Box Truck in the Night

guest · Sep 9, 2005

I was transferring a load to another carrier's truck the other night and the o/o had one of these van based cube trucks with the gas engine (no sleeper). He said he had just bought it new and had waited two days for this load. When I got there he was asleep in the front seat and did not look well rested.

He said he got $1.25 per mile, which sounded pretty good for that size equipment, but then I remembered he had waited two days for it. After the forklift took the load off my truck at the dock the driver took the pallets down and started loading them into the cube truck in a way that made it look like the forklift was beating up the cube truck.

As the guy drove off into the night with his first load, I felt really bad that he had no sleeper, no diesel engine and no dock high box. He should have gotten a van, I thought to myself. Has anyone had good luck using a cube truck instead of a van (I assume you would only compare a cube truck to a van and not a straight truck)? Seeing the cube truck up close in the middle of the night compared to my straight truck made me see why cube trucks are not that popular in this business. It just looked WAY too small to do any kind of serious work and way too big to park in your driveway.

raceman · Sep 9, 2005

Friscomike, take me through that second paragraph again. I am not understanding what it says.

As for cube trucks? I think they are better suited for local work but that is only my opinion and it means nothing in this case.

Raceman
OTR O/O

guest · Sep 12, 2005

Let's see, 2nd paragraph should have read:

He said he got $1.25 per mile, which sounded pretty good for a cube truck, but then I remembered he had to wait almost two days for the load. The cube truck just looked flimsy to me. When I saw the forklift pushing the pallets into the back of it it looked like the forklift might tear the truck up just trying to get it loaded.

Not that it's all that important, but I hope that clears it up a little. I just felt bad for the guy that he apparently wanted to do over the road work in the truck and it was obviously not well suited for that at all.

Maybe he can haul debris for FEMA with it.

raceman · Sep 12, 2005

Thanks Frisco. I just got lost there. I stick to my opinion. I think those trucks are pretty good for some local stuff where the driver climbs in out loading or unloading.

We all use what we have and I do not want to come across as putting anyone down. Speaking from my standpoint of being in line waiting for these to be unloaded at a plant, it simply is a lot of work and it normally holds everyone up.

I give anyone working a lot of credit. I also say anyone who gets one of those on purpose for expediting is making the worng choice. They are great for what they are intended and that is not not loading or unloading.

Raceman
OTR O/O

highway star · Sep 12, 2005

There are a few of them out here, but not really all that many. It seems to me, if you're going to move up and have the log book, DOT, and all that, it just makes sense to go dock level and have a decent bunk. For now, I'll just stick with my iddy-biddy van.

fastman_1 · Sep 12, 2005

I've seen a few that were set up very nice.Saw 1 once that was on with Landstar had a nice bunk that was Lowered down from the top of the Box.The box was a Unicell.The owner dropped some big bucks on setting it up.So he must do O.K. with it.

Owner/Operator since 1979
Expediter since 1997
B Unit Semi Retired
Somedays are Diamonds and Somedays are Stones

BigBusBob · Sep 12, 2005

I saw a cube truck leased with Landstar Express in Ohio about a month ago when I ran thru there... They were at a truckstop where I was taking a rest stop at. There was an older couple in it, and the cube truck, though small overall, had a nice walk-thru to the sleeper, that I recon was every bit of 72", if not larger. They said they owned it, and had gotten into expediting about 4 years ago they said, and they'd had the cube truck as owner operators for almost 3 years now they told me. I thought it was very neat, though I wouldn't wanna run in one, it's too small - I like the larger straight truck or tractor feel. I feel safer, plus I'm dock height so there's a plus too, though as I looked into the cab and back up into the sleeper I could not get over how much room they had. Surprisingly there was plenty of room, much more than in a typical sleeper; I'm sure it's because it was integrated into the cargo box. I'd prefer a seperate sleeper box myself, over one that's integrated into the cargo box, with just a heavy duty bulk head wall seperating you from that freight. They say those walls can withstand six (6) thousand pounds, but I sure would hate to have to put that to the test.

davekc · Sep 12, 2005

I might have seen that truck or a simular one. It was a Aerocell. He was using ramps that he carried with him to make it dock high.

At the Mid America Show, they did have one that was dock high.
Pricey, and it didn't have the sleeper conversion yet.
Has potential, but it appears based on another post that they haven't really made an effort to market it to the expedite industry.

Davekc

FIS53 · Sep 13, 2005

I've seen a couple of companies up here hire them when needed and the pay is usually over $1.80 per mile. Usually they get used for loads too wide or long or heavy for a regular van.
Fis