Don't be this guy

Mmmm. Grand funk railroad. I'm your captain.

 

Captain of your ship is true, but!!! The reality is we are told to stand back while they load us. There is often a language barrier. They like to say that everyone else carries loads loaded this same way. Sometime we need to be able to say, "take it back off, I'm leaving."

 

I've had many shipper bug the heck out of me just by constantly asking me "Is this ok? Is that ok?". I normally ask "How many times have you loaded a stepdeck?" They normally response "Oh, probably several hundred times". I tell them "Keep loading. If I have a problem with it, I'll tell you".

We get along after that. Normally it turns out that they would get some driver that was really fussy about the load for no real reason then to be a butthole. I try to get along with everyone.

 

Ya, I've had that quite a few times as well. Loaders ask me, "How do you want it loaded?" So I tell em, "The right way." Usually worth a couple chuckles. I can understand being picky about how stuff is loaded, as the guys running the fork lifts usually don't drive big truck, but most seem to be fairly sharp and know how the load should be placed on your deck for stability. I say that remembering a load of extruded aluminum I pulled one time that was pre-loaded and tarped sitting at the terminal. As the trip went on the straps on the back kept needing tightened and the tarp kept needing adjusting. When I got to my del, I found out why. They put the longer pieces on the outside and a half pallet in between them, I guess to make the load square. Needless to say that left a LOT of deadspace in there, and the 2 stacks of longer extrusions just toppled right in. I explained the situation to the receiver, they noted it on the bills but didn't blame, but I still felt like an idiot delivering that load. I asked my dispatcher who would pick up something loaded like that and he told me, "Someone who doesn't work here anymore." And that was that. Not sure what happened to the idiots at the plant who loaded it, but I brought it up the next time I picked up there. Since it was a local customer that we hauled for alot, I hope they took it to heart.

 

It's the little things you do from experience that the inexperience people don't see that makes all the difference. Whether it be another strap here or more dunnage there it's the tricks of our trade that the shippers have no idea about because they have never or would never bust them self doing what we do for a crust.

 

Not trying to be a wise ### here, but are you sure that this isn't a problem with the fifth wheel plate, yes I know, I have never seen a pivot pin let go, but I am almost wondering if maybe somebody "put" a 5th wheel on that truck and didn't have enough bolts in it, or possibly a slide lip failure?

That trailer is jacked pretty hard for that plate to be level, as all of the wheels of the truck seem "loaded".

 

it is readily apparent the guy wasn't making a sharp turn at all, with the load in the position that it is any turn in either direction would have the trailer on the drive axles and stopped him right there. the truck and trailer are straight as an arrow. the dunnage is broken and unless he performed a stress test on the shipper supplied dunnage there aint nothing this guy could have done.


the guy has belly straps on each layer and plenty across the top, if fact the guy did a good job of securement, the onely way that load hit the ground is if it takes truck and trailer over with it.

the job of securement is just that, in case of some catastrophic event or failure the load stays with the trailer. this guys securement did just that. I also don't do the alternating strap deal, if ya tighten them right , they'll will hold it on, this guys securement did its job when the dunnage failed him.

 

For somebody new to the trucking industry, these posts are great advice. This is actually my second career, my previous career was waaaaay different.

 

I'm gonna throw two cents in here, mainly cause I don't haul a lot of pipe I'll keep it cheap. One, pipe stakes would have helped. And Two, the dunnage sure didn't help here, would have been better off leaving the second level off and loaded that level on the valleys of the lower level. The stakes would have kept it from rolling off as it was loaded and also unloaded. Strap that part good and tight and then dunnage and the remaining pipe. An outfit in Houston has done this twice on my trailer, and it worked out quite well.

Granted that is some large pipe for this scenario, but that may be a 96" trailer also, which wouldn't help either way.

 

I think the problem is the guy took a load paying $1.40 mile and weighing 46k pounds.....