I call upon the P&D's for guidance!!!

Best post in the thread. I used to do this as often as possible. There were times when you couldn't if there was no street parking, but if I could, I'd park, get out, and survey the area to find out where the truck entrance was and how to get in and out of the place.

 

Bing maps with the birds eye view on. http://www.bing.com/maps/
Just my preference.

Also when doing any residential. Marksteven mentioned not mapped yet. Ask whomever ( pizza dude,USPS,UPS,FEDEX,Dispatcher,Customer, co-worker, Garbage guys etc etc ) for the nearest cross street your way from there. People love to give landmarks also. Saved my butt numerous times doing roll off dumpsters for new people farms. Not so much for LTL P&D now.

 

I prefer Google (on my phone anyway), but...I use it on every pick up or delivery I've not been to before. It's so nice to be able to see what the place (and the surrounding location) looks like before you ever get there.

 

Sadly enough that is the pride of our fleet in our yard. Liz, NJ has all the brand new peterbilts

 

Depends on the customer. I've had aholes tell me, "AND JUST WHO TOLD YOU TO BACK INTO THAT DOCK?" But you will learn the folks that are aholes in a short order.

So just why in the world are you thinking about taking a pay cut, to do more work? I'm sorry, but I just don't see the common sense in that.

 

When it comes to deliveries, before you leave for the day, see if there is someone at the terminal knows the place. If you have questions about stops, ask other drivers if you don't know.

 

x1000. P&D isn't always about LTL. I Still talk with former coworkers from several years ago. We swap local information weekly . Greatest asset to have is friends in a P&D position with a different carrier/different job title ( dumpsters to chinese delivery )

We all drive for a living, make the best of it.

 

Dont forget there is always Thomas Guide. I dont have a smart phone or gps but do have my trusty guide. Back couple of pages are page numbers and possibly a note about a customer/vendor and on the actual map page is a circled number, 1, 2, 3, etc....which makes it easy to find.

 

all of what i just read is good advice, DO NOT be afraid to turn the 4 ways on and block 1 lane or all lanes , drive ways or any thing else, go inside and ask for a spotter or some one to stop traffic if you need to, after a few months you will be tooling around a 53' day cab around like it's a mini cooper.

never take the new truck in the fleet take the old banged up one until you have a lot of experience city driving. no one will notice or care about a few new dings or scratches on the old beat up stuff, but everyone will run to the boss about how you tore up the newer stuff.