Dry Van, often considered the shut the door and forget it trailer. There usually is not much extra work in hauling a dry van. You may need to put some load securement devices in the trailer, and from time to time you may need to unload the trailer, but other than that there is not much to it. Many loads all the driver has to do is open and close the trailer doors.
Reefer/Refrigerated: Very similar to vans except you can haul both refrigerated and non refrigerated freight which can be a benefit as some areas have lots of freight of one going out but is very light on the other. Many consider reefer freight to be more steady as no matter what people still have to eat. You do have added responsibility such as making sure the reefer is full of fuel, that proper temps are maintained and so forth. You will also see more grocery warehouses which can mean a lot of sitting waiting to be loaded or unloaded. The up side is that there usually is less driver unloading as compared to van freight as lumpers are more readily available. If you decide to go with this type of trailer be sure to hire on with a company that pays detention. (Pay for excessive time waiting to get loaded/unloaded. Usually pay starts after 4 hours. A few companies will start paying after 2).
Flatbed: Often less time spent waiting to be loaded/unloaded, but some of that gained time is lost by the added work of securing the load and tarping the load. Tarps can weight 75+ lbs and can be hard to handle especially in cold weather. Flatbedding is more dangerous as you often have to climb on top of loads in order to tarp which increases fall risks. You also have the chance of a good wind blowing you off the top of a load so you have to be careful and use a lot of common sense to remain safe. One of the common pluses to flatbeds is that customers usually seem a lot happier to see you pull up that those in the van or reefer industries.
Tankers: The big plus here is that you are usually paid for everything you do. Most tanker companies pay for your time loading/unloading the trailer, getting the tank washed out after every load, and so forth. The down side is that unless you are very careful in controlling that tank it will control you. Tankers are without a doubt the most difficult trailer to pull. For some really good info on what it takes to be a tanker yanker look for posts by Cyanide in the "What about this company" section. He does a great job explaining most of the ins and outs. While you will never have to unload 45,000 lbs of boxes with a tanker you still may have to handle the hoses which can be heavy and ungainly. You may also have to climb on top of the tanker to open and close ports as needed. Also with tankers, when loaded you are usually loaded right to 80,000 lbs at all times.
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Finding the right trucking company is like finding the right person to marry. I really comes down to finding one whose BS you can put up with and who can put up wih yours.
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