Anheuser-Busch Nightmare

we are going there for a pick up tomorrow night which is a live load.Our last load we had there was pre loaded and they gave us a number to call on our load,we got a good night sleep and load was ready in morning.

 

I had a D&H at the No. Hollywood plant going to Yuma,Az. I thought cool had enough hours to p/u load and spend the night at the house. Guess what it didn't happen. I got paid $150 to take a 10 hour break at the plant. Luckliy there was a restraunt near there.

 

There's a Tommies near A/H Great Chili Cheese Burgers, Back in the early 80's used to stop at Tommies for there Chili Sausage Egg Sandwich..... Also right up on Sepulveda is Western Bagels really good in the morning when there fresh with cream cheese.... And don't forget to drop by the Oddball, for eye candy.

That brewery will teach you how to balance your poorly loaded trailer between your 5th wheel slider and the tandems. I have never had to wait long for trailers at Van Nuys, but trying to get these guys to redistribute a load could take for ever.

 

Sorry, did not read the whole thread.

We have preloads coming out of AB St Louis but I have a heavy tractor, so most loads are over 80,000 for me. Yet I never have a problem getting them to pull off a pallet or two, whatever it takes.

Of all the breweries I pull out of, AB St Louis is by far the best, IMO. Never live loaded, so can't speak to that.

 

we deliver to the A-B distributor in Denver, always containes loaded with Stella, Grolsch, or similar. They hate to pay detention, so they get a move on when I hit the dock. The longest I've ever been there is 90 minutes, and that was because I had to wait for their trucks to pull out, as I got there at 7 am. One of my co-workers sat fro 5 hrs one day, after they were billed for 3 hrs detention, they don't make us wait.

 

I've been running M/C for the past 8 months and it hasn't been too bad. Most of the time the people are decent and the only time I get stuck is when the production line breaks down. And when the line breaks, the waiting is painful especially when you're down south and the thermostat is topping 110 outside and no APU. The actual distributors are a mixed bag though.

I did almost punch a distributor owner in the face in a big city in the northeast. She was driving around the docks and i was waiting to get into my door while another driver backed into his. I decided to use the time to maneuver the truck into a better position closer to the nose of the trucks backed into the docks to make my turn-out easier. She's sitting over in her Escalade screaming at me to just wait my turn and to stop with her fat arms flailing - as if I'm an idiot and I'm going to drive through the trailer of the guy backing in. After the guy got backed in, she slammed on the gas and peeled out and into her parking space. One of the dock guys came over and apologized to me for her noting she was the owner. I asked if I had shown up in a suit and tie as a business owner helping to manage her supply chain if she would have treated me differently. He said it might've worked but he would have preferred I just socked her one in the jowls. Now I know why they're unionized.

 

Heh, picked up a load of Peepee water in a can, was going to be drop hook, in and out like the wind at Fort Collins CO. Well, I got there two hours early, dropped my empty and waited, and waited and waited.

6 hours after appt time left with my now loaded empty. Guess they forgot what drop and hook meant. Best part was I was dropping at another A-B and when they started giving me a world of grief for being late, I whipped out the BOL and pointed to the release time and asked them to stop ######## at me and ##### at their supplier.

 

Man, yall are reminding me of one of the happiest moments of my life. It was when I backed in the Tripple Axle high cube I was pulling dollied it down, pulled out and backed under the flat bed that was sitting next to it and hooked up.

I couldnt belive the difference in the way you get treated between pulling the two kinds of trailers. I noticed with all the places I was picking up with the box didnt give a ####. And I was tired of getting to explain to the place I was unloading that it wasnt my job to unload thier #### product, that it was my job to get it there.

I took plenty of people to task over that one. I dont know how many warehouse managers called my company complaining because instead of unloading thier load for them I bumped the dock and layed down in the sleeper.

When I got into a flat bed, the loaders were usually easier to deal with, expecially once I started step decking, I usually never had to wait more than an hour or two, and when it came time to get unloaded, it was usually in a situation where they wanted thier product.

I dont know how many times I was delivering a machine and I wasnt going to make it in by the time the place closed, and I would call ahead and get some one to wait on me so I could get it off and get on to my next stop. Id often wind up a day early on loads because of it.

Also hardly ever was I loading or unloading in the wee hours of the night, and when ever I did it was because there was a good reason for it. And often times when you unload a flat bed at night it is because there is a crane there waiting on you. I find that when some one is paying 300.00 an hour for a crane they tend to want to get you unloaded fairly quickly.

One place I did haul beer out of back in the day was Barton Biagi brothers out of Portland, they were pretty good about getting me in and out fast.

 

I work for a company that has a contract to haul AB loads within state. I go to the brewery every day. I will tell you, the sheer laziness of the union is why I despise unions. If I worked for a union and I was making $30 an hr for un-skilled labor, I'd be singing their praises, but because I am in a position where I have to rely on them to actually show up to work (8 wks paid vacation, multiple paid sick days), and the loads are almost ALWAYS loaded late.

Down with unions! (unless you can hook me up with a cush union job). But in all seriousness, you can see how they aren't productive. In my opinion, get rid of unions and hire a bunch of forklift operators who would LOVE to sit on a lift all day and pay them $15 an hr, give them a couple weeks paid vacation, and it'll cost less than half a year in salary/benefits than a union worker, and they'd probably be more appreciative and a harder worker. Those union boys are spoiled beyond believe. And my words are coming from someone who has been dealing with Anheuser Busch for several years, so I know all about it.

 

All beer loads should be drop and hook! Period!