Trader Joes worse than walmart!

I deliver to the Trader Joe's warehouse in Nazareth PA (operated by Versacold) from time to time. It's a load of produce from Scranton, and there's usually a pallet of cookies mixed in with it. There's no appointment time for the produce, so the routine is to just back in to one of the open doors, then go inside with papers. It's driver pull-off, so I get buzzed in and unload the trailer with one of their powered jacks. The cookies go over to the dry side, so I just drop that pallet at the end of the row, and someone from the dry side eventually notices it, collects it and takes it over.

In the future, you could try going to the cold window instead of the dry window and see if they'll let you pull it off on the cold side if there's a door open there.

 

Amazing that a driver shows up early to deliver, and is made to wait until the receiver is ready. Show up 5 minutes late to a delivery, and the s--t hits the fan. Sometimes you are made to wait all day, or until they feel the need to let you in. Granted this is all shippers and receivers, especially when hauling produce.

 

Some receivers levy a fine if you're early. One of our receivers fines the carrier $150 if the driver shows up more than 1 hour early.

 

The sad part is that the driver cannot return the favor if the receiver does not get the driver in on his/her appointment time to load/unload. Though many companies do get a monetary compensation for such a dilemma. The driver is the one sitting there doing nothing, and getting nothing for their time.

 

Only because the driver accepts those terms as part of employment. If drivers got together and started saying NO to that kind of arrangement, things would change, and quickly.

For example, my employer pays $16 just to bump the dock, and $15/hour starting 30 minutes after the scheduled appointment time. But no detention pay for missed appointments that are deemed the driver's fault.

 

Wind
I agree if driver is at fault for late p/u or del. There should be consequences. On the other hand, companies must be accountable for pushing a driver to make loads in an untimely manner.

 

This is true.

My company's dispatchers work with drivers on delivery times. All a driver has to do is speak up. If a driver points out that the appointment time can't be reasonably met due to factors such as HOS start times, delays due to road construction or time of day, or something similar, then they will either re-set the delivery appointment, waive the on-time requirement for detention pay, or assign the load to another driver that can start earlier in order to make the appointment. The dispatchers have a lot going on, and they usually don't have time to check a driver's HOS or routing to ensure on-time delivery. So they actually listen when a driver lets them know about various factors that could affect the delivery time.

 

Good company than. Where most companies are not willing to make those changes. They set an appointment and require the driver to make the appointment. They throw a fit if you even think about calling them to tell them of any issue that may make you late. They use the excuse 1) The appointment will be moved to the next day, and they already have your next load lined up in the AM. 2) They will be fined if the product is late, and so on for excuses

 

Maybe should be called Traitor joes.

 

it's two pallet, just ran into the the same thing. They said go wait in your truck, I said ok cool I've 10 minnut and I'm leaving. They came out and got the two pallets. I get it if you have a trailer full but the guy that had 2 pt can go ahead of me.