Pros and cons of running refrigerated

Pros: you can load reefer & dry freight in a reefer trailer, people need to eat therefore there is almost always work, you can make extra $$$ lumping your own loads, nice shiny trailers ( lol ), usually higher cpm


Cons: grocery warehouses, lumpers, reefer problems (rare), weight issues, what to do with rejected product.


I've run reefer since 2006 and I enjoy it. Not a bad deal.

 

Con: too much time to get loaded then unloaded.

 

Nope. Not too often. Once I got to keep 300 lbs of spare ribs though. Wasn't too far from the house, lol. Usually I donate it or give it away.

 

My favorite was 30 cases of frosted cookies ......my kids loved me that month ....wife not so much

 

Temp controlled trucking can be great, can be a pain ... depends on who you pull for and who the bulk of their business is with and if they haul produce or not and if they have fairly new, well maintained equipment. If the company wants you to or allows you to lump your own freight (under any circumstances), I'd look elsewhere.

 

I did the OTR reefer thing for several years & really liked it. Made tons of money lumping my own loads; sometime $200-$500 a week extra bucks. Only reason I quit was a good job opportunity for tanker/hazmat OTR with excellent benefits. My back liked the decision also.

The driver isn't responsible for rejected product from a financial standpoint. From my experience, just call the dispatcher & he tells you what to do with it. Small amounts or a pallet or two, I was always told to dump it.

 

I just sold my dry van and went to reefer.

If you are company and paid mileage. Eh. You swing doors on both. You wait in both. You lump in both.

There are things you can haul in a van, you can't in a reefer.

On percentage or as an o/o, the rates on a reefer more than make up the difference in cost for a reefer. Yes, you have a second engine to maintain and be concerned about. But kubota's are pretty reliable equipment.

It's an extra $150 per month equipment payment and about $400-500 in fuel. Revenue increase is looking to be over $4500 a month.

I have brought home damaged cake/cookie mix' damaged case of mason jars in a van.

Yesterday, i had damaged frozen supplement shakes. Called a nursing home and said they can have them, but they had to come get them or they were getting tossed in the garbage. The residents will now have dessert for 6 months. There's like 75 servings to a case.

 

Just my observation as I trained on both. You have to do a little more maintenance with the reefer trailers...washouts and blowouts. It seemed like the deliveries for the reefer tended to be more of the midnight to 3am variety. I am sure that varies from company to company and who you haul for.