Reefers
Reefer freight often pays better than dry, and it earns it: long waits at produce sheds, lumpers at almost every grocery warehouse, fuel for the unit while you sit, and a claim waiting to happen if the temperature record has a gap. Our refrigerated truck dispatch desk gets the wait and the lumper on the rate con before you say yes, and makes sure the temperature paperwork would stand up if anyone asks.
Put in a load you ran: the linehaul, the hours you spent at the shed, the free time on your rate con, a detention rate and the lumper you paid at delivery. The stack shows what that load should have billed, the dispatch fee at your tier, and the lumper money passing back to you outside the fee.
Untick the lumper reimbursement box to see the version most reefer drivers know too well: same load, same wait, and the lumper comes out of your pocket. That single line on the rate con is often worth more than haggling over the linehaul.
Detention at a produce shed is real money. Five and a half hours on site with two hours free is three and a half billable hours, and at a modest hourly rate that's a meaningful slice of the load. It only pays if the terms were agreed and the times can be proven.
Total $2,650
Dispatch fee at 5%: $116 on $2,325. Pass-through money is never in the fee. You keep $2,534.
When a receiver rejects a reefer load or files a claim, the argument is about temperature, and it's settled by records. Build them on every load, not just the ones that go wrong.
The temperature the shipper wants, written on both documents, and whether the unit should run continuous or cycle. If they don't match, sort it out before you leave the shipper. Running cycle on a load that should be continuous is a common cause of rejected produce.
Pre-cool the trailer before loading if the shipper asks for it. A reefer holds temperature; it isn't built to pull warm product down fast. If the shipper takes pulp temperatures at loading, ask for them on the BOL, so warm product isn't blamed on your unit later.
Most modern reefer units record temperature over the trip. Know how to pull the download, and keep it for any load where the receiver raises a question. It's often the strongest proof you have.
The unit display showing setpoint and return air at pickup and at delivery, plus the seal. Thirty seconds of photos can save an argument that lasts weeks.
If a claim does come, our cargo claim playbook walks through the response, step by step and deadline by deadline.
At the shipper end, produce sheds load when the order is ready, which can be hours after your appointment. At the receiver end, grocery warehouses often require a lumper and expect you to pay it at the door.
For the shed, we ask for free time and an hourly detention rate in writing, log your check-in the minute you arrive, and message the broker before free time ends. If the order still isn't ready after a long wait, we ask about layover before you're stuck overnight.
For the lumper, we confirm reimbursement on the rate con, how it's paid, and how fast you get it back. You send the receipt photo before you leave the dock. We send it with the invoice.
How lumper fees are charged and what to expect to pay is covered in our lumper fee guide. Produce season runs on its own calendar; see produce season dispatch.
A reefer waiting at a shed isn't just losing hours. The unit burns fuel the whole time to hold the setpoint, and on a hot day with a frozen load that burn is real money. It's one more reason the detention line matters more on a reefer than on a dry van, and one more cost to weigh when an offer comes with a receiver known for long waits. Our trip fuel cost calculator has a reefer burn option if you want to price it.
Produce follows harvests, so reefer demand and rates shift through the year by region. Holidays drive grocery volume. Summer heat raises claim risk on sensitive loads. We plan your lanes with the season in mind: where produce is shipping out of right now, where the reloads are, and when to take a dry load home if your reefer can run dry freight in a slow week. Running out of Washington or Oregon? Our Pacific Northwest dispatch page covers the passes and harvest lanes there.
Each reefer offer arrives with the commodity, the setpoint and whether it runs continuous, the pickup and delivery windows, the free time and detention terms, and the lumper arrangement. You decide. Yes sends the rate con straight to you to sign. No costs nothing.
Tell us the commodities you won't haul, the sheds and warehouses you've had trouble with, and your fuel-burn reality on long waits, and we filter offers first.
Before we offer a reefer load we also check that your unit and trailer suit it: some frozen loads need a unit that can hold well below zero for days, some pharma loads need a recent unit service record, and some shippers want a washed-out trailer with a clean smell. Better to know before you drive two hours to the shipper.
Load offer 1 of 2
ExampleFresno, CA to Phoenix, AZ
Pickup Mon 05:00
5% of linehaul and accessorial pay collected for one truck past 6 months of authority; 4% for two trucks or more; 7% for a new MC until month 7. Example On the default load in the calculator, $2,150 in linehaul and $175 in detention carry a fee of $116.25; the $325 lumper passes back untouched. More on the pricing page.
Other trucks, same rules: power only dispatch and step deck dispatch.
Send the application with your unit and trailer details. Your first reefer offer arrives with the setpoint, the wait terms and the lumper deal laid out.
You approve every load. No setup fee. No contract.