Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by road_runner, Jun 21, 2013.

  1. Jay5GS

    Jay5GS Medium Load Member

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    man my truck comes back like this every day, i feel like im the only hazmat at the terminal, on Friday i had a pick up of 27 thousand pounds of mixed hazmat at one stop took 3 hours..
     
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  3. Jay5GS

    Jay5GS Medium Load Member

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    Jun 28, 2018
    Los Angeles
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    8 and DG when wet is fine and the gas 2.3 has to be ZONE B, this is a dangerous load id like to deliver. i like doing hazmat for some reason
     
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  4. Gearjammin' Penguin

    Gearjammin' Penguin "Ride Fast-Truck Safe"

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    Report for a probable cause drug test immediately.
     
  5. FLHT

    FLHT Heavy Load Member

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    I am thinking TERMINATION
     
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  6. jmz

    jmz Road Train Member

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    It's fine as long as everything is separated enough to prevent commingling in the event of a spill. Not that I'd have any way of checking a sealed trailer...
     
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  7. road_runner

    road_runner Road Train Member

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    I was outside working on my pallet jack, stripping off old pieces from broken and abandoned company jacks when my dispatcher walked in on me doing a yard sweep.

    "Hey there R/R, that's a mighty fine jack you got there. Did you build it yourself?"

    Yeah man, I parted out four different jacks to get this one working. This place is like Gilligan's Island. (Our company does not have enough jacks to assign everyone one, so most buy their own, not me though).

    My dispatcher looked at all the other equipment and goes "while you're out here, why don't you fix up the rest of the jacks? You could sell them back to us. Our company is stupid enough to buy back their own equipment".

    I got a good laugh out of it.
     
  8. Jay5GS

    Jay5GS Medium Load Member

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    Jun 28, 2018
    Los Angeles
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    lmao hahahaha
     
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  9. hotrod1653

    hotrod1653 Road Train Member

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    Quick way to make a few bucks. Lol.
     
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  10. road_runner

    road_runner Road Train Member

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    Had a bit of an issue today with a customer. Unless we completely destroy their freight, 99.99% of the time stops tend to go fairly smooth. Every now and then you just pick the short straw and end up with one of the other 0.01%, and despite having their freight in pristine condition; they will still give you a hard time. Btw, I had issues with these guys a previous delivery three weeks ago. I was expecting to get held up again, and oh boy was I right.

    Backed into an overfilled warehouse. Had to wait 20 minutes for them to get their crap together, clear an area, and finally dig out their dock plate. Got their pallets unloaded and was on out the door to get to my next stop. The 45 seconds it took to pull up the next stop on my GPS was enough time for them to send someone out telling me I was not cleared to leave.

    I was confused about all this so after I got the waypoints to my next stop I ran inside to see what the issue was. I was told I was not allowed to go anywhere until they counted and verified each INDIVIDUAL box. This was 2,300 lbs of product on four pallets. Must have been 300 or 400 cases. The packing list was a full page and there must have been 40 different products listed on there with different quantities.

    "Hey guys, I've been here for half an hour now, I got other customers waiting on their stuff. The shrink wrap is still intact so if anything is missing or off, just notify your shipper"

    -"Nope. You aren't going anywhere. We don't mind if you wait on us to finish counting"

    I think these guys hated their job working out of a cramped warehouse, and it brought a little bit of joy to them that they could give me a hard time and set me back at their convenience. This happened just a few weeks prior before. And these guys were just smug and rude about the whole thing.

    I made an angry phonecall back to my dispatcher and carefully explained the situation along with the circumstances. I was told to handle it however I wanted, but to be sure to inform them that they were getting a detention fee. As I got off the phone I tried to get one of them to talk to me, but they just brushed me off and quietly laughed about (presumably) being stuck there.

    Finally, nearly an hour after inventorying all their crap I caught their supervisor and told him politely that their shipment is being assessed for an additional detention fee.

    "Detention fee? What's that?"

    - "it's a fee we impose on any additional time spent after the initial transfer of freight has been completed. This fee is usually added when the driver is being prevented from leaving and proceeding to his next stop".

    "Are you ###### kidding me? You can't do this. How much is that fee?"

    - "it costs my company $180/hour to operate the truck I am driving. First 10-15 minutes are covered by the shipping charges. After that my dispatcher needs justification on why I am not heading to my next stop. I don't give out prices, but a typical carrier will charge the operational costs against whoever is holding me up in 15 minute intervals after the first 15 minutes".

    "Well I ain't paying that, you got a lot of nerves blah blah blah blah"

    -" hey, this has nothing to do with you or me. I am not assessing the fees against your shipment, I was told to inform you of the additional charges. This is between my company and yours. Unless you need me for anything else, my dispatcher wants a call from me when. I am leaving."

    Guys. Do not let people screw you around. If the dock screws you and there is a bunch of restacked stuff, that's one thing. But a customer just burning up your clock at his convenience is another. Communicate everything that is going on in real time. If you start missing pickups or bring back freight and start generating service failures, you need to be able to assign the blame away from you and give a reason why you got held up.

    A shipping charge covers the transit from A to B and usually 15 minutes of your time to get it unloaded (and yeah, a live full trailer unload takes longer). But if you feel like they are trying to sell you porkey pies or start demanding additional services like sort/segregation or inside deliveries.. Charge them.

    We as a collective need to put these people in their place so they don't walk all over the next driver. Final advice is to document things over text message whenever you can. Get a hardcopy record of your hold-ups so if they do ever ask, you can scroll to that day on your phone. Just CYA.

    20210310_232444.jpg
     
  11. Gearjammin' Penguin

    Gearjammin' Penguin "Ride Fast-Truck Safe"

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    "You aren't going anywhere."

    Are you holding me against my will? Hold on while I notify the police.
     
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