How not to act towards a shipper/receiver

Did it ever occur to you that CRST might have been coming in for an expidite or hot load? Did you think that this might just be a load that needed to be loaded and on the road ASAP? Unless that guy at the dock said that wasn't the case, maybe it was. If that was the case it wouldn't have made a difference whether it was a woman or Jack the ripper backing into their dock.
I can assure you if you went into any shipper I've know and had an attitude like you've shown in your post, you might have to sit until your thinking became a little more intelligent or you cooled off.
You said that it was taking trucks 30 minutes to get loaded, what's wrong with that?
Do you honestly think the warehouse people just knew you were coming in for a pickup and decided to ruin your day? I think not, you ruined your own day.

 

Explain this one to me...you have a driver who is 1 hr early, its taking 30-40 min to load (something i dont have a problem with by the way...i wish every live load took that long....i'd love that) trailers, you know CRST is coming in at 10 for a 'hot' load, why not get a driver who is here for a load....LOADED. You could have that early driver in and out before the driver for the 'hot' load would be here. and when that driver DOES show up, you STILL have a dock to assign them....

Same idea (kinda) behind if you are scheduled for a 10:00p appointment, and i'm scheduled for an 11p, and you are a couple minutes late....guess what, they should assign me the dock your load was assigned for, and get me unloaded.

why make a driver wait when there are open doors, and i KNOW there are more forklifts and operators than docks at this warehouse. When i asked about that situation, if she was on a hot load....then why not say so? Granted he is not accountable to me....but when the question comes up, why not just answer it?

some shippers just want to 'be the boss', and will do whatever they can to show you up. Okay, so i went to the drivers window and didnt have the right pick up number...i had the BOL number, correct arrivial and drop times, the correct destination of the freight....but yet that isnt good enough for him. I have to have the winning lotto numbers. Most shippers i've been to will accept a BOL number if i have it and happen to not have the P/U number...correct or not.

 

Every shipper is different, some will just ask where you are heading because they only have so many loads that day and know what they got going out. Some places have many loads each day, so in order for them to look up your load they need a specific number to punch into the computer because thats how there system is programmed. Granted you were there early and before the other truck obviously sometimes its just the way it works out. But getting all bent out of shape and bother that dock staff with questions not concering you isnt gonna get you loaded any faster sorry to say. Sometimes places dont want the trucks there early or dont want to load you early because they have a set schedule. This truck get loaded at this time, if this truck comes in load it first blah blah blah. But its only making your day worse for you and only you by getting all worked up and p/o'd over something out of your control. If its taking forever to get loaded I just let dispatch know whats going on and if they can call to figure out whats going they will. But I never go inside and ask whats taking so long because then they are gonna take even more time because you bothered them. I just go check in and wait, if they tell me to bump a dock and dont touch me for an hour then whatever. Just remember "IT IS WHAT IT IS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The other thing every driver needs to remember is... Almost every company is struggling to remain profitable in these sorry times. Shippers aren't near as busy, rates are being slashed by carriers who want to keep their trucks moving, etc. It's a shipper's market and there is very little shipper/carrier loyalty these days. Every customer that your company has is valuable. No driver should be the reason a company looses a customer and whatever revenue they bring to the company and it's employees. So, before you shoot off your mouth and jepardize an account, think about the long term results of being a tough guy or a smart ***. Think about what results your actions can bring...

BrinkJ23, that's an excellent post, full of common sense and truth, thanks.

 

I can only kiss so much shppr or cnsnee a--...
I usually find humor works though...I ll walk in and say 'Ok who ordered the pizza?'

Or some other cheezy on liner to loosen them up...once they realize I'm human...and not some alien from another galaxy...they tend to smile and move things along...

 

Aww, the every day humor can at the wrong time bite you in your ###. Need to evaluate the situation before you try adding water. Let me tell you I had an exboss of mine that would change his mind about things at the drop of a pin. Sometimes he would go into the office before the truck was being ready to pull off the door and than we would have to unload half the truck because someone decided at last minute they didn't want the item we loaded near the front of the truck. All I am trying to stay that there are behind the scene issues going on that make Shippers the way they are some days. Customers will also be the one to make the changes at the near end of the day. Consider that next time you encounter some ####### treating you like ####. I don't agree with it but it is what it is.

 

I almost always get unloaded early. Usually I start out with, "I know my appointment is tomorrow but I was in the area so I thought I would see if you could fit me in." Most places will work me in. Some wont because they don't have the yard space. A good attitude goes a long way. I used to own my own company so I can put myself in the other guys shoes very easy.

 

Unless it's a customer who will tag your company with poor service for you being early, that's a great thing to do. Yes... there are companies who do not want the freight delivered early or late, just get it there when you're supposed to, if not it's considered a service failure. I think it's pretty amazing but there must be some reason for it.

 

Just a point of observation. When I'd quit back in '88, I can't remember any recievers who DIDN'T want you there early. They were always glad to see ya, and you were often late because the dispatchers used to lie a lot.
I often had to wait for other trucks to unload, but never had to wait until the next day or anything like that, unless I got there at closing time.

 

There are receivers, customers, consignees or whatever you want to call them who might take the freight early but your company may be charged with a service failure. It will usually show on the bill of lading and is quite specific in the bid process that the carrier can not deliver early. With carriers scrambling to retain customers, I wouldnt take the chance unless I checked with someone first.
I am quite sure there are people on here who can attest to this fact.