A Question FOR New Drivers and Wannabees

I would drop my trailer and let a yard jockey back it in if it was an extremely hard dock to get into but that would only be after trying for a while myself. Was at one of our DC and a drover didnt know how to move their tandems. Was at an auto parts dc and backed my trailer into a door. Had the yard jockey tell me one of our drivers took off a door earlier that day trying to back in and that some drivers cant get in it they have to drop the trailer and let him do it. One thing to remember if you have the room up front is move the tandems to the rear so you dont have the tailswing

 

I would hope that most new drivers would not utilize a valet service as it is just giving up. Whenever I see someone struggling to back in, and they eventually put it where it needs to be, I give them a thumbs up! If they are backing in next to me and get out and look one or more times, generally I will walk over and thank them in hopes they will not break that habit. All that said, normally I have my hand at the ready on the big boy horn when someone backs in next to me.

I have picked up and delivered a couple of places where as their company policy, you were required to drop your trailer and the spotter would dock it and bring it back. Never mattered to me as I do not own equipment.

There are only 2 rules to backing: Poor setup gets poor result and don't hit stuff.

 

There's one more...be sure you back into the right door. There was a guy the other day that worked for almost half an hour, moving and looking and moving a little more only to find out he'd transposed the door numbers. The yard jockey took pity on him and moved the trailer.

 

As a reefer jockey I can say the M-F 8am-4pm is a limiting factor...most of my live load/unload appointments have been outside of that window.

I'm about 4 months solo now and can say most places I've been able to handle without too much sweating. That said, there was an odd blindside back recently where I had to GOAL like 10 times...luckily nobody was trying to get by me in the process.

 

AS, I've never been one to have the car parked as its rare or I don't grace places that do. However recently I did.

It was free and at first I thought no I'll do it. But the answer no you can't, company bla bla. So before long I went about my day and enjoyed being treated a little special, or felt serviced. In reality it was long term airport car parking by which parking cars themselves probably eliminated false claims of damage. They probably shuffle cars all day long also as people come and go, leaving that to jet lagged people is perhaps not wise. Plus who's to say we all can drive as any shopping centre must have several incidents reported or not every day. I presume the air port parking was under good camera coverage as the companies own insurance backup.

Its been mentioned they license drivers these days and off they go. I understand down here many B double drivers have never reversed their trucks, or can't anyway. Not all docking facilities will be drive through, so as you mentioned it makes sense for a transport company to pay a small toll to avoid damage claims and lost time. I think it would have to work more on a McDonalds business model of high volume at small margins. To high and drivers may be told to learn their job better.
Not sure how you juggle OO drivers who don't want to hand over the keys, or pacify them while they have nothing to do but watch their living be handled by someone else. I had a plane to catch so didn't care as I had better things to do.

Think it may have merit for fleets, but not so sure with OO.

 

I was a yard dog with a day cab for a couple years so can backup like a champion. Now I drive a long 379 and if I ever come across a dock I absolutely could not possibly back into, I’d pay the $25, take a photo, and get broker to reimburse it.

 

Only if it was required by the receiver or it was physically impossible to back a truck and trailer where it's supposed to go. But I don't have the experience in this industry to really have a leg to stand on.

Tight spot, blindside off of a street in New York City? I've never done it. It's hard to answer definitively because I honestly don't know. But I will go back to my original answer and say I would prefer not to.

 

Zero dollars- that is what yard jockeys are for.

If their lot is too tight or too jacked up then drivers should be encouraged to drop their trailer and have the yard jockey spot it for them.

99% of the places I go are accessible for my size vehicles, not fun maybe, but doable. However there are some that I'll give it the old school try and then "NOPE!" out of it. I'll tall with the customer about putting it somewhere else or having them move stuff or any other option they'd like, but I'm done trying to squeeze into a spot with 3 inches on either side.

 

To be fair, some of those Walmart DCs suck. I was at the DC in Columbus OH and there was only one hole in the whole place and there wasn't even enough room to walk in between the trailers... and I am not a large man. This was back like a year ago when I was with Shaffer. Not the best backer, not the worst, and I couldn't get it in. It almost went, but too close on blind side for my comfort.

We have larger sleeper cabs, not those nice mobile like yard scooters. If those holes can't be spaced any better than that then you can expect not every driver is going park it.

The rest of what you said, yeah, folks should probably be able to do that stuff if they are out there by themselves. lol