International Paper Spotswood, NJ

Discussion in 'Shippers & Receivers - Good or Bad' started by JoeyJunk, Mar 16, 2019.

  1. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    F1D9EBE7-A406-4556-AAF4-4B10C8B30962.jpeg We do a LOT of IP loads. I have 6 rolls of paper. Takes 10 minutes or less to unload. This facility has no buzzer or phone so you are standing there wondering if anyone knows your here. I called all the main phone numbers and extensions, but they are not manned on the weekends.

    After 20 minutes the forklift drivers passes and I yell at him. He says he knows I’m there. I wonder how. He saw me back up due to the crappy dock door not going all the way down. What a great system lol.

    I told him without personal contact how would the driver know that anyone knows we are here. Got a dumb NJ look.

    Told me it’s going to be awhile cause he is very busy. Remember, 10 minutes is all it ever takes to unload 6 rolls. What a putz.

    Here is the water dock. And you have to slam it to ride up on the bar for the lock. Backing it in easy doesn’t work. If you look closer you can see the trash pumps used to remove the water. Lol.
     
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  3. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    Ok. I got carried away. He came out and was normal this time. Had to put gladhand lock on and take my key. Guess I will have to use one of the other 3 keys to roll up window lol. Only been here an hour so not too bad. All is well. Calming down now.
     
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  4. TiredofShiftWork

    TiredofShiftWork Bobtail Member

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    Apr 18, 2019
    Northwest Georgia
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    I work at an IP mill in the southeast. Worked the shipping department for 10 years. You have no idea what we go through on a daily basis. It's not like we just have people sitting around waiting to cater to your every need. We have 5 people on shift. 1 is a scale operator for the rolls that are being made 24/7/365. So he never leaves his station. Im on the top job. I have to determine where every single load is going for the next shift and a half, do safety lockouts on equipment, coordinate with maintenance and electrical employees, coordinate a daily switch by the Rail Road which takes priority over everything else, organize all the work for the 3 drivers. 2 of them each have a production line which is their only concern. They must keep their line running or they may cause a paper machine to shut down....at $1,000 per every 5 minutes. So that leaves the bottom driver who has a cleanup area, has to stock all the dunnage stations for rail and truck docks, do the rail switch which takes hours, load trucks and rail cars and unload every dunnage delivery truck that comes in.
    So yes, 6 rolls only takes a few minutes. But that doesn't mean the world revolves around you. Fork lifts dont move 7,000lb rolls. Clamp trucks do. So if you saw the driver on a fork truck, he was busy doing something else. He has to finish that before changing trucks and unloading you. Otherwise, if we stopped everything we do just to cater to every truck driver then we would be put of business. I went to HR multiple times begging for them to add a job. They ignored me.
    So as it stands we try to help each other and the drivers by jumping in whenever one of us has an extra minute, but there's many times a driver is there for hours because we simply don't have enough help. Most of the guys you see are working whole shifts without a break.
    And here's a tip for every driver: Stop at the front gate and ask where you're supposed to go. Don't drive into the mill and start wandering all over the place asking people where you're supposed to be. We work in ONE department. We don't know where your tanker needs to unload if we're in shipping. We ship brown round and that's it. The front gate guard knows where every truck is supposed to load/unload and they will save you and us a lot of wasted time and production.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2019
  5. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    Oh boy.

    You assume there is a gate guard at every plant? Not the small ones. Actually have only seen guards at the mills, not plants.

    Yes, it was a clamp truck. SMH

    We don’t set the appointments, so yes drivers are a priority if it’s not an open window. We don’t want every need catered to, just our appointment that was not set by us, but must be adhered to.

    Also, every plant I go to gets me unloaded very, very quickly.......even when coming in earlier than appointment.

    Not sure which plant you work at and don’t really care. If I’m there at my appointment time, unload me. A drivers time is actually more precious than yours or the plants. Have fun shipping all your precious products without us.

    Lastly, thanks for joinging today just to respond to me. :biggrin_25520:

    PS- thank you for all the mud and pot holes and damaged trailers. :biggrin_25514:
     
  6. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    Also, you glossed over the part where there was no phone, buzzer, or answer on main lines. If I had wandered around looking for help, would I have been wrong in your eyes still?
     
  7. Jacoooooooo

    Jacoooooooo Heavy Load Member

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    Gotta love those places where they make you hope that they somehow noticed you.
    Some even post a pee-writen sign “We know you are there, sit in your truck”
    Why does these people don’t get a clue that it has to go both ways?
     
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  8. TiredofShiftWork

    TiredofShiftWork Bobtail Member

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    Apr 18, 2019
    Northwest Georgia
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    Oh boy.
    You obviously DO think the world revolves around you. I did not join to answer you, just happened to see the thread. And again since you seem to be slow...just because you have an appointment does NOT mean that the people in the warehouse must all stop everything they're doing to cater to you. The people running the shipping department do NOT set the appointments. Someone in the front office or even all the way at Memphis IP Headquarters does that. Many times it's college interns who have never even seen a warehouse.The warehouse workers have many, many, many other responsibilities. No one is just sitting there waiting for you.
    Just because some plants don't have info desks doesn't mean you should drive by the ones that do. Stop making excuses for being an ####. Everyone in the plant hates drivers as much as you hate to be there because of drivers like YOU. Believe it or not we do not have magic wands in our store rooms. We can't magically make 17 rail car doors shut themselves after removing their own dock plates. It must be done by us. So if you show up during a rail switch then you're going to wait. Your own dispatchers cause most issues. I can't count the number of times drivers show up to pick up paper that hasn't been made yet. Equipment tears up. Paper Machines have outages. All of our carriers have been warned not to send drivers for loads before the product has been loaded and given a BOL, but it happens. Drivers always blame the mill. Safety procedures MUST be followed as a condition of employment. This brings me to another tip: READ THE SIGNS. Every single driver that enters our area seems to think he/she is that ONE person that doesn't have to follow the safety procedures. Drivers come into the office, then proceed out onto the production floor as if they own the place, completely disregarding numerous signs saying no one is allowed unless they're wearing ALL of the proper safety equipment. They march out in front of us driving a 22,000 lb hyster carrying a 7,000 lb roll. Then they have the nerve to get mouthy when security escorts them off the property. At most mills, and especially IP, their insurance rates can be impacted severely by an injury so the mills have made safety priority number one. Ignore safety and pay the price. Go get a load somewhere else. I'm not jeopardizing a $32/hr job because you think you're the most important person in existence and don't have to follow the rules.
    You just said you get unloaded quickly everywhere...so why are you on here crying? You had one bad experience where you had to wait a few minutes extra, and you cry like a baby. Then you come on here and claim otherwise.
    I don't know who you drive for and don't care. There are tens of thousands of truckers out there that will be happy to take your load.
    Your attitude and behavior is the reason you're whining. You have only yourself to blame. I let guys like you sit all day. Drivers that follow protocol and actually read the signs get the red carpet treatment. If at all possible I get them rolling again ASAP, even if my other work gets behind.
    Tip #3: If you slam on the brakes and your load shifts to the front, DON'T LIE TO US. We know a--holes pull out in front of you. We know you sometimes just make a mistake and end up heavy on the nose. DO NOT come back to the mill and claim WE did it. It's easy to tell when a driver does it. We load 10,000 trucks per year. We know what we're doing. If you come back or even just come to the closest mill, we do not mind fixing your load, but it's an insult to say we loaded it like that. There are mats under the rolls. We lay them flat. If you slide them, they roll up. The rolls will not be in a standard load pattern. I have even had an old driver swear we did it when the last 4 rolls of his load were completely off the ground, having slammed into the front of the trailer, damaging it, bulging the sides, the trailer sides holding the rolls suspended, very nearly unzipping at the base.
    Bo polite. Be honest. And you'll be out of there in a hurry.
    Personally, I like curt and to the point because I have 12 hours of work crammed into an 8 hour shift.
    Good luck, Mr. Butthurt.
     
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  9. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    I am butthurt but YOU are the one resorting to name calling. LOL

    Anyways.

    You also missed my second post where I said I over reacted. Maybe you should travel around to other plants and see it’s not the organized operation you portray.

    I follow all instructions that are posted. You think everything is written out well at every plant. Not the case. I work for a great carrier that trains us before hand on the IP procedures. I don’t enter the production floor ever. That would require me to climb or cut the cage fencing. Silly.

    And you wouldn’t make me wait all day because you wouldn’t know I was complaining. To your overworked face I am professional and patient. However, I don’t let any other adult on this earth jerk me around for any reason.

    You also keep moving past my original gripe. How was I to know that the CLAMP driver knew I was there? My mind reading skills are as efficient as his ability to multitask.

    Every plant doesn’t have 17 rail cars to deal with.

    And thanks for throwing out your hourly pay. Just be careful thumping your chest so hard. As angry as you appear in your post, you may have a heart attack.

    Sincerely,
    Mr. Butthurt

    Note to self- make sure to get name legally changed. Using the wrong last name entire life.
     
  10. NomadicVeteran0713

    NomadicVeteran0713 Light Load Member

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    Let me ask you something, TiredofShiftWork.
    Do you know what would happen if every truck in the US stopped moving? Ummmmm.
     
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