"Please call an hour before...."

No women, like everyone else, want better for themselves. I worked with a woman at home depot. Same job. Same pay. Yet I had to do all of the lifting and hard work while she watered plants for three hours. I told the boss I'll water half the plants and she can do half of the hard work. I didn't last long with my equality talk lol.

 

My old boss used to tell me to do the same. If in doubt don't go. Until a customer calls and complains then I was the a hole for not doing it? Got to love bosses that throw you under the bus's regularly so they don't look bad to customers.

 

Pallets aren't too good to burn. Treated lumber and all...

 

Most pallets are not pressure treated, they may be heat treated.

 

We had one customer that lived down a dirt road. I could drive to his place, but I could not get back out. Unless I had a straight truck or pup trailer. That very seldom happened. He just didn't get it that a 53' trailer wasn't going to fit down his road.

 

I had a delivery recently that was up on "the hillside", meaning the mountain range abutting the city, which is for the better part a sheet of ice. I arrive and back down the driveway and stop atop the decline to the house being built. Now , this driveway is literally a sheet of ice, and from where I pull the brakes it falls away around 12-15' in elevation over approximately a 80' run.

The customer tells me he wants me to drop the load right up against the deck so that they can lift it straight up into the house, I look at him and tell him " I can drop it right here and it will end up right there where you want it and likely take out the deck.", we were standing up the hill about half the distance between the truck and the deck of the house when I said that. Then I told him I would have to chain up in order to drop it and to be able to get out. Well, he said, I can put some more sand down. I look over at a zoom boom sitting there and ask him, is there anyone here who can run the fork lift? Oh, I can run it but I don't know how I can unload you.

Ok... There is a space near the road where you can back in. I will pull the truck up, you make the pick and I will pull forward so that you can get back down the driveway.

 

They depend on the driver being able to back into a dock and have the customer off load with a fork lift, or use the customer's pallet jack, or even more fun, if there is no dock, and the customer doesn't have a pallet jack to use, use a chain, straps, ropes or what ever is available to attach to a pallet in the front of the trailer, and a fork lift on the ground. Then pull the pallet to be back of the trailer so they can grab it with the fork lift.
When all else fails, you unload the pallet and tailgate the load. They most likely, jump down on the ground and pull the freight off the trailer. If you are LUCKY you might have a hand truck to take the crap, er I mean freight into the customer.....
Some of these companies are so dam tight they won't fork over the money for the necessary equipment. Then they bellyache about the drivers taking to long....
There's a lot of outfits not worth working for.

 

I have a story to share... A few weeks ago I'm filling in for a country route here in Nebraska. One of the stops is on a dirt road out where the blocks are literally one mile long (an address of 24751 is half a mile from the corner) I get to the address and call the customer. He was given his 24 hour notice the day before. He tells me he'll be there in 15 minutes and if I know how to use a skidloader I can get near the overhead door and start unloading it. I decline the offer of the use of a skidloader but asked if a tractor trailer with a 53 foot trailer would fit in his driveway. He said yes the driveway comes out the other side of the property and rigs come through all the time. I take it wide as I can off the dirt road and go up the tree lined half gravel half dirt driveway. When I get to the opening and see the overhead door on a big barn I start that way. Then I stop. There is no exit and there's not quite enough room to turn around. The Mrs. comes out and asks why I'm there. A call to the husband reveals in the notification call the day before,(handled by corporate 2 states away) he said he changed the address to another address. That's where he thought I was. I was at the address on the BOL. I get the new address from him, call the dispatcher to keep him in the loop (time's a'wastin'}and back out the driveway. Next day I am informed the customer wants compensation for the grass I ran over backing out. I had to fill out an "incident report" Sometimes I hate my job.

 

That is why I always confirm the delivery address when making contact with the customer if I have never been there before. It can prevent much headache.

 

A few weeks ago seen WARD in a new home build site,Placed a empty dumpster a lot ( house ) down from him.
Brother, you want to get rid of any pallets? Looks at me with a big grin. Do it now !!!, We chucked 6 pallets and way too much cardboard for a LTL driver to have into the empty dumpster.

Can't say this more then enough, LTL folks see a dumpster dude, just ask while at new home build plan.