FINALLY!!!

Depends on the stop. Some people carry pallet jacks with them, so they can pull the stop on or off, get the bills signed, and get the heck out of Dodge.
Also keep in mind...an 'over-the-road' truck will NOT be treated the same as a regular LTL truck (even though you are there doing the same thing as them). A lot of shippers/consignees have designated docks for LTL trucks/companies...and can usually jump the line and back right into the dock. An OTR truck (whether there for one skid or full truck load), will be asked to wait for an open OTR dock.
Of course there are acceptations in cases where your company has a contract with the shipper/consignee, and you are expected to be treated as an LTL truck.

 

FFE is pretty big on "drivers drive", they prefer to pay lumpers to unload when at receivers. Over 2 years I only unloaded 1 trailer myself, but they do require you to be on the dock when you can but alot of the receivers ffe deals with dont tend to allow it. The local drivers do tend to unload themselves. From my experiences there, i have never seen a ltl truck with a pallet jack onboard. And like I stated before FFE does have a loose description for who is "ltl" as every truck @ FFE IS a ltl truck now. If you do terminal to terminal, you tend to do drop and hooks.... most of the time the trailer is preloaded and waiting for you, sometimes you might have to wait do to the terminal being behind schedule.

 

welcome back yes I know exactly where the terminal is I spoke to one guy who works there a while back and he was happy I guess it's like any other job it's going to be whatever you make it good luck

 

Congrats!! When I was at Swift in Lancaster Texas there is a FFE yard right across the street from the yard. Wasn't sure if you were aware of it or not.

 

Husband has pulled filling in a couple of times for a Walmart Hub, not this company of course. Just watch your hours and make sure you are off duty as much as possible when sitting waiting for an unload. Don't know about FFE, but the circuit was around 400 mi a day and once in awhile, the way the distance and delivery time were set, made it where he would have to take a 10 after the last stop instead of going back to the main terminal.

And there are not too many places that don't pay lumpers to unload and most will not let you on the dock either to even watch as it is loaded. Time to catch a nap if you can. With the Walmart loads, they were pretty much unloaded when he got there, they were strict with them as far as how long it took also. Delivery times were set but it was not in concrete, if you were 2hrs early, fine and dandy, and they had to get it unloaded The worst problem he had was one store had the night manager who went to lunch and he had the only key for the dock door lock, Walmart cut it off.

If you can use google maps and check the area out that you are going to go to 1st. Look for the docks and what driveway you are to go into, it helps in the battle some having this as a tool. Driving in the evening or at night reduces the heavier city traffic and makes it a lot more enjoyable.