Temperature in writing, a pre-cooled trailer, a washout the receiver will accept, and a dock appointment that does not turn into six hours of detention. This is how food and beverage truckload actually moves in the US, and what to put on the posting so it covers.
Food and beverage covers a much wider range of truckload than most posting screens suggest. It runs from frozen protein at -10°F through fresh produce in the mid-30s, to shelf-stable canned goods and packaged snacks that never see a reefer at all, to beverages that weigh out a trailer long before they fill it. Those four profiles need different equipment, different paperwork and different rate expectations, and treating them as one category is the single most common reason a food load sits on a board.
The other thing that makes this freight distinct is that the regulatory duty runs to the shipper. Under the FDA's Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food rule (21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O), the shipper is responsible for specifying in writing the temperature and sanitary conditions the load requires, and for making sure the carrier is capable of meeting them. The carrier is responsible for supplying suitable equipment, for pre-cooling, and for keeping records when required. A load posted without a temperature spec has not just been posted badly — it has been posted incompletely.
These profiles need different equipment, different paperwork and different rate expectations. Treating them as one category is the most common reason this freight sits on a board.
| Profile | What it is | Usual equipment |
|---|---|---|
| Frozen | Protein, seafood, ice cream, frozen prepared meals, frozen bakery. Typically -10°F to 0°F, run in continuous mode. | Reefer |
| Fresh / chilled | Dairy, deli, fresh protein, prepared salads, eggs. Typically 32°F to 40°F, with a tight tolerance band. | Reefer |
| Produce | Seasonal fruit and vegetables. Temperature varies by commodity, and many items are ethylene-sensitive or cannot be mixed. | Reefer |
| Beverage | Bottled water, soft drinks, beer, juice, canned drinks. Usually ambient, and almost always weight-limited rather than space-limited. | Dry van |
| Shelf-stable / grocery | Canned goods, dry pasta and rice, snacks, cereal, pet food, condiments. Palletised dry van freight moving into DCs. | Dry van |
| Protected ambient | Chocolate, cooking oils, some baked goods, wine. No refrigeration, but a summer trailer at 130°F will ruin it — a reefer run on cycle or as a heater. | Reefer (protective service) |
| Local distribution | Restaurant and convenience-store resupply, farmers-market and specialty routes, multi-stop urban delivery. | Box truck |
The default for anything with a temperature spec, and also for anything that simply must not freeze or cook. Modern units run either continuous (compressor runs constantly, tightest control, used for fresh and most frozen) or cycle / start-stop (unit cycles on demand, saves fuel, acceptable for deep-frozen product that will not suffer from swing). Which mode you need is part of the spec, not a detail to leave to the driver.
Current national benchmarks, and what carriers, brokers and shippers each pay: reefer freight rates →Beverage, canned goods, dry grocery and pet food. On beverage you will hit the weight ceiling long before the cube ceiling — a 53-foot van tops out around 44,000–45,000 lb of payload against an 80,000 lb gross limit, so a full-cube beverage load is usually an illegal load. Post the actual weight.
Current national benchmarks, and what carriers, brokers and shippers each pay: dry van freight rates →Restaurant resupply, specialty distribution and urban multi-stop work where the economics are stops per day rather than miles. Liftgate availability and dock height are the two questions that decide whether the delivery happens at all.
Current national benchmarks, and what carriers, brokers and shippers each pay: box truck freight rates →Rates on this freight follow the equipment, not the industry — a pallet of canned goods and a pallet of hardware price the same in the same van. See all market rates per mile or the weekly market reports.
This is the section that decides whether a rejected trailer is your problem or the carrier's. Vague instructions default the risk back to whoever wrote them.
| Set point, as a number | Not 'keep cold' or 'refrigerated'. A number with a unit. The reefer is set to what you write down. |
| Continuous or cycle mode | Say which. Fresh and most chilled product needs continuous. Deep-frozen usually tolerates cycle. This changes the carrier's fuel cost and therefore the rate. |
| Acceptable tolerance | The band the receiver will actually accept on the download, not the aspiration. If QA rejects at 41°F, a 38°F set point with no stated band is an argument waiting to happen. |
| Pre-cool requirement | State the temperature the trailer must be at on arrival. A reefer cools air, not product — a warm trailer loaded with 34°F product will not pull it back down in transit. |
| Download / recorder requirement | Whether you need a printed download at delivery, a portable recorder in the load, or both, and who pays for it. |
| Washout standard | Food-grade washout, wash ticket required, or a broom-clean trailer. Say which, and whether the previous commodity matters — many receivers will not take a trailer that last hauled raw protein or non-food chemicals. |
| Allergen and cross-contamination rules | Any commodity that cannot ride with this load, and whether the trailer must be sealed and by whom. |
| Seal policy | Who applies the seal, whether the seal number goes on the BOL, and what the driver does if it is broken at a scale or a DOT inspection. |
Capacity on this freight is close to constant through the year. Demand is not, and that gap is what moves the rate.
| Period | What happens |
|---|---|
| Jan–Feb | The floor for almost everything. Post-holiday grocery volume collapses and reefer capacity is abundant. It is also the hardest stretch for freeze protection in the northern half of the country — ambient loads that must not freeze quietly need a reefer. |
| Mar–May | Produce season begins pulling reefers into the growing regions — Florida, then the Rio Grande Valley, Georgia and the Carolinas. Reefer capacity for everything else starts thinning in those markets first. |
| Jun–Aug | Peak produce and peak beverage together. This is the tightest reefer stretch of the year and the point where a poorly specified food load simply does not cover. Heat also turns protected-ambient freight into reefer freight. |
| Sep–Nov | Produce eases, grocery builds hard for the holidays. Volume is high but capacity is returning, so it is generally the most predictable stretch for food shippers. |
| Dec | Sharp drop after the second week, once holiday grocery is in position. Receiving appointments also get scarce — DCs go into inventory and reduce dock hours. |
| Live unload is the norm, and it is slow | Grocery DCs unload by the pallet with their own crews or a lumper service. Two to four hours is routine; a missed appointment can mean waiting until the next open slot the following day. |
| Lumper fees are a food-industry fixture | Most grocery and foodservice DCs require a third-party lumper to unload, paid at the dock. Say up front who pays and how — an unfunded driver at a lumper window stops the delivery cold. See the lumper fee policy. |
| Appointment windows are hard, not advisory | Grocery receiving runs on scheduled slots. A truck that arrives outside its window may be turned away entirely rather than worked in, which is a TONU on a loaded trailer. See the TONU policy. |
| Rejection risk sits at the door | A temperature download outside spec, a broken seal, a pallet-height or pallet-condition failure, or a short-dated product code can reject part or all of a trailer. This is the one industry where the load can be turned away after arriving on time and in good order. |
| Detention starts before anyone admits it | Because live unloads are expected to be slow, food shippers habitually under-count detention. Agree the free-time clock and the rate in writing. See the detention pay policy. |
| Overnight and re-delivery | A load that misses its window at a DC often has to sit until the next day. That is layover, not detention, and it is priced differently. See the layover policy. |
Every one of these is an accessorial with a written LoadBoot standard, agreed before the truck moves rather than argued about after: detention, layover, TONU, lumper fees, driver assist and FCFS versus appointment.
FSMA Sanitary Transportation rule (21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O). This is the one that governs food in transit. It puts the duty to specify sanitary and temperature conditions on the shipper, the duty to supply and operate suitable equipment on the carrier, and requires that the parties keep the relevant written agreements and records. It applies to most human and animal food moving in the US, with exemptions including very small businesses, shelf-stable food fully enclosed by a container, and food that is transhipped through the US. If your posting does not state a temperature and sanitary requirement, you have not met your side of it.
Bill of lading and the temperature record. The BOL is where the set point, the seal number and the responsibility for unloading should be written. In a rejection, the download from the reefer unit and the BOL are the two documents that decide the outcome. Anything agreed only by phone is not evidence.
Carmack and food claims. Interstate truckload freight claims run under the Carmack Amendment, and the practical effect on food is that condition on delivery is what matters. A carrier that can show a correct set point, a clean download and an unbroken seal has a strong position; a shipper who never specified a temperature has a weak one.
Weight law on beverage. The federal gross limit is 80,000 lb, with 34,000 lb on a tandem axle. Beverage and canned goods reach that before they fill the trailer. Posting a beverage load by pallet count without a weight is how a truck ends up overweight at the first scale.
This is general operating information, not legal advice. Regulations are amended and state rules vary — confirm current requirements for your commodity and route before relying on them.
Rate is rarely why this freight sits. It sits because a carrier cannot tell from the posting whether the load is legal on his trailer, how long he will wait, or what he gets paid if it goes wrong. Six things fix most of that.
| Set point, mode and tolerance | One line: the number, continuous or cycle, and the band the receiver accepts. This is the single highest-value thing on a food posting. |
| Pre-cool and washout requirement | Trailer temperature on arrival, and the washout standard — food-grade with a ticket, or broom-clean. |
| Actual weight, not pallet count alone | Especially on beverage, canned goods and pet food. Pallet count without weight is not a spec. |
| Who unloads, and who pays the lumper | Driver-assist, live unload by the receiver's crew, or a lumper service — and the payment method. Say it before the truck is booked, not at the dock. |
| The real appointment window and what happens if it is missed | Hard appointment or FCFS, the free time, and whether a missed window means a next-day slot. See the FCFS policy. |
| Seal, recorder and paperwork requirements | Who seals, whether a portable recorder rides in the load, and what documents the receiver needs at the door. |
Post a food and beverage load → · Why posting is free for brokers and shippers →
There is no single answer — it is set by the commodity and by the receiver's own QA specification, so it has to come from the shipper. As a rough map: frozen product typically runs -10°F to 0°F, fresh protein and dairy 32°F to 40°F, and most produce in the mid-30s to low-40s with meaningful variation by item. The number that matters is the one written on the bill of lading, because that is the number the reefer is set to and the number the download is judged against.
No. Beverage, canned goods, dry grocery, snacks and pet food move in dry vans every day. A reefer is needed when the product has a temperature spec, and also for protective service — freeze protection in winter or heat protection in summer for things like chocolate, wine and cooking oils. That second case is where shippers most often under-spec and lose product.
The FDA's Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food rule, at 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O, covers most human and animal food moving by truck in the US. It requires the shipper to specify sanitary and temperature requirements in writing, the carrier to provide suitable equipment and meet those requirements, and both to keep records. There are exemptions — very small businesses, shelf-stable food fully enclosed by a container, food transhipped through the US — but if you are moving temperature-controlled food domestically you should assume it applies.
Most grocery and foodservice distribution centres do not let drivers unload, and use a third-party lumper crew instead. The fee is charged at the dock, typically to the driver, and reimbursed. It is a normal cost of this freight rather than an accessorial dispute — the only thing that goes wrong is when nobody said in advance who pays it. See the lumper fee policy.
Yes, and this is what makes food different from most truckload. A temperature download outside the accepted band, a broken or missing seal, damaged pallets, or product with insufficient remaining shelf life can all result in a partial or full rejection at the door. That is why the spec, the pre-cool and the seal policy are worth more attention than the rate.
It follows equipment, not industry. Reefer freight carries a premium over dry van because of the unit's fuel and maintenance cost and because reefer capacity is thinner, and that premium widens sharply during produce season. Current national benchmarks for both are on the reefer rate page and the dry van rate page.
Posting is free for brokers and shippers — no subscription and no per-post fee. Every carrier who can accept your load has had authority, insurance and safety checked first, every load carries live GPS, and the accessorial terms above are written down before the truck moves.