[choperbob]

i have pulled a dry van for 1 1/2 years and enjoyed it. i recently moved and the companies hiring in my area, tucumcari, nm, are few. i tried flat bedding , but i do not like waiting all those hours getting loaded and unloaded for free. also i spend way too much time just waiting for either a crane to unload me or just waiting for the next load, so i am gonna try out john christner trucking. reefer. can anyone give me advice, or opinions on them, and maybe the good and bad points of pulling reefer? every phase of trucking has its good and bad parts of the job. but also there are folks who enjoy 1 type but will not do any other type of freight. so any opinion would be great. thanx

[Double R]

but i do not like waiting all those hours getting loaded and unloaded for free.

You will with a reefer also

Bad points:
LONG waits to unload
Lumpers
Grocery warehouses
LONG waits to get loaded
Pallet exchanges
Pre-cooling; if you are not at the right temp, you have to wait
Reefer breaking down
Checking to make sure you have enough fuel in the reefer
Having to fuel both tractor and trailer
Trying to sleep with the reefer running
Trailer wash outs
Hand stacking pallets and breaking them down
Multi-stops

Good Points:
Freight is always there since people have to eat and you can haul dry loads in a reefer

I pull a reefer for a Foodservice company

[Uturn2001]

How much time you have to donate at each end depends on the company. Some start the detention clock after an hour or two, while others it is 4 or more hours and some don't pay it at all.

The lumper issue is a good news/bad news situation IMHO. If you do not like touching freight the good news is that there are almost always lumpers at food warehouses.

The bad news is that there is almost always lumpers at food warehouses.

[kips41]

I have worked for KLLM since '93 and pulling a reefer is not as bad as most folks talk about. It depends alot on the company that you work for and what type of reefer freight they book.

Double R makes some good points in that you have to fuel the reefer and sleep with it running, and trailer washouts can be a hassle at times.

Don't know about JCT but, at KLLM we don't do pallet exchanges, lumpers are paid for 100% and alot of the customers that we go to the company has contracts with the lumper service and billl the company for the charges so you don't even have to write a comcheck. I never unload freight. KLLM does very little produce hauling to grocery warehouses,but what we do pull alot is Fresh Express which is the pre packaged lettuce. The bulk fresh produce goes to their plants and some of this is drop and hook. We do pull retail loads to grocery whses, but is alot better than pulling bulk produce to them.

Precoolong a trl is no big deal either, just set it when you head towards your p/u and you will be good to go.

In the last 3 months, I have pulled 1 produce load that was Fresh Express, but have pulled several haz mat temp controlled loads. Hazmat pays an extra $50 and multi stops are $25 for the first two and $40 for each one after that.

My last 2 month average on miles has been 2660 a week including a week off or 3040 not counting the week off.

[yoopr]

Good Point is normally longer runs
Bad Point-Warehouses are normally in the very worst parts of towns.
Don't have time to lollygag on the road because usually when you pull Produce the receivers will have you set the reefer at a certain Temp so the produce is actually ripening while you're pulling it.

and lastly-and again normally, the Grocery Warehouses are the very worst for unloading and usually require you to either break down your pallets or require you to unload your trailer within a certain time and "RECOMMEND" that you hire a Lumper.

Better change your avatar-last I knew you were in New York :P
You ever check Mesilla Valley down there?

[choperbob]

jct claims most loads go to distribution centers. also 100% paid lumper.

[Jumbo]

Isn't JCT a all contractor company?

[uglymutt]

Originally Posted by Double R

You will with a reefer also

Bad points:
LONG waits to unload
Lumpers
Grocery warehouses
LONG waits to get loaded
Pallet exchanges
Pre-cooling; if you are not at the right temp, you have to wait
Reefer breaking down
Checking to make sure you have enough fuel in the reefer
Having to fuel both tractor and trailer
Trying to sleep with the reefer running
Trailer wash outs
Hand stacking pallets and breaking them down
Multi-stops

Good Points:
Freight is always there since people have to eat and you can haul dry loads in a reefer

I pull a reefer for a Foodservice company

OMG, Bingo you work for food service.....

I pull a reefer, there is no long waits for me, most loads are less than a hour to get to the dock, I show up early and most times I leave when I am supposed to show up...

Lumpers only at a food service place (sysco, fsa, urm, ect ect..) or walmart... most lumpers are paid anyway by the shipper like all kraft loads are PAID lumpers so just sit and enjoy your lunch...

Pallets, well yes food services are to cheap to pay for them so you must show up with pallets, no big deal their paid for by company on account usually..... I never had to pay for them

Pre-cooling; if you are not at the right temp, you have to wait ???????
just turn it on an hour before you get there or the night before, company pays for fuel.... no big deal temp comes with preplan just follow directions

Reefer breaking down
yes it can happen but most companies take care of them so they won't , I never had one breakdown....

Checking to make sure you have enough fuel in the reefer
Having to fuel both tractor and trailer????????
Yes just fill everytime you get fuel and you don't have to check it, I get fuel everyday and the reefer holds enough to last a few days anyway

Trying to sleep with the reefer running
I ran alot of dry loads with it off, and its no different parked next to a idling kenworth next to ya, I wake up it it does not come on after awhile annd check it and its fine all the time, you get use to it..

Trailer wash outs
YES , the most times you do this is after hauling trees and bushes to get the leaves and dirt out and the mostest is all BEEF loads, USDA requires the trailer to be cleaned before loading fresh open exposed beef cases or bins or hanging, no big deal, company pays it all.....

Hand stacking pallets and breaking them down
Multi-stops
YES I do now, I am on a dedicated LTL run, I deal with sysco , fsa, and urm and I get paid for each stop and paid to unload and breakdown freight. I make more than runnin truckload all 48 states, made at ttee start 31cpm and left at 35cpm, I run LTL and make about 55 to 60cpm and run only a 3 state area and not all 48


Good Points:
Freight is always there since people have to eat and you can haul dry loads in a reefer
YES, I have hauled alot of truckload and most companies are just that Truckload drop and hook... I ran alot of dry freight which was just dropped empty and grab loaded trailer and most times it was half an hour tops...

Things I hauled:
plastic iv tubing and emtpy pill bottles
trees and shrubs
tampons
fugi film
rolls of paper stock
welding wire
coca cola syrup
dogfood
tacobell meat
animal vitamins
kegs of beer
ALL kinds of food, (everything you can eat)

the list can go on and on, so the moral of the story is which company you work for and the accounts they have is what you will be haulin, I haul frozen and refrigerated and dry all on the same load now and back when I was in truckload division, reefer trailer is the only way to go, give it a try.. good luck..

[kips41]

Originally Posted by Jumbo

Isn't JCT a all contractor company?

I thought that they were, maybe he is planning on doing a fleece purchase or going to work for a O/O with some trucks leased on there.

[Doghouse]

I ran refer a few years ago, and I'd say about 80% of the time,..it was in/unload/out pretty quick, and the lumpers were always paid for. I only remember sitting once to load and that was in Texas, and I had to wait for 4 hrs to load, but I just slept so it worked out OK.
Stevens was known for sending us to Tropicana in Florida with 1/4 tank of fuel. Then loading us at 79,900lbs and then having to stop at every fuel stop along the way to Cali. that was no fun, but all in all the refer actually put me to sleep and kept the noise from the truckstops from creeping in.