FedEx goes viral - Surely this is not the norm in LTL, is it?

What about putting in shelving into the trailers? If a company as big as FedEx are buying trailers and the company knows that they are going to keep the trailers for the duration of their lifetime, couldn't they put some kind of shelving into the trailers? Obviously boxes come in different shapes and sizes but surely it would help a little?

Or in the very least, don't you think sensitive items should be given careful consideration during the loading? Go back and look at the 4th picture. There's a tire on top of a laptop box. Why would they not load the laptops towards the back of the trailer (so furthest away from the cab)? That way it wouldn't get crushed?

Or what about stacking the boxes and using load locks to help organize?

 

Sorry my fault, didn't know you were kidding. Some people on the internet can come off as very rude, that's my fault again for taking your post the wrong way sorry.

 

Only way is to start at the nose and taper stack it back, layering it as you come back. End up with a pile to the front as high as you can keep it UP as your length coming back will keep it CHOCKED.
You would be surprised how well any carton down there stands up if snug. 10 lb boxes of smoked sausage or a gallon bucket of frozen calf liver survived 150 miles every Monday and Thursday.
Da baloney, just stick it in da cracks...

 

I have seen some UPS possum belly trailers against the dock here in Tupelo with shelves. Drivers (you) have a different perspective from dock hands(them)
on how to load. They would just as likely say if you drove sensibly (slow and smooth) all would be fine.

Shelves take up space, and are never in the needed location (unless captive freight on dedicated trailers)
and if you have ever double decked hogs or calves, you realized limited space is not enjoyable.

 

I've ran plant loads before. They would "build" up using flat timber boards, like this:



And we ran the plant loads in the reefer trailers, which have the "grooves" (if that's the right word) on the trailer floor, so it's not flat like a dry van. If I remember correctly these flat timber boards squeezed in nicely in the grooves and they would just build a bottom layer, middle layer, top layer, etc. etc. all the way up. On the bottom of the reefer trailer in between the timber boards that were acting as the legs, they would have the plants that were loaded in the cardboard boxes (some plants were outside of boxes individually, others were packaged in cardboard). And towards the back of the trailer (so furthest away from the cab, by the trailer doors) they just put a couple of load locks to finish the job.

And the plants never fell down or anything in transit. I never felt like I had to drive slow or abnormal doing the plant loads, I just drove how I normally do (I drive safe but my point is you're going to hit bumps on the roads no matter what).

Now granted if FedEx doesn't have the reefer trailers then they would need something else to act as the legs for the timber boards, but that wouldn't be hard to do. You could essentially make layers and build up, just like the plant loads that I described. After unloading you can reuse the boards to build up on the next trailer being loaded.

I wish I would've taken a picture of it when I was still hauling the plant loads. It really was very efficient and a cheap solution to the problem.

I really don't think it took them that long to build up either. That seems way more efficient to me than what was shown in the pictures.

 

Are you related to x-1heavy?

 

Now you know why Amazon over packs the way they do.

 

Just FYI, it’s called OSB (oriented strand board). Fairly cheap and mainly used for wall and roof sheathing.

 

That pic with the two boxed HP laptops tossed in there along with the tires is disappointing. The funny thing is I just ordered the exact same computer and I hope they don't handle any of amazons packages, lol.