Pilgrims Pride, Sumter SC

Discussion in 'Shippers & Receivers - Good or Bad' started by WalterSobchak, Jan 23, 2016.

  1. WalterSobchak

    WalterSobchak Medium Load Member

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    May 16, 2014
    Rocky Mount, NC
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    Posting this because this place triggered several of my pet peeves with shippers/receivers. On the positive side, everybody I encountered here was friendly. I certainly can't say the same about other chicken plants I have been to.

    What annoyed me about this place? Finding the shipping office here was the biggest pain in the ### of anywhere I have been. On top of that, the place has no signs directing a driver where to go. The door drivers actually do go into is between an outer loading dock and a covered dock hidden behind a brick pillar with only a sign saying "Authorized Personal Only". Nothing that would lead a driver to believe this is where to go. I was lucky there was an employee and another driver who happened to be outside at the time to direct me where to go.

    Attached is a map I made while I waited for a door. The blue dot is the area I was parked waiting. You come in the facility on the path at the top. The green arrow points to where a driver coming in would assume a shipping office is. The white building is now an unused frozen shipping building. Pilgrims Pride has all but abandoned it. Trailers in front of the doors are only parked there. They only ship fresh chicken now. The red arrow is pointing to where the shipping office actually is.

    While it may look more obvious from the overhead, from the ground there is so much industrial equipment and tanks on the ground you can't actually see there are loading docks back there. Once you do realize that's where you will be loading, the yellow dot and line is where you turn around and back down to the loading docks.
     

    Attached Files:

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  3. Smellfunny

    Smellfunny Road Train Member

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    Jan 28, 2012
    South Carolina
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    My hometown. Although it is not something to get excited about. :) I did not know they only shipped fresh now. We used to haul out of there (fresh and frozen) when we had a trucking company. It wasn't to easy to get backed into that fresh spot if there was other trucks in there. I do not miss it picking up from there. Everyone was nice but not organized. I was also made promises on loads and always screwed out of them. I am sure that road going back to loading dock is a pot holed mess now as well. It was bad back then I can only imagine how bad it is now that we have had all this rain.
     
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  4. WalterSobchak

    WalterSobchak Medium Load Member

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    May 16, 2014
    Rocky Mount, NC
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    I had almost forgotten how bad the road was going in there. Very bumpy and some pot holes that could swallow a truck.
    The place has definitely been there a while. The lady in the shipping office said it used to be a Campbell's soup facility or something. That would make sense because the layout seems terrible for a chicken plant. Only 20 feet from where my trailer was getting loaded with fresh chicken was the byproducts not fit for a Mcnugget being conveyed into dump trailers.
     
  5. DustyRoad

    DustyRoad Road Train Member

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    Feb 23, 2011
    Gulf of Mexico
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    Chicken? I'll never forget the time a driver dropped his trailer @ some truck-stop in Texas....the fuel tank ran out of diesel, Chicken blood was dripping out the back on the lot.....smelled so bad my bones were choking.
     
  6. Smellfunny

    Smellfunny Road Train Member

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    Jan 28, 2012
    South Carolina
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    Campbell's soup, Gold Kist, and now Pilgrams Pride.
     
  7. Smellfunny

    Smellfunny Road Train Member

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    Jan 28, 2012
    South Carolina
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    I think the worst thing we ever hauled was ribs. 2 of the pallets busted open and I almost never got that mess out.
     
  8. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Rancho Mirage, Ca.
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    I'm sure the office personnel would say, "Well, all the drivers know where the shipping office is".
     
  9. Flipflops

    Flipflops Heavy Load Member

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    Oct 18, 2015
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    Ah I hauled fresh chicken one time and I puked. That smell is serious.
     
  10. WalterSobchak

    WalterSobchak Medium Load Member

    577
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    May 16, 2014
    Rocky Mount, NC
    0
    Yeah its not pleasant. The windows definitely stay rolled up while waiting. If anyone is considering a vegan lifestyle, a trip to one of these plants could tip the scale.
     
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  11. Flipflops

    Flipflops Heavy Load Member

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    I did one in Georgia. Never again man. Took me a while to eat meat.
     
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