[merrick4]

I'm getting produce. Not sure what exactly cause they keep changing it up. There was supposed to be corn but now no, but peppers I do know. I have another pickup in Ga tomorrow and it's all for Krogers. It's going to Atlas cold storage. I think Krogers is a grocery store so I guess they don't all have their own DC's like a Publix.

I know there is one company that is like an outsource company to handle distribution centers. I forget the name but I went to one when I was a company driver in South Carolina for a Bi Lo. It was actually on Bi Lo's property and I asked why it had a different name. It was a company from New Hampshire I believe and if I'm not mistaken they said they were the 2nd largest food dc behind Walmart. I think it began with a C.

That State Farmers market sure looks busy. I went today to where I need to pick up in my car to see where I would have to go to make it easier when I get there in the truck. I was talking to the guy he said they opened back up 2 weeks ago and will be there til April.

Seems like there is work down here but you just have to know whom to call. Actually where my truck is parked, I could walk to my pick up within 5 minutes, so I'd like to make more contacts there.

By the way I hope your truck is under warranty. Man between the automatic shift and the hotels they are going to start hitting you with the gentlemen trucker label

Are those autoshift much better on fuel efficiency?

Hey Kurbski, good point. I think food is more time sensitive but I know no_worries said the apples are going on them and I'm sure apples need to be refridgerated. I notice on these refridgerated containers they have this weird refridgerated thing. The tank on the bottom looks like plastic. Other than that don't know much about them.

[Sonny Pruitt]

biggest reefer box car load is potatoes frozen and fresh
Hapco for fresh
Lamb Wesson for frozen

Here is the competition

http://www.railexusa.com/

[mike3fan]

Originally Posted by merrick4

I notice on these refridgerated containers they have this weird refridgerated thing. The tank on the bottom looks like plastic. Other than that don't know much about them.

The refrigidation part is built into the container itself in the front,the part that hooks on the front of the container is a removable diesel generator,also can be located under the chassis,when they are set up like this you will see the power cord hung alongside the container and plugged into the front.

After getting to the port the generator is taken off the container and the container is plugged in to keep the reefer running until it's time to load on the ship once on the ship they are plugged in for their journey,I hauled lots of loads of pies this time of year for our troops in Iraq and Afganastan,also may loads of frozen turkey dinners.

[BigDiesel]

Originally Posted by Sonny Pruitt

biggest reefer box car load is potatoes frozen and fresh
Hapco for fresh
Lamb Wesson for frozen

Here is the competition

http://www.railexusa.com/

I wouldn't be too concerned with Railex... the apple growers were less than pleased with their service. Delays, Delays, Delays.

[no_worries]

... the apple growers were less than pleased with their service. Delays, Delays, Delays.

Imagine that :shock: Gee, I guess you get what you pay for. :roll: However, we'll have to see if they were displeased enough to pay a decent rate next time or if they'll just live with poor service. With the slowdown ahead, I'm not betting on many shippers opening the wallets.

Gentleman trucker :lol: I guess it could be worse. The autoshift is probably more efficient for someone who's not an efficient shifter. I could get better mileage with a manual. It is under warranty, 5/750000, but of course they don't have one of the parts so I have to pay for the airfreight so it'll be here tomorrow. If rates cooperate, I should be out on Thursday...maybe. There is a storm coming at the end of the week so it might be a good time to get out of Dodge 8)

[GMAN]

I would not be too concerned about rail at this point. There are still great inefficiencies in their system. They are still unable to get into the growers fields to pick up the produce. They still cannot match delivery times of trucks. They still need trucks to pickup and deliver on both ends. There could be a greater opportunity for increased capacity on both ends for trucks. It could potentially reduce long haul opportunities, but increase local or regional opportunities. Produce still has a relatively short shelf life. If an engine breaks down there could be many times the claims to the rail over a single truck breaking down. Trucks are still the most efficient means to move product across the country. Putting larger, heavier rail cars on aging tracks means that there is increased potential for derailments or improvements to existing tracks. Perhaps trucks should just abandon those markets and let the growers find out for themselves about the inefficiencies of rail. I think rail works very well for bulk items, such as coal. I am not sure sufficient efficiencies exist for food products. Rail is limited to how much capacity they can handle. The more rails are used and the higher weights they are asked to sustain, the greater the chances of accidents. It is also much easier to sabotage a train than a truck. From a national security standpoint, trucks are less of a security threat. For rail to make a significant impact on trucking, major upgrades will need to take place. I find it interesting that so many of the major trucking companies, such as U.S. Xpress, Swift, etc., use so many rail cars to transport their trailers from the West. They are actually supporting their competition. :?

[Mandilon]

It's amazing GMAN how much money flows when you get up to that level. You know there is a lot of money down here in South Florida and sometimes it's amazing when you find out what some of these people do or who lives in that big house on the beach. My first local job out of school was hospital laundry servicing. I mean the place where they cleaned the sheets was just one building out of thousands down here but the owner had so much money it wasn't funny. He actually was there a lot too standing outside smoking.

As you can tell I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes some of these people just own companies of common things but reap a ton of money.

I remember in Texas one time at one of those Mop & Pop truckstops I saw an old man in one of those expensive Rv's from Florida so I got to talking to him He was the owner of a couple of Chevy dealers or some car dealer. There must be thousands of those dealers and he just owned a couple but he was a millionaire (I looked into him after). His name was Red something Doghouse might have heard of him as his dealerships were near where he is from I think. Salesman to the end too cause as we shook hands goodbye he told me to come see him when I need a new car (I never buy new).

The point of all of this besides I'm sitting at home waiting for my load to be ready (now they say 10pm) is that it seems once you get to a certain level then it doesn't seem too hard to make it (keeping it of course is another thing.) I mean we all are working trying to get ahead and a lot of times I think that it can't be so hard. I don't know just musing I guess.

Yikes!

I was just reading up on billionairs (millionairs and multi-millionairs are a dime a dozen NOW-A-DAYS, wish I had A MILLION tho..).

'This billionaire' INCREASED his stash' by TWENTY billion over last year!

Keep-On-Trucking (if U wanna go broke!)

[Sonny Pruitt]

http://www.frozenfoodage.com/print/Frozen-Food-Age/Riding-The-Fresh-Express/1$629



more on railex
if you haul potatoes
Railex is really Hapco



btw Mandolin
the guy who lives behind me just retired his seat on the stock exchange at age 42 and bought 4 Hamburger franchises "to keep busy"

[person]

I'm interested in knowing about this "80% of our food is imported" comment. To start an investigation, what percentage of YOUR food is imported? I checked. I assume my coffee and tea is imported. Only other thing I found was some brazil nuts. Occasionally get imported cheese but mostly from U.S., even the bleu. Some immigrants eat imported food, like the Asians. But this 80% thing? Who has 80% imported food in their house? Of course there's winter fruit etc, but all these things can't add up to 80%.

[Sonny Pruitt]

Almost all the frozen fish I del to Sysco,US foods,all the chain restaurant
distributers is from China






http://www.fpil.com/zerve.asp?id=2

China China China