considering pulling a reefer, need advice.

Nice first post. .. will there be anything else? Shall I just send you money instead of you having to go through all that work?

 

Hi lane, welcome aboard. I pulled a reefer and quite honestly, it was the least favorite aspect of all my years in trucking. Reefer loads are inherently heavy, as the trailer weighs so much. Spread axle trailers are nice, but you don't see a lot of those, so axle weights are all over the place. Generally, not always, the places you go are just the worst places. Loading, unloading, crabby workers, LOTS of "finger printing" ( take a layer off, put a layer on, or heaven forbid, all goes on small wood, do they still have small wood?) Speaking of wood, many times, your pallets aren't good enough, and have to buy theirs ( which in many cases aren't any better) Then there's the trailer, although, reefers have come a long way, they still are a pain ( fuel, repairs) Reefer seems to pay a little more, but for me, wasn't worth the hassle. I think the neatest gadget for reefers, is the backwards LED temp reading. A quick glance in the mirror, gives you the temp. ( years ago, you had to stop and look) I'd never pull a reefer again, as I heard it's gotten even worse at these cold storage places. And don't get me started on grocery warehouses. Personally, a tanker or dump truck is the way to go. Good luck.

 

I think you should start surfing the Refrigerated forum, you should get a lot of info. As far as trailers go, if buying new it seems as for weight Utility with a Carrier unit are the lightest, you could check the weight of Great Dane Everest TL. Checking temps while driving is pretty much a thing of the past as they no longer have a mounted light indicator showing reefer function, to check temp you will have to stop and get out and look. As far as Temp Recorders go, some shippers might put one in the load and not tell you, some will let you know about it and note it on the B/L along with the recorder number.

 

just read read read all your questions have been asked and answered on this form

 

A member named "Chinatown" is our "go to" guy for that. It's probably like 3am there, but he'll get back to you. I've been out of the loop too long, but some people do ok with reefer, but it's usually because they've had the account for a long time, and new guys get all the crap nobody else wants to haul. If I pulled a box again, it would be van work. Seems that's the lesser of 2 evils.

 

I wouldn't recommend a spread. There are many loads that require the ability to put 30 pallets on a trailer. You can't get that on a spread.

Experience varies but I haven't had much issue with wait times or Lumpers. The grocery warehouses have the worst rep. But 3-4 hours is pretty standard.

Someone mentioned buying pallets but I have yet to encounter that. Maybe if you were doing LTL and getting freight from small operations that might come into play. I would say 99.9% of reefer freight is already on pallets and you won't have to deal with it at all.

Many reefer loads are heavy. These customers will cram as much on there as they can. I don't see this as a problem. These trucks are designed to haul up to 80k pounds; a load is a load.

It sounds like you are wanting to lease on with someone. Try and get a percentage deal. Most guys paying mileage are only paying .97 - 1.00 per mile + FSC which is low right now.

Reefer is all about time management. If you go into it knowing the live loads and unloads can take a few hours you can plan for it and manage the clock accordingly.

The reefers themselves are pretty solid. Just check the oil once in awhile, coolant, belts, and flip through the gauges in the ECM on it. Not much to it.