Least favorite places to deliver?

OH yeah, forgot about restaurants/bars. Delivered some frozen seafood to a hotel, manager had a hissy fit because it was a 20lb box of frozen shrimp instead of a 10lb box. Wanted me to take it back, to the warehouse I picked it up from, and acted like it was my fault the shipper screwed up. 95 degrees in an un-air-conditioned cargo van, two more stops, uh, that frozen shrimp ain't gonna stay frozen much longer.

And later on dealing with the prissy chef that wanted me to stack his frozen fish in the cooler... Uh, probably not chef... I'm the truck driver, not the sous chef.

 

SuperValu Hopkins MN dry side.

Say hi to the personable Brian if you ever go in there.


Such a wonderful place, the last time I was offered a load there, I told them there was a $750 "brian" surcharge.....


They actually understood why and what for....

 

Delivering anywhere for the first time can be the worst. The Navy Base, Prisons, Universities, but the absolute worst for me is a steakhouse where deliveries go up two flights of fire escape stairs. Average 3000 lbs per delivery all on hand cart.

 

Honestly, all deliveries to anywhere that I have to deal with other people is a PITA to me. I'm not a people person to that degree. I like my coworkers and fellow drivers at Fastenal, but once you throw customers in the mix, I assume the worst. You guys make me glad that I deliver at night, too! I have only had a few 3PL deliveries to do and they were all overly complicated and it always seemed like no one could point me in the right direction and they ALWAYS take forever to pull their stuff off. Just "certify" me so I can hop on the lift and do it myself! Needless to say, I don't have time for lazy people nor do I care for inconsiderate dock employees. Part of the life/job, I reckon.

On a brighter note, I do have one semi-regular place I deliver to that I always enjoy: Rexnord Coupling Division in Auburn, AL. I've been there a zillion times so the guys know me and the coffee in the break room is free. The only crappy thing about them is that they only have one receiving dock so if some dude with a container from China beats you there, be prepared to sit in the parking lot for a good while!

Otherwise, I'll stick to dropping my freight at Fastenal stores by myself. I much prefer getting out and doing some manual labor in the dark of the night. Clears my mind and gets me some exercise every hour or so.

 

Any time you go to a place that says

Who ordered that?

 

I call this home. I have little girls crying about how tough it is to be a Trucker. They whine. 18 wheels is a start. They never put a car body on a center rail. They wear sweat pant's. Makes me sick/. I washed 90,000 lbs off a low boy. Returned the soil back to the state. Took 11 hours to get a crane moved 19 miles. I have to open the doors on my trailer a lot. Makes me foaming, oh well we need people like that I guess.

 

Hey Saddletramp, I hear ya. I just have ONE (1) little question for you: How do you open the doors on a lowboy trailer?

Here is a snivel for you. . .I think some of the worst places I used to deliver to were diesel repair shops. You would think that these guys would have at least a bit of a clue, but no matter how badly then needed whatever I was bringing them, they were always "too busy" to deal with me. And then when they would get around to it, it was always a ######## session with them.
They seemed to think it was their right to take out all their frustrations on any delivery driver that happened to show up. I put up with it for a couple of years, than one day, I'd had enough. I backed one old boy right up into a corner and told him exactly what I was going to do to him, if he didn't straighten his act out. Never had a problem there again. . .

 

Oh, man...I've experienced that guy. Eventually, he's going to pull that attitude on the wrong driver on the wrong day, and he's gonna be kicked loose from his head.

And, if/when that happens, it'll be very hard for me to have much sympathy.

 

For me having to drive a full size OTR rig doing HHG, not LTL into an upscale trailer park. Cab-overs seem to work out better than conventional tractors.

 

Go-Jo in Stow, Ohio: A very large and very busy place. The pretty curvy brunette in shipping is the only good thing about that place. It's one of those mega-secure warehouses that will not allow drivers inside and you better not pull into a dock before THEY assign you one. Then you back in and wait and wait and wait. I spoke to a driver yesterday that waited for 3 hours for two pallets.

Go-Jo HQ in downtown Akron is another place. The built this multi-million dollar building and neglected to but in a truck dock. They have a roll up door that is too small for the UPS trucks to get in. To make matters worse its behind the building under an overpass on an active roadway and maneuvering is tricky. They bring out the forklift with a pallet truck and you have to bring the cargo to the end of your deck, did I mention is on a slight downgrade so the palleted freight has a tendency to