How long can it take to unload a trailer?

Discussion in 'Questions To Truckers From The General Public' started by Kris J, Feb 18, 2018.

  1. wis bang

    wis bang Road Train Member

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    Levittown, PA
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    Floor load in just one word...TIRES....

    I once asked a new guy if he liked tankers. Coming form Reefer, he said 'you don't know the meaning of work' until you off-load 10,000 chocolate bars off the floor'.....he really liked hoses, LOL
     
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  3. Opus

    Opus Road Train Member

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    Dec 18, 2011
    South GA
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    Today, 7 hours for 7 rolls of paper.
    I get up at 0400 to make my appointment on time, leave out at 1230.

    So, how many licks to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?
    2
    How many hours to unload 7 rolls of paper?
    7

    Take notes, class. There will be a quiz on Friday.
     
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  4. timidlady

    timidlady Light Load Member

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    Sep 25, 2018
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    I first read this as...how long can it take to unload a trainer? lol
     
  5. Dave_in_AZ

    Dave_in_AZ Road Train Member

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    Some of the more memorable-

    Schilling spice load. 13 hours in Phoenix in July.

    Multiple CRE loads in and near Chitown regularly took 12 to 14 hours.

    Any load going HEB in San Antonio was at least 6 hours. Record was 20. (Stouffers)

    Floor loaded paper products to Shamrock Dairy in Phoenix was 18 hours.

    Lots of others.
     
  6. Brettj3876

    Brettj3876 Road Train Member

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    Land of local
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    Buzzottos in CT took 8-9 hours for 9 pallets. All the same stuff on each pallet too
     
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  7. Ffx95

    Ffx95 Road Train Member

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    I waited at an americold for 23 hours because they ran out to space. Got to the point where a bunch of the drivers found a nice spot to play some card games and socialize.
     
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  8. wis bang

    wis bang Road Train Member

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    Jan 12, 2011
    Levittown, PA
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    prolonging the agony...

    Trainee and I loaded a house brand of Mop and Glow in Brooklyn for a jobber in New Hyde Park that was going to drum the load for canning as King Kullen's brand...

    Only 1000 gal, less than 20 drums, gonna put around 10# of air on the 1000 gal center hole and watch it fly...should be finished quickly.

    After the slow loading with a slow, air starved, diaphragm pump, we get to the delivery around 11 am.and get told the lab would finish just before lunch, sit tight.

    Roach coach pulls up at 12. now the office and lab are on one side of the street and the production building is across the street. I was used to the coaches having the rear hot stuff and one side of iced stuff using the driver's side for storage of refills...This truck was different, the passenger side [towards the office] was food and the street side [towards production] was an extensive selection of alcoholic beverages...complete with slim paper bags.

    After lunch we witnessed the comedy of a fork lift driver who, after an long time looking for drums, stopped in the doorway before coming out into the yard with a pallet of 4 MT drums, to put his bagged bottle on a support inside.

    After they filled the 4 drums [less than 5 minutes] the guy drove back inside, grabbing his bottle on the way in, only to re-appear after a good 45 - 50 minutes to repeat the act with another skid. Rinse and repeat 5 times, each cycle taking longer and the results getting sloppier.

    We left at 3:30, just in time to have traffic all the way home....
     
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  9. Dmichelstx

    Dmichelstx Bobtail Member

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    Apr 30, 2022
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    As one of the other respondents mentioned, I too am interested in an "industry average" or "standard" for the amount of time it generally takes to unload 22 pallets from a 53' trailer.

    Details:
    I'm a project manager for a national company that sets up new stores for big box retail clients all over the country.

    This particular client has committed to 30-minute unloads for their trucking partners.

    We're running 2 brand new fork trucks, with highly skilled operators, unloading 22 full wrapped pallets of tile (very heavy often fragile stuff) from 53' trailers.

    If my math is correct, 30 minutes gives us 82 seconds per pallet to:
    • drive into the trailer & pick up a skid
    • back out of the trailer and turn around
    • drive approximately 100' to drop the skid
    • and drive another 100' back to the trailer

    We've cleared all pathways, and the experienced outstanding operators have all the info they need up front to eliminate time wasted waiting on things like location info. So I'm confident we're doing it about as quickly and efficiently as reasonably possible.

    We're receiving an average of 15 fully loaded 53' trailers per day coming more or less all at once from this client's nearby DC. Doing the simple math yields 7-1/2 hours straight to unload 330 skids if everything goes absolutely perfectly.

    Everyone involved here at the store is laser focused on this incoming merchandise process, as it's incredibly important in the overall scheme of things. So we switch out operators during breaks and lunch, and discuss this at length as a team at the start and finish of every shift, all as a largely successful attempt to make sure virtually nothing creates any delays.

    Being that this is long from my first rodeo, I've significant experience to draw upon for comparison, and I'm comfortable saying this operation overall is among the smoothest most well-performing I've managed, yet we're discovering 30 minutes unload time per truck, for 15 similarly loaded trucks straight, simply isn't doable.

    The client is complaining, my team and I are frustrated, everyone's stressed out and killing themselves to make this #### work and keep these nice people happy.

    I've squeezed darn near every last ounce of performance possible from our current resources and infrastructure, the number of which - for trucks and operators - is controlled by this client in terms of what they're willing to pay.

    And so, now I'm starting to get p*ssed and want to begin pushing back. I know they don't pay us to be "average", and we're far above in every other detail, but I'm beginning to think their expectations aren't realistic, and I need some supporting info to begin building a case.

    Any helpful assistance will be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks!
     
  10. Blu_Ogre

    Blu_Ogre Road Train Member

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    The fork trucks only grabbing one skid at a time would be the first thing to look at.

    We all whine about the detention time at produce houses. Once the load is picked the load time can be short. The more efficient ones move 2 or more skids at a time. They run lift trucks that can carry 2 skids side by side or powered ride on pallet jacks that can grab 2 to 4 deep.

    Distribution centers like Walmart, Costco, and Grocery stores run the long pallet jacks also for unload. The delay at those places are more from waiting on a different crew to sort and re-stack the product followed by the receiving department people to verify the paper work.
     
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  11. skallagrime

    skallagrime Road Train Member

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    Apr 10, 2012
    Indiana
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    How many docks you have?

    Maintaining 30 minutes isnt bad once they touch the dock, but most drivers would be happy to get things done in 45.

    Looks like your issue is more that they all arrive at once, stipulate appt times required to spread out the arrival times?
     
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