Is it doing too much to ask a yard dog to pull a trailer for you

This thread make me glad i pull i flatbed and the only time it comes unhooked is when its time to grease

 

Yes, it's too much to ask. Somebody that had a wonderful childhood might do it, but generally, it's not their job.It's like giving a dollar to a homeless person, before you know it, you are surrounded by homeless people. Do it for one, everybody going to expect it. Got to remember, when you take off down the road, this poor person still shaggin' their trailers, it's an incredibly boring job. Rail yards were the worst. One yard in Neenah, Wis, the guy was such a jerk, he'd PURPOSELY drop trailers in mud hole 2" apart, and laugh when us large cars came in the yard. Good friend of mine asked this jerk to pull a wagon out, he just laughed, my buddy roundhoused him, knocking him to the ground, naturally, he was banned from the facility, no big loss, but as a truck driver, I always thought, you get dispatched on a wagon, that's your baby, whatever it takes to get it. In a mudhole, don the boots and go get it. I think some of you folks are getting a bit soft..

 

honestly, i do not smoke (cigarettes), but there was a time, i carried a pack of Marlboro's in my shirt pocket.

i'd have one in my mouth (lit up) and offer a cig to the guy, especially if he was in a bad mood..

works....a friendly gesture, and a smoke, goes a long way.

i even gave a new pack to the garbage man, told him i appreciated that he placed my empty cans back onto the sidewalk..

till the day he got transferred, all my garbage cans were put back on my sidewalk, not laying over in the street...lol

 

When I was a teenager, I ran yard dog. Nobody offered me money to dock their trailer. They just asked me if I wouldn’t mind and I would gladly do it. But hey, early 1990s was a different day and age in trucking

 

Well, that works for some jobs, like now, when I go to the grocery store, or any place, I always thank the person for coming to work in a crisis like this, THAT goes a long way. Yard drivers are a different breed. Most of them are just doing it because the regular guy quit, or didn't come in, and they are P.O.ed with the boss to begin with. I always thought yard drivers were envious of road drivers, because we get to leave their crappy place of work.

 

i worked for a while as a yardman, i actually applied for it, to get off the road for a while. it was a nice break from the crazy's on the road.

the only reason why i didn;t stay longer and retired from it?

the trucking company lost the contract, and the new trucking company, didn't want the extra expense

 

I don’t see a problem asking for help, better than asking for forgiveness. I almost asked once in my 2 week van exp. it was a tight blind side back. F that. I managed to back into a dock then come at it from the other side. Docks on left, empty’s on right.

I got weird looks. F em I got it done proper

 

Trucker myth #2172... Drivers come in, drop their trailer in a hole or in the low area and run off, some truck;s still have 24.5's, some trucks have the tallest ###### fifth wheels you've ever seen, some trucks don't have or don't use their dump valves.. Yard driver has 100+ moves to make in a shift and he's going to get out and make sure that the gear is low on every trailer for every different tractor enough for you to get under in all situations? They just don't have the time in a lot of DC's. I yard jockeyed for a few years.. and with all the stuff that we had to do.. we didn't have time to play games.. If a driver had problems, all they had to do was flag us down and we would raise or lower the trailer.. unless of of course we were in the middle of pulling (and replacing_ a run of trailers out of the 50+ doors. The grass is always greener and every driver seems to think that the world needs to stop and them to be catered to individually.. It's nonsense.

 

And... I have had to raise as many trailers as I have had to lower... for the same reasons listed above.. Give them some time, don't be a dick and you can get the help that you need. The world doesn't revolve around you and there isn't some global hostler conspiracy to mess with drivers.

 

I worked [summers during college] at a cement terminal w/ 3 'loaders, using (2) old tractors who would load up to 105 trailers every day. It was a bid job and two guys stayed while the junior guy would bid out every year or so.

No hydraulics [1972] so they cranked every set of legs up and down, drove down into the mill and under the Silo to load. A competing carrier had around 60 trailers and a B model with a Bartlett hydraulic 5h wheel. Afternoons when we had two guys, that guy would be every other load climbing the hill out of the mill thanks to his hydraulics.

Those guys, in addition to cranking those legs, parked the loads close enough that the tires would sometimes be touching the next tank. Mechanics had to be careful pulling one out as the side markers would hit if you were not careful...but the loaded in order so the drivers, leaving as dispatched would clear the way for the next guy.