Ouch, man. I hope it works out. But it ain't looking too good right now. Why on earth did you wander that far off your lane? Another lesson learned is never stack that many loads up in a row. Something always goes wrong, at least it does for me Keep us posted.
Ding ding ding!!!!!! We have a winner!!! At least the way the conversation should of started. NOT “well it usually pays less to ship it back”.
The way I understand the story is that OP did not want to succumb to humility and decided to show them who the boss was. Otherwise, the problem would have been avoided except for a possible rejection of a few bags of product, probably not a big deal. On one hand, I do admire the attitude, on the other, the lack of pragmatism made the situation worse. Myself, I would have restacked because I don't mind physical exercise and any opportunity to loose some pounds I find beneficial to my health.
Go to walmart buy a bunch of chicken, grab some of that rice flour that spilled in ur trailer and fry er up!!! Hit it on the cb , fried chicken in the back lot drivers first come first serve !!
I wasn't clear in my original statement. They wanted me to stack the bags to get them out of the way so they could reach the product in the nose of the trailer they wanted to keep. They were going to reject the spilled pallets broken and unbroken bags, and simply wanted me to move them out of their way so they could get to the other pallets, and leave me with worrying about disposing of them and washing out my trailer from their mess. Mind you this was 4PM on a Friday afternoon, and I was scheduled for another pickup 200 miles away the next morning. I'm glad that you're willing and able to pick up and stack 3 tons of bags without fear of injury, but at my age and with the condition of my back, killing my career to cover for their mistake isn't an option. It had nothing to do with ego or humility, and everything to do with being able to continue being an owner operator. I'm the owner and there isn't anybody to pay the bills if I get hurt on the job and can't work for an extended period.
I normally don't book out of my lane, but the lure of such a big payout with one load was too tempting. I won't repeat that mistake again. Lesson learned.
My apologies. 3 tons would have been too much for me too. As a teenager, I was carrying 2 tons of coal at my grandfather's house to his cellar every winter, so I know the volume could be overwhelming. In your situation, the problem is that they obviously tried to pin the blame on you, while it seems that it was the shipper who loaded it poorly, especially if you could not be present at the dock. Also the factor would be the very attitude of the receiver. If they gave me some military sort of orders, I would have refused any cooperation since it was not my fault. Well...I if that's the case, I would have done what you did then. Edit: Wait a minute.... 3 tons is 6000 lbs it is like 3 pallets of apples....On a 2nd thought, I could physically handle it but it would depend on their demeanor and what I would gain by it. If they would take it and not leave any of it on my trailer...I think I would have done it, if I physically could.
No need for apologies, I'm all over the place on this post and not being clear. The dock workers were great. No attitude what so ever and were complaining that this place has done the same thing to them before. They weren't expecting me to do anything but help them figure out a way to get the job done. It was the dock supervisor who showed up and barked at me to restack the pallets so he could reject them and get to the product in the front. Had he been a bit more professional and not expected me to dispose of what he didn't want, I probably would have offered to hire a lumper to get it unloaded. But when he said I was responsible for restacking AND disposal of what I had to stack, I had to draw the line and I did.
