Dry Van And Reefer

Which one is more otr ? I read a comment somewhere where they said dry van is more regional and reefer is more otr. I want to do the whole 48 States and hopefully Canada when I start swift. Can someone give me more insight ?

Refrigerated has a longer average length of haul, than dry van. You will have more drop n hook with dry van , and more live load/unload with refrigerated.

Reefer tends to have longer runs with more live loads and unloads. According to swift the dry van tends to be shorter runs with more drop and hook. I only ran van with my first trainer so I can't speak to that. I avg about 1100 miles a run pulling reefer.

Which one is more otr ? I read a comment somewhere where they said dry van is more regional and reefer is more otr. I want to do the whole 48 States and hopefully Canada when I start swift. Can someone give me more insight ?

Oh ok I want miles. On my application I out dry van. I was thinking they both have the same otr haul. Can I switch when I get to school or do I have to ask to update my application ?

Bryan, you actually don't know what you want at this point other than you want to see the country and make a decent paycheck. Both of those things can be accomplished with just about any sort of freight. You can pretty much change divisions when you're ready, so don't lose any sleep over that.

A decent driver determines how many miles he runs by giving evidence of his ability to manage his time and his customers so that he is outperforming the other drivers on his dispatchers board. Your performance determines your miles, not what type freight your hauling.

Personally, I'd suggest you start with dry van. Keep in mind you are going to be learning a great deal during that initial six months on the road. Your main focus needs to be getting a grip on this completely new lifestyle and how to operate both efficiently and safely. Everybody thinks, "It's only driving, just how difficult can this be?" Most of us never realize how much more there is to success at this than just being able to drive the rig.

Once you've proven yourself things will improve, but that never happens overnight. You've got to realize that your dispatcher already has a few rock solid drivers on his board that will be getting the best loads and miles. Your job is to keep doing your best to outperform the top performers, and that's a tall order for a new driver.

Let your focus be on "how" you're doing rather than "what" you're doing.

Here's something else to consider. How often you take home time can make a difference in how much of the country you see. I'll use me as an example. I live in Charlotte NC. Let's say I want to be home once a month. I want to drive 4 weeks and go home 4 days. Most of my runs will be shorter and be within a few hundred miles of home. I stay on the road between 6 and 8 weeks at a time. I have seen most of the country in the 6 months I've been solo. Today is December 8th. I am scheduled to be on home time the 14th, in Long Island NY. I had a run from PA to SC. From SC to OH and I'm on a run from OH to SC. That's since December about December 4th. If your company knows you want to be home often they will keep you closer to there. Like Old School said, how you haul is more important than what you haul.

Thanks old school and big Scott I will continue in the dry van division and try the top performer in that like old school was saying. My game plan in this business is to be the best of the best and be one of the top tier drivers ! It won’t be easy. But it’ll be worth it

Big Scott is absolutely correct about how far you will go based on how often you want home. If you want home every weekend you probably will never be more than 500 miles or so away from home. I stay out 2 weeks at a time. I live in Clarksville, TN. If you draw a line from ND to Texas, everything east of that is the area I'm in. I rarely go in the NE region. If I do, I'm in PA, NJ, or NY. Mainly I run MN, WI, IA, IL, MO, IN, MI, OH, KY, TN, MS, AL, GA, NC, & SC. If you want to see coast to coast you will probably have to stay out 4 weeks or more at a time. Understand the closer you get to home time the shorter your leash from home will be.

Reefer tends to have more coast to coast. Reefer tends to have more multiple stops with live load/unload. Not saying they don't happen in dry van. I tend to probably have 50-60% live load/unload and I run dry van. Than again I may get the lions share of those type of runs because I get them done efficiently without complaint.

Swift does business in all 48 states. Some definitely more than others. At my time in Swift I have been to 42 states. Just missing some smaller North East states. There is a good amount of short and long loads. The longest load I have done dry van is 2757 miles. A lot of the longer loads are given to people with more experience and teams. For good reason. Either way, Swift has so many possible things to do that you can get your feet wet in many different types of trucking.

Refrigerated has a longer average length of haul, than dry van. You will have more drop n hook with dry van , and more live load/unload with refrigerated.

The percentage of drop and hook vs preload is dependent on the company you work for as much as the type of freight hauled. Here at Millis, 67% of the loads I've had assigned in nine months have been a live load or live unload. I'm an OCD numbers guy.