Reefers
 

Are reefers a pain in the arse????
Just curious since I applied at Central Ref. :?

They take getting use to. They are heavier...so you have to get good at weight distribution. Your loads tend to push your weight-capacity limits...so you must watch you don't get overloaded.

You tend to reload and/or keep busier...since you run food and can also run dry loads. But...typically the loading docks are more stressful and disrespectful to the Driver....so you do need a thick skin.

The new whisper-quiet reefers are nice. You might pull and older unit once in awhile that will rattle you when they start, and they are louder...but you will adjust to it.

The floors are ribbed, and tougher to sweep out...and you must keep them clean...but if you stay on top of that...you'll be fine. Sometimes you will just need to do a washout....especially after hauling meat.

Some freight will be temp-sensitive...and you will need to babysit more....but no different than having to watch straps and chains on a flatbed load. Just part of the business.

Maybe easiest loads are Van...but they will say otherwise. Especially if they have an unpalletized load... :lol:
It's all what you learn and get use to.

The disrespect part is my biggest dislike. Flat loads....now they are usually greeted with smiles and enthusiasm. They make more pay per mile too. They work less in a day...some don't even have to rig their own load...they usually don't have to be there yesterday.... :evil: :evil:
you know what.... :evil: I HATE those guys! :lol:
Here....you take MY REEFER....I want a flatbed... :cry: :roll:

For me, reefers were an unnecessary burden. There's just no point in dealing with it. It doesn't pay more so why bother? It's just something else that people get themselves into then regret later and never go back to.

Some people like them others do not.

How good or bad it is really depends on the company you work and your dispatcher, which is true of any type of trailer you pull.

The good news with pulling reefers is that you can have a greater oppurtunity for loads as you can haul both dry and "wet" loads.

Many times the only sitting you will do is waiting to get loaded/.unloaded.

Most of the places you go to have lumpers available to unload you truck if need be. (good news/bad news thing I know).

Often times you get more "freebies" than on a dry van. (Overages or damages the reciever does not want and your company tells you to throw out).

The PITA comes in having very early deliveries,
Taking longer to unload as the reciever usually sorts and counts everything
A lot more loads are live load/unload verses drop and hook chances in a van.
Having idiots in truck stops who think you are running your reefer just to bug them shut it off on you.

I guess the only thing I've done is Reefer, so I don't have other experience to compare it to. So far, I like 'em. Sometimes the reciever will take the load early so you can get to your next load faster. The bigger companies may not.

Lumpers, to me, are worth every penny, and it's an expense our company picks up if properly documented. I'd rather pay someone a couple hundred to unload a floor load of boxes that weigh 75-100# than do it myself for the measley $40 our company pays for a driver unload.

Most of our loads have been on pallets. Sometimes we've had to buy pallets to swap out with the ones the shipper puts on, but that's a company paid expense, too.

Loading and unloading is oftentimes at odd hours. Last week we had a load that had two deliveries. One was at 11:30 local and the next was at 7:00 afterr a two or three hour drive. For these loads you have to plan your day carefully so you don't run out of hours.

That's about all I can add to this discussion.

I'm considering doing reefer, but help me out: what exactly is a lumper?

:?

This the guy you pay to unload your wagon, this is why refer sucks. :wink:

Is that optional, or required. Do you have to pay out of pocket and submit reimbursement?

In regards to Lumpers. There are no set rules. Some are Unionized Companies. Most are outside Contractors...seperate from the Distribution Center. Some places will allow you (Driver) to unload, and some will not.
Generally, the places that allow you to unload, you are limited to hand pallet-jacks...no motorized ones.

The smaller Recieving Docks tend to allow you to unload, but then many of them have their own personel do the unloading, and do no employ a Lumper Service.

I know this is sounding more complicated now...but you will be told when you check-in...what is allowed and what is not. If you do business with the same Docks over and over...you will get to even know the help by name, and some people can be fun to chat with.

When you pay for Lumpers...their rates all vary, and much according to what is being unloaded, how much, and how much "break-down" is required.

Breaking down a load means...you may have more than one item palletized together, and those will need to be seperated to there own pallets, so inventory count can be taken, as well as stored within the facility properly.
Sometimes your Shipper stacks cartons of product high to maximize use of space on your Trailer. These are simple break-down of layers to meet the Recieving Docks needs. (You might be stacked 7 layers high...and they store only 5 layers high per pallet...sorta thing.)

Payment is done in several ways. Comchecks are usually the most used method. It is a paper check payment off your Comdata Company Credit Card...and requires an authorization number.
You may use another Company Credit Card...if your Company chooses to pay this way.
Or you pay in cash...and get a reciept...you turn in for reimbursement.
When I pay cash...I can later withdraw that cash amount off my Comdata fuel card...when I fuel...or even withdraw the sum directly at the TS cashier...to reimburse myself, while OTR...rather than wait for reimbursement through turning in the reciept with my Bills to be repaid.

My Company allows me to do cash W/D up to $220 per week off my Comdata. But if necessary, I can request more allowance if I have the need....it just needs to be authorized first.

As mentioned...you unload Reefers in the middle of the night sometimes. My office is only open from 07:30 - 17:00 hours. So...I can't always get a Comcheck authorized. But I also tend to pay cash for Toll fees, Trailer washouts, Truck/Trailer wash & wax...scale fees, supplies like oil, antifreeze, windshield washer fluid, etc...........so I do add up cash reciepts...and if I'm out several weeks...I reimburse myself.

Thanks for the info Roadhog. That makes since, sounds like organization and documentation is the key. You seem to have a pretty good system working, if it was too complex I would have had to scratch CRS off my list of training schools. :wink:

Here is the fixed version: And does dry van suck too because of those times I had to hire a lumper? Reefer does not hold monopoly on using lumpers.

What everyone else said is pretty much it. I've never actually pulled a reefer OTR. The only reefers that I have pulled, are here at SYSCO, where I work. Like roadhog said about the older Thermo Kings, we have some older 48' trailers that have helicopter motors on the front of the trailers. :P We did get some new ones recently. Now, I know where that raise went.

CDL=Combination Driver-Lumper :lol:

Re: Reefers
 

I pulled reefers for 18 months, Now I pull dry vans... I'll never go back.. God willing...

The level of treatment that you get from "most" not "all" but "most" dock workers, and recieving officer personal is substandard at very best.

They have less then zero respect for your time or the requirments you have with the HOS.

I just could not justify going back into it.

GL

Stay away from reefer outfits unless you enjoy being treated like a 5th-class citizen. Too many chickenhaulers in that biz willing to work/haul for $0. Maybe if enough drivers refused to pull the damn things then these grocery warehouses would get their $hit together. Then again, maybe not...

Another blanket statement from CFM. Par for the course...

Not everyone is treated like a 5th-class citizen. Not everyone works for $0.
Your credibility is being strained.

Thanks for the input fellas!
I haven't heard back from them anyway.

Advange of a Reefer;
1. If you can not find a Load for a reefer you can get a dry load. A Dry Van your stuck with dry loads only and still have to pay the lumper with some loads.

2. If your battery goes bad on your truck, you can jump your self off with the reefer

3. If you want to have some room around you in a truck stop turn on the reefer and some other (Dry Van and Flatbed drivers) will move away or will not park near you..

Disadvange

1. Something else to buy fuel for

2. if you unload your self and not get a Lumper, it's a cold load

3. It does make a noise running

4. Something else to break down

After a few days or so you forget it there far as the noise wise.

reffer
 

nuthing wrong with reefers, and actually not that bad of a gig. some may bitch and complain about it some may not.

like every job it has its good points and bad. but dont say thiers no money in it, thier is, im not braggin, but a company driver here (canada) gets 50/cents a mile, coast to coast runs, 80% drop and hook, and for the times u gotta keep your trailer, lumpers are paid for via com checks. and you have to know how to keep your apointments. ( the company gets dinged $1000 if your late for your apointemnt, and the warehouse gets dinged if your sitting around for more then 3 hours. the bad part of the system is, u barely have enough time to get any thing else done. im normally at a warehouse for a hour tops. and reefers do make alot of noise, the old ones that are about 15 yrs old.... the new reefers are quiet for the most part, althou if the temp drops to much in the trailer they automatically kick into high gear for about 10 minutes and then u can hear them, otherwise they just purrr, and u can easiely talk over them,

So I guess you are one of them that has stop eating? It amazes me you complain about reefer drivers but I never see anyone stop putting food in their mouth.

No it probably doesn't pay anymore than a van load only difference is when December arrives and van freight slows down I'm still kicking butt.

Good idea....we don't need anybody new in the reefer field, supply & demand will take effect, more loads no trucks.....watch out things will get pricey! :)

Never cuss a farmer with your mouth full. :wink: :P

Too many chickenhaulers in that biz willing to work/haul for $0.

I thought there was a diver shortage. :lol:

I tried vans and reefers and found that they both pretty much sucked. From the waiting times to lousy recievers, low pay and crap hometime - it's the OTR experience in a nutshell. Between the two, dry van had a lot less head aches and a lot less waiting around to load or unload than reefer. No produce houses and less grocery warehouses. When you take into account the time loading (produce 2 to 5 pick up's) plus meat can take forever to load and then all the mutli-stop BS in reefer. Then you have the problem with lumpers, which is basically a legalized extortion racket. And lest we forget the general attitude of shippers and receivers toward truckdrivers? They will treat you the driver as though you killed their dog and cat and molested their child. No it's not worth it. I made as much (if not more) with dry van doing 85% drop-n-hook than I ever made sitting around grocery warehouses at 2am and never getting home. With the new HOS, you're pretty much forced to run hot with a reefer on your back. Oh yeah, garbage haulers like to brag on the CB about their water-to-water runs. Not so much anymore with Stevens, Marten, England, Shaffer, etc putting more and more vans on rails. The other week I was stopped at a railroad crossiing (on the clock, of course :D ) and I watched a whole slew of em' roll by.

Like me, my buddy did both vans/reefer and got tired of all the BS and went over to the dark side of tankers. Now he's paid by the hour for ALL time spent with the truck and time and a half after 40. Home everynight. Very little BS on any of the loads although he might have to wait for lab tests to be run on a sample. As for unloading, he just hooks the hose and opens the valve, most of the tanks he pulls can unload at about 400 gallons per min. Easy money.

If I had to do it over again, I would have skipped the whole van/reefer nonsense and went right to tanker. Much less BS for the $$$$$$.

I've been hauling reefer for about 5 months now. I've never touched produce, I don't get treated bad by shippers nor receivers and I haul a lot of other stuff besides food. I've even hauled hazmat (cleaning supplies).

As the company I work for is based out of Florida, we do haul a lot of orange juice, it's heavy as hell but other than just checking to make sure the reefer is on and checking the temperature it's no big deal. We are supposed to send in check calls twice a day but I never do it. I figure a lot of people just send in the check call without actually checking the freight, so as I just check the freight I don't bother with the calls. Besides the only thing I'm paid for is to drive so I don't bother with much else, and I try to stay off line 4 On duty not paid.

Above what someone said about more stuff to break is true. Last load I was hauling trees and the reefer stopped working. Didn't take long to fix at the T/A though.

As for being held up at shippers/receivers, actually the longest I was help up, like 9 hours, was for a dry load. The whole company got to know who I was at that point cause sitting for that long didn't sit to well with me and I let them know it.

The reefer noise doesn't bother me in the least; actually it's kind of soothing to me. But lately I've been hauling mostly dry goods so it is very true that a reefer does open up a lot more freight to you.

Well that's my two cents.

This has been my experience as well. I don't have too many problems at grocery warehouses. Just back in, give them a T-Check if we don't have an account, and tell them to wake me up when they're done. I got treated worse by people in the steel mills when I ran flatbed than I do now. I don't think I would do reefer if I was an O/O though.

And that is my 1/50 of a dollar.

If I am to get back into Trucking I would go Reefer. I more than likely have to go O/O with my own authority also. Held my CDL now for 11 years, but only driven for 4.

If a load needs to be driver unload, get a lumper. No big deal. If can not find a Load for a reefer, find a Dry load. there is more options. My hometown would be great to have a Flatbed, but I am a little challenge doing Flatbeds due to my bones.


To all who are out on the Road Be safe...

've been hauling reefer for about 5 months now. I've never touched produce, I don't get treated bad by shippers nor receivers and I haul a lot of other stuff besides food. I've even hauled hazmat (cleaning supplies).

In your Reefer?? That's pretty much a no no

I was wondering about that, but I figured the company would know better. Do you know if there is some specific regulation on this?

Hazmat in a Reefer a No no? Guess the Flameable and corrosive Pepsi, &UP and Mountain Dew flavoring I hauled in a reefer was not hazmat then.

Only thing I had not pulled in a reefer that I did in a Dry van was a Cherry picker, and Steel coils. Hauled Sugar in a dry van, and reefer, I had loads of plants in dry and reefer. there is 3 differents in a dry van and a reefer. Reefer has a motor on it, along with the exta insulation and fuel tank and the floors are metal so it is heavier. the reefer is easier to clean out if it needs to be washed out, the floor will not be wet as long, dry van has wood floors and soak in the water threrefore it would take longer to dry.

what in the hell are all of you smoking ?????? pass that damn pipe I want to try some of that BS...

I pull a reefer and its the bomb.....

I pull alot of dry loads from paper products to coca cola syrup to plactic pellets....I done it all dry, even tampons..

I pull refrigerated and frozen at the same time with a dual unit ltl trl...

I never have to unload a load unless its a ltl load then yeah I pull 1 or 2 pallets off truck and sort it out, sure wow 96 cases on one order, wow thats a back breaker and a half, if is a full truckload going to anybody out there the company pays for the lumper, its included with the shipping cost, its a game they play..... full load one drop they pay you sit and watch the world go by, hard part is opening the trl doors and backin in to the dock, whew you all must be feeling that whew pass that pipe for some more of that BS you got there...

I haul beef , fresh trim pieces, its time sensitive, it cannot be older than 3 days when going to oscar meyer or places like that , I get them their most times the next day, they will reject the load, no time waiting for that , well there waiting on you again to open your doors and back that damn truck up so they can ship you out....and its most of the time D & H too....

Swinging beef, yes its hangin from hooks and it swingin, dead carcasses , its a trip, like hauling a tanker, you get that surge from side to side and front to back, takes time to get use to, really heard its worse than a tanker .... its swingin whew, go slow around curves, that load is also time sensitive, most of the time on beef loads they are drop empty and pickup already loaded and sealed trl.... no time wasted here so pass that pipe and lets tear it up.......

I never have to wait for a live load, I can be 3 hours early and I get into a dock within 30 minutes, I have hauled alot in my box, trees, dogfood, kitty litter, had 43,000 lbs of non dairy creamers, them little things you see in a bowl at a resturant.. yeah them things... everyone thinks the box is more heavy well a bit but not much, I can haul up to 46,000 in the box... I have hauled potatoes that are bulk loaded onto the trailer, yup there sitting on the floor half way up the sides of the box, going to campbell soup..... they just pick you up and dump them out hehehehe what a trip you say, yup just washout afterwards, company pays to wash trl each load too..

I never sweep it, i always gett it washed so have a clean clean trl every load, better than a chewed up wood floor dry box, got nice ribbed floor pallets slide real nice on, wow thats slick, so if you were to be a owner op and had a choice, the right choice is buy a 45 foot reefer with split tandem and you my friend can haul anything and I meaen anything, I hauleed 25 foot tall trees from a nusery, they stack them in there..... just ask all them owner ops with them shiny reefer trls, they will tell you, you can haul anything.....well mostly anything, not 65 foot steel beams or nuttin like that, flat beds will though with a over sized permit too....

still choking on that pipe, yeah I though so, pulling a reefer is not as bad as you think, its really the smart way to go, most owner ops I see are hauling beef or produce becasue them are high dollar payloads, why else do you think they pull them loads, I pull them too as a company driver and all I see is owner ops at del monte.... reefers do make more money than a dry box.. another high dollar payload is from M & M Mars Co... haulin candy, yup them pay big bucks and need to be refrigerated...

Okay I got to go to bed, I got to delivery Fugi Film in Chicago in the mornin, and yes its set and reefer is runnin, hehehehe film has to be refriderated too, cant have it sit in the hot dry van all day, I think a dry van limits you to stuff thats not going to melt, alright one more hit and i gotta go .....

Just remember each company is different so some might force you to unload a whole trl of ice cream, so pick a good company.... you all must of had bad employers to not like a reefer unit, I enjoy mine.... I always have a load all year, never slows down, and never wait inline, in and out service.... got to love it...

:lol: Thanks uglymutt...I think I may go reefer, seems like the miles may be more consistent.