I hope this thread is in the correct place, if not, maybe one of the mods could move it to a better place.I'm wanting to hear about the hassles, the horror stories of tryin to get around in the city or anywhere for that matter,when it comes to local cartage.Also want to hear the good n bad stories of freight you may have had to unload with no help or how many flights of stairs you had to lug it.What percentage of freight do you have to handle? What percentage is palletized? How long is your trailer usually? Do you perform dock work ,if you do explain what you do and how often. I think we should limit this to p&d drivers for "freight" only. Sorry any "package" drivers, but lets just keep this for the freight drivers for now. Please don't take offense,as none is intended.Also for p & d,what type of hrs do you get? Do you have much, how should we put it,"sit and read the paper time?"Are your trucks air conditioned? Also want to hear the positive stuff too.Although I think most people already know most of the good stuff...like the hrs. the pay, the bennies,hometime etc. Lets hear from ya , yea, YOU!!!! I put this thread here cause I thought maybe,most of the local cartage jobs might be union and thought this thread would get the most exposure here. If you know of a better group to put it in please let a mod know. I hope this dont get turned into a union vs. nonunion thing.

My stories are usually out-of-date. Nevertheless, I was a local driver for Chippewa Motor Freight in Ottawa, IL from 1969-73. One day during a winter blizzard, I had a delivery of business forms to the court house. I parked in an alley across the street and tailgated the forms with my hand-truck in a 40' van. Then, I dragged the hand-truck through the snow, and eventually had a nice path worn down into the snow bank at the court house sidewalk, until a deputy parked his patrol car there. The janitor was supposed to help, but he was recovering from pneumonia and had to stay away from the door. It took perhaps six trips to get the forms to the passenger elevator. Waiting my turn, I eventually got the forms to the basement office. Freight rates have charges for second floor deliveries, but this was a pre-paid shipment. Win a few, lose a few.

On another day, I had a few bicycles for a mom & pop cycle store. I phoned ahead and explained the procedures for C. O. D. (cash, certified check or money order). Naturally, they tried to pay me with a personal check. I don't recall exactly, but I think that I became their banker on that occasion.

The shipments of crated furniture from John M. Smyth of Chicago were always a problem. I had a dining room table for a lawyer's residence. I told the lady to call the local van line for help with uncrating and set-up. Of course, that table was damaged, but it wasn't my fault.

I remember the day I decided to go back OTR. I had several large boxes of shoes for a store with no freight door. I parked at the curb in a loading zone and wheeled the wide boxes through the front door. This was during the winter, and I was dressed for working outdoors. It was a long wait in the store for the signature, and perhaps it was also a C. O. D. The only store employee was showing a woman customer every shoe in the store. I began to perspire. And then, it was back outside into the blizzard.

I will say that we took pride in our work. We were part of the pipeline that brings everything a small town needs: radioactive for the dental xray machine, small arms ammunition, tools, clothing, etc. On some days, my 27' pup would start out jammed to the door, and I had to load my hand-truck into the cab. I always remember meeting one of my co-workers crossing the bridge over the Illinois River. He had that pencil stuck in his cap, steering with one hand while holding his freight bills fanned like a "hand" of cards, trying to determine an efficient route according to what freight he had identified in the trailer on his last stop. A good local driver is worth his weight in gold!!

You bring up another good question....
Nowadays, who determines the stopping order for deliveries and pick ups? And will the companies work with or even hire somebody who is not familar with the city or area.

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"It's Always Rainin' In My Head"

I have also considered this but thought it would be a major pain. Interested to see more replies. Have considered USF Reddaway and Oak Harbor Freight Lines.

Yakima has a population of 88,000 so traffic is no real bad here.

I've done city peddles and I've done multi-pickups and drops, the best thing I would tell you is to figure out where you are going in the daylight if possible, downtown Chicago in the dark wasn't much fun.Street signs are hard to read with headlights . Traffic can be a problem but it's usually worse in the afternoon, and if you get caught in the city after noon on Friday, you are probably not going to get anywhere very fast. My product was usually palletized, and the pickups were more of a problem than the deliveries, the product has to be ready or you either wait for it, or don't pick it up.

I have had to break down pallets, I have also had to search for product that may or may not have been there in the first place. We had to load a pallet jack at each place, sometimes they are hard to find. It's good exercise unless you don't tolerate it, at larger drops, the company pays a lumper.

Very interesting so far aaaaaaaaaaanyone else?

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"It's Always Rainin' In My Head"

Today, LTL carriers can sort the bills with a computer program, even for loads going to distant cities. The actual loading will depend on the dock worker's skill in distributing the weight in the trailer, and protecting fragile freight. In my day, one frustration was the practical joker who would throw a small box over the top of the load. So, if I decided to make ABC company my next delivery because I had seen several of their boxes, that could be a mistake. I go to ABC company and then find only 12 or their 13 boxes. Later in the day, box #13 shows up having been tossed to the front of the trailer by the loader. Then, I go back to ABC company a second time to clear the shortage notation on the bills.

That's fine if getting paid by the hour!!

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The different areas are all numbered. That's how bills are sorted.

As for loading, loading in the proper order is more important than trying to distribute weight evenly. It's always fun to get to your second stop, and find their freight all the way up front because some genius on the dock wasn't paying attention to what he was looking at.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

They hire routers to do that. Pick-ups are another matter. You do those the best you can.

Yeah, sometimes. But you'll have a rough time until you do learn the area though.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.