what was the WORST or CRAZIEST thing you have ever hauled?

Good story.

I worked for years in packaging. In the early '90's the folding carton company I worked for had an account that was literally down the alley from our plant. No need for a truck, just send a forklift down the alley with a pallet of cartons to keep them running.

That account was a nationally recognized brand of chocolates. What was REALLY interesting is the year that chocolate company told us the had to change the specs ever so slightly on our cutting dies. A slight tweak here and there. Why?

Because they bought themselves a high falutin' state of art packing machine from Germany. Best machine in the world.

Uh oh...

...I asked the salesman that had been working the account for twenty five years to let me go look at that high falutin' machine to make SURE we got it right.

"Can't do that!"

"Why?"

"Because getting into their factory floor is like trying to get into Fort Knox. I haven't seen it in all the time I have been the lead salesman for them. Believe me, I've asked hundreds of times. It's NEVER going to happen".

????????

I never knew candy could require NSA levels of security.

They ramped up that high falutin' machine in time for one of the big chocolate sales events: Valentine's. We made millions of cartons to their new specs and delivered the last of them by mid January.

Then the customer called to make a MAJOR claim against us. Huh? Decades without a claim and now what's the problem?

Turns out that for decades they put their chocolates in trays, shrink wrapped them, THEN slid them into our cartons. The high falutin' machine put the chocolates in a tray, slid them into our cartons, THEN shrink wrapped them.

See the really important difference?

Any time you print and then varnish paper or paperboard, there are VOC's (volatile organic chemicals) that outgas for days or weeks. Varnish in particular can give you a headache on the printing floor. We had used varnish on their cartons for decades. Never a problem, because they protected the product by shrink wrapping it before putting it in the carton.

Once the put the shrink wrap on the OUTSIDE of the carton that locked ALL the outgassing BOC's into the carton. All butter based products are notorious for absorbing any smell. Try storing an open tray of butter next to onions or garlic, or next to chemicals.

That customer's claim went nowhere in a heartbeat, even after threatening to sue. For the first time in several decades we were allowed to enter their factory, together with German mechanics. Turns out the machine was assembled the first time out of sequence, because the customer was too secrative to let the mechanics know their packaging specifications. Two hours later and they started running good product and managed to salvage 20% of Valentine's.

I still shake my head thinking about that absolutely preventable fiasco. Almost reminds me of a Tweeter in Chief. Consult with experts.

 

#### and span.

Just checking.... no friggin way.


Thats just great!

Censorship should be censored

 

Craziest thing I ever “ unloaded “ was recycled paper at a place in Georgia where the tilt the truck on a ramp and just dump everything out. Nothing like seeing your truck standing straight up in the air

 

When hauling cars, I moved a mini van from Sacramento to Queens NY. It reeked of weed smell. Customer was in NYC and he assured me it was just the smell of him smoking in it, but I couldn't get it out of my head that I might've been unknowingly transporting drugs cross country. After he said I could go through the vehicle with a fine tooth comb I felt better.

On my step deck, a load a baled scrap metal. The crap that despite being netted leaves a trail of bread crumbs behind you lol. Only after they unloaded at the recycler did I then realize that #### leaked tranny fluid, gear oil, and anything else held in a metal, container all over my deck. Never again....

 

I once hauled a single wooden pallet with one or two boxes of copy paper to downtown Chicago in a conventional Peterbilt with a 53 foot dry van. The load, without the pallet, could have ridden in my passenger seat. I was supposed to deliver to a building across the street from Chicago Mercantile Exchange and John Hancock building. The underground parking for 6 wheeler trucks was only 12 ft 6 in high. The street had all curbside parking occupied, and most of those cars had cars double-parked beside them. All I could do was circle the block endlessly and think about if I wanted to triple park a semi-truck in the highest rent street in Chicago. I took the freight to an LTL company my dispatcher suggested and let them deliver.

 

We picked up a load in walla walla, wa.
150 gl. Tots of the Citrus shine going to Fl. Makes since right... we are getting unloaded and they tell us we have a reload going back. I'm thinking empty tots going back.. nope

Full 150 gl. Tots of apply shine going back...??

 

weirdest for me was a load of coffins 2 days before halloween

 

Picked up a load from Domino Sugar in Baltimore. Scaled out at a touch over 51000. Gross.

"You guys sure you loaded ALL of it?"

Yep. Here's your bills.

Flew up the highway. Oddly enough, not much surge. I figured it was all piled on the rear head of the tank, and when I stopped, I'd hear from it.

Took it to a Kimberly-Clark plant somewhere in Jersey.

Receiver pulls a sample bottle. I ask, "So, what IS 'Mellowleaf'?"

"Well it's sucrose mostly, with some tobacco juice for color and flavor, and corn syrup for body".

What for?

"Ya know Swisher Sweets, Phillies, Tiparillos? Well, we make it the wrappers for them, and this makes the wrapper sweet. Want me to pull you a sample?"

No. Why?

"This stuff is GREAT in baked beans!"......

 

Worse load I ever pulled was in 2011, I worked for Schneider for a few months... I took a load of tile to a tile store downtown Brooklyn. Took me forever and ever to find the place with all the small roads and low bridges. Dude comes out and I'm like wheres your dock and hes said your lookin at it... Park right here on the sidewalk... His guy came out and started to unload me, people walkin by flippin me off and cars blowin their horn... It was an utter mess. I was there for like 2 hours.

 

The Hells Bell and cannons that go off during For Those Abt to Rock We Salute You. Should be obvious for who. Aaaaaand the roller coaster for a certain drummer.