Go find a place to tarp

I was supposed to tarp a load of guard rails for a new highway being built.
I told the shipper I'd tarp the load after I weighed at the truckstop. He said, "Oh, ok."

 

I used to haul black iron pipe from Onterrible to Alberta. Thousands of tons of it over the years. Stelpipe wouldn’t even let you on the property, you got your trailers back in a drop yard, with 4” of steel pipe stake sticking up above the load, and had to tarp it before they’d give you the bills. Then the guy at the coaters unloaded you with a pipe handler and threw the stuff in the mud laughing saying “ I don’t know why you guys bother to tarp this ####”. No amount of phone calls from Pipe Coaters ever made the tarps go away.

 

When I delivered the guard rails, they unloaded them with one of those machines that drives pilings into the ground. It was mounted on a tractor and they positioned it to push sideways and shoved the guard rails off the trailer into the mud.

 

At shipper. Go to office to check in.
Give the office person all the check in info.
Office person is now going to provide loading info.
One of the things is that I can’t tarp on the property.
Told the office person that the company and my personal policy is the loading location needed to have a safe place to tarp. It’s company policy. It’s a safety policy.
Office person says it’s the company policy, no tarping on the property.
I said OK, thats fine, your load does not get tarped.

They decided that it was good to go with no tarp..

 

@rick p …. We’re you in North Carolina?

The past 10 years I’ve been told that 2x. Neither one got tarped. 1 was a machine going to Budweiser or something so at the end of the 3-400 mile trip I stayed at the the receiver and spread my 4ft tarps on it and layed some bungees on my deck and went to sleep. Next morning as they’re coming in im “untarping “. The other was like 10 something high and I didn’t even bother to try it. Delivered it in Miami at Pepsi plant no problems

 

Had a place that required that explicitly in ratecon and on the bols,

Galvanized steel beams and rail...

It did not get tarped

 

In the winter many of summertime non-tarp loads require tarps to protect from road elements, like salt, etc. In other words they just don’t want it arriving dirty.

I once got a 10ft tall load for my sd that they wanted tarped and I asked for the tarp to be lied on top and the ladder, they said that most truckers say they will tarp at the truck stop and leave. I asked if that’s because they have tarping stations at the truck stops, they nodded. I left and did what other truckers before me.