wrong load

Heck I worked for an outfit years back that had only 20 trailers then they bought 20 USED trailers , ended up they now had 40 trailers and 2 of every # from 1 to 20

Want to talk about a MESSUP , 50 / 50 chance you hooked to the wrong trailer from dispatches GRAB trailer # __

 

I had a wrong load once but it wasn't my fault. It was my first solo run for Stevens. I was deadheaded to IBP (now Tyson) in Amarillo from El Paso. My pickup was an export load that was crossing the border in Laredo. There was another load that was an export that was crossing the border in Brownsville. I check in and this was one of the few times the load was actually ready to go. I was told what trailer it was in, I go, hook up to it and pull it to the guard shack.

The security guard checked the trailer number against the BOL and also the seal numbers. The trailer number was correct but the seal numbers didn't match. Now under normal conditions, this would be a red flag and the trailer would not be released, but as it turned out, the guard was a greenhorn as I was, and he scratched out the printed seal numbers and wrote down the seal numbers on the trailer. He told me he had done so, and me being new didn't question it. I signed the paperwork and headed down towards Laredo.

My qualcomm starts going off just north of Lubbock. It was my fleet manager. Call ASAP. I stopped and called in.

"We have a problem, you have the wrong trailer." He said.

"But my bills shows the trailer number I'm pulling." I replied.

"I know, but IBP did a double screw up. They assigned two loads to the same trailer. Plus the security guard shouldn't have let you leave the plant since the seals didn't match......hang on."

I heard him arguing with Tom, the meat patch dispatcher "Chill out Tom, they're both going the same direction, all they have to do is swap trailers."

He then got on the line and said to meet with the driver pulling my trailer at Rip Griffin's in Lubbock. We were to swap trailers. Normally I think they would have just had us swap paperwork but the McAllen load was this guys ticket home so he needed the actual load.

When I got to the freight forwarder in Laredo, he noticed the trailer numbers didn't match. I told him what happened but he had his guys get into the trailer and do a count to make sure it was all there. Not that I blame him. When he was satisfied it was all ok, I dropped the trailer and bobtailed to the Pilot.

 

We had a driver pick up in lake station Indiana. It was a straight through run to grand rapids mi. After 4 hours and still no word on where the load was we found out the driver drove west instead of east and ended up in Milwaukee before he realized that he went the wrong way.

We fired him, charged him for the extra fuel for the truck and sent him on his way.

 

It took him till he got to Milwaukee before he realized he was going on 94 WB instead of EB?

 

So he says.. I was working office duty at the time dispatching and both me and the boss had been calling his cell phone trying to figure out where the hell he was at. Finally sent him a Text saying the cops were called and truck and trailer were reported stolen. He called about 30 seconds later saying he was lost and in Milwaukee..

 

Sounds like somebody had a hot hookup or something. You would think that somebody with the half a brain required to consider being in this business would realize that the path to Grand Rapids, MI from Lake Station, IN doesn't include a trip through Chicago.

 

Yea we think he made a dope run but we couldnt prove any thing. Charged him 700 for excess fuel usage and we took the money he would have made to make the delivery and gave it to a different driver who we called in at the last minute.

Sad part is the guy had worked for us for about 2 months at the time and he was a #### good driver and was always going the extra mile to get stuff done. Then in one week he messed it all up with repeated screw ups

 

I can just imagine what a cluster mess that was....lol!

 

Something similar happened to me 12 years ago when I first started driving. I arrived at the shipper, got my paper work, hooked up to my trailer, checked the seal and headed out. I got to my destination the next day and when they opened the trailer it was empty. I remember thinking that the load felt really light. Turns out there was a disgruntled employee that tagged empty trailers on his last day of work. Needless to say I wasn't held responsible.