dear camo,
this has been the custom at a lot of grocery warehouses. You'd be surprised to find out how many of the professional truckers have thought the trailer was finished and for one or the other reason pulled the trailer out away from the dock while the receiver is still working. This is a good idea for the receivers safety.
usually if not perturbed the receiver will get you unloaded sooner with out your help.
also this has been in effect for a long time. I can't see anything personal about what they did. You said other drivers were asked to do the same. My best suggestion is if you don't like the rules and or can't be an adult and you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. I really am surprised at the cry baby's becoming truckers.
also as for unhooking your trailer. That too isn't safe. the landing gear could fail and drop the trailer. some places put a lock on your glad-hands so you can't hook up. rarely have I been told to pull out from under the load.

While you mention valid safety reasons there still is no excuse for a driver to not be allowed to stay in his cab.

Chalk up another reason to be a flat bedder or other type of open trailer. Since its the drivers responsibility for the cargo once its loaded he can supervise the process.

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Camo, I'm with you, If its for safety reasons then spend the $$ on dock locks or lock out my glad hands, but dont try and make me sit in some hole of a drivers room because your CO is to cheap to spend $$ on safety equipment or the employees are to darn lazy to just get me unloaded.

I delivered to a Walmart Distribution Center in SW Georgia, the name escapes me. They required the driver to drop the trailer at the door, then bobtail over to the bobtail area. Driver was to then spend their time in the waiting room. You were not allowed to go back to your truck.

wild bird (turkey) You sound like the type that allows driver abuse to go on.It's wimpy little goodbuddies like you that will let anyone ride your ### without complaining and with a big grin on your face you ask for more.Your just a scared little chicken thats afraid to rock the boat alittle for fear of getting fired and then you might have to get a real job.So strap on your knee pads theres a long line of people waiting for you to shine their shoes Boy.now get out of the way Us real men have work to do junior.

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A man's got to know his limitations...

I got a reply from a Chris somebody or another.Who is an assistant manager(probaly one of 50 assistant managers standing around Costco giving orders to all the wet backs that work on the dock). He said the no.1 reason for their policy is "Safety". I guess they must consider themselves safer than all the other companies I deliver to. The other reason was " It's faster this way ".We don't have to go around knocking on doors waking drivers up to get their bills. I guess I kinda sympathize with him. There are alot of drivers that need they're mothers riding along with them. I notice alot of drivers forget what time the security guard said he would start calling in drivers for they're door assignments and usualy sleep in. I know I usually have to knock on a door or two while I'm waiting from my name to be called on the cb. Well I'm done whining,it's getting alittle warm in this kitchen.

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A man's got to know his limitations...

Well, today I show up at a certain grocery warehouse for a 7.30am appointment. I only have 3 skids for them to take off. I arrive at 7.20 and am told to wait in my truck and someone will tell me which door to use. At 8.45 I am told which door, so I back in, unhook (not enough room for people to back trailers in with trucks still attached), and go inside.
They help everyone around me, then at 9.25 they come and tell me that I will have to wait until they are done lunch, and off they go.
I figure I will have to repack the skids anyway, so may as well do it in my trailer while they are on lunch rather than wait for them to come back and do it later. So I make the 3 skids into the 12 required by their packing standards. The look on the guys face when he came back from lunch and found ALL his stuff in the required quantities ready to go.
We'll see next time how they treat me... could go either way.

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my your attitude isn't very professional and it looks like you may not even be a truck driver but none the less I stand behind what I said and also the same place the complaining driver went to is one of the places I had to deliver to also. I went through the very same thing and didn't like it. but only spoiled baby's expect to have things their way all the time.
the best way to get what you want is to want what you can get.

Or you mean don't want anything because you just have to take what you get and like it.The true signs of a liberal pacifist goodbuddy.I bet you think we should give up and leave Iraq immediately.Oh my they're fighting back let's quit...Now get your shine box boy.

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A man's got to know his limitations...

I realize I'm responding to an old message, but thinking about the receiving clerk at the H.E.B. in San Antonio still makes my blood boil some 15 years later! She's probably talking about the same ##$% that I had the misfortune of meeting in the early 90's when I drove OTR for PST Van Lines.

When I think back to all the crappy grocery warehouses that I had to deliver to during my, relatively short, 5 year OTR career, H.E.B. stands out as the NUMBER ONE worst place to have to deliver to. Here's just one of my H.E.B. stories... and believe me, there were many:

This probably took place in 1991, very shortly after I started driving truck, so I was still pretty green. I was hauling a load of Campbell's soup out of Sacremento (which is another story in itself), which delivered to the aforementioned warehouse of hell. When I got into the dock, I was approached by a guy, who probably worked for H.E.B., asking me if I wanted to hire a lumper. I recall he wanted some ridiculous amount like $120 to peel two layers off each skid. I told him "no thanks, I'll get it myself." Needless to say, he indicated to me that that really wouldn't be a good idea and that if I wanted to unload it myself, I would have to give up my dock and wait a while. This set the precedent... not wanting to camp out all day in the "punishment" area of their lot, we settled on a extortion fee of $60.

After he left, I jumped up in the sleeper to take a nap, figuring I might be able to get an hour or two while the supposed lumper restacked a few skids. Just about as soon as I shut my eyes, I felt a fork truck going in an out of the trailer. Turned out he was the fastest lumper I had ever seen. Had the whole truck unloaded and all the skids restacked in less than 30 minutes. Uh huh... I knew I'd been ripped off and now I was pissed.

I went in to get the bills signed and that's when I met mr cigar-chomping, three-wheeler-riding, fat*** receiving clerk. He looked at his watch, told me it was now lunchtime, and that I could come back and get the bills in 45 minutes. He couldn't possibly be bothered to take two seconds to sign the bills. I told him that was fine, but if they wanted their dock back any time soon, it might be better if he just signed the bills and let me go. He turned his cart around... and left...

I went back out to my truck, locked the doors and crawled into the sleeper. About an hour later, they were bangin' on my door telling me to get up, they needed the dock. "Ha" I thought, "it'll be a cold day in hell..."

A while later, Mr. ##$%*** came out and informed me that PST was on the phone and wanted to talk to me. I reluctantly got out and went in to talk to my dispatcher. I told her what the deal was, and she begged me to "just get the bills and leave." Mr. ##$%*** handed me the signed bills and as I was leaving, I noticed they piled a whole bunch of used shrink wrap in the trailer. I walked into the trailer and proceeded to toss the shrink wrap into a trash can on the dock. He told me that was my garbage and that I couldn't throw it away in their can. I felt like punching his teeth down his throat... but instead I left.

I pulled the truck away from the dock quite a ways, got out to close the doors, tossed the shrink wrap out in the parking lot and hauled ### outta there. After leaving, I had a brain storm... I searched out the nearest H.E.B. store and stopped in for a visit. Bought a package of cookies, took the cookies out and tossed the empty package back at the cashier. Told her it was her garbage, and that if she wanted to know why, go see the receiving clerk at the warehouse.

H.E.B. is the king of crooked grocery warehouses.

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Jim