 

"reimbursed" is the key, still comes out of my pocket for up to 30 days and at any given time it's not difficult to have a rather large sum waiting to be reimbursed =( I also try not to do it for free, for instance a surprise cost that I wasn't informed of; "Oh so you charge $8 for each pallet? Hold on for a minute please!" Go out and call broker "hey they are charging $176 for the pallets, you going to reimburse the cost? 'yes' "okay well my company (ie ME) charges a 7% service fee for that, is that a problem? Alright send that in writing, then I'll go pay them.

Granted it isn't a lot but why should do it for free? I mean by the time the load was over I had payed out $426 in unknown fees that were not included in the original agreement, I don't think asking for $29.82 in service fees is unreasonable.

Of course I could just be a prick.... idk

 

Wow dude that's a whole lot of hating.

 

I warned him that he'll get fed up with dry van rates in short order. Even when van freight is hot it's still a constant battle to get solid rates. Reefer almost seems a breeze by comparison even when refrigerated freight is scarce. I'm a newbie at reefer and not having any problems at all picking good loads. In 6 months I've only picked one really lousy load. He has a lot of valuable reefer experience to fall back on. Knowledge is money.

 

Yeah you're right and I like the idea of that. Charging a service fee for paying lumpers. It's a PITA having to waste time paying for unloading period. In this modern age hard to believe more customers cant work these charges/payments out amongst themselves and leave the carrier/driver out of it.

JB Hunt brokerage does it right. They don't charge any fee and issue an express code. But there is still the aggravation of time wasted even having to do that.

Brokers almost always charge a fee if you dare tell them to give you an express code for a check. I've yet to have to "pat for pallets" or anything crazy like that. I always pay cash for lumpers.

I can load a TCH check but the company I'm leased to charges a small fee for that convenience. I think it's a $1 or something? I only did it once and almost had a heart attack when I saw the fee that was deducted from my settlement.

They pay and reimburse within 48 hours so my money isn't hanging out there for long. But a lumper service fee in addition to the regular freight and/or accessories charges... I like that....