Have you ever wondered why bulk customers are such a pain?

I know an older gentleman that used to have a huge feed lot out in the country... Then the land around his feed lot got sold, he bought some for future expansions, and the rest was subdivided for homes. People that built there complained about the smell.

After a few years he started expanding, and shortly there after he was sued in a class action lawsuit brought by the home owners that had built near his feed lot... They literally sued him out of business because of the smell, and they won cause he had expanded. So he sold out cause the judge said he had to go back to the size he was when the subdivision went in. This caused him to loose contracts, so he sold out...

Here's the funny part... The company that bought it bought everything, new and old. Well I cant remember the exact legal jargon but the new owners were able to operate the feed lot at full capacity legally... So the home owners really didn't win anything except run an old man out of business and cause him to loose a good majority of his assets... Even though he had been there for 20 years prior to any homes being built within several miles of his facilty. Society now days is so messed up.

It still stinks as bad as ever or worse maybe.... Lol, I think it serves the homeowners there right for ruining that mans livelihood.

 

I've also hauled flour. Bisquick in Kansas City was a regular customer.

 

Exactly how long is, "forever"?

 

64,000 pound load usually take 1.5-3 hours depending on how far from the silo we are. Some of our runs are a couple hundred feet of piping. Flour type, moisture content, outside temperature and time of year seem to effect the unload times as well.

 

I've made the mistake of going to work for an outfit that didn't detail their trucks exactly ONCE. Never again. And this is why. They have to clean those rigs out between drivers, as you don't know what the hell has been tracked into a place you may have to call home 28 days a month.

 

I don't get how that sort of a lawsuit even sees the inside of a courtroom much less doesn't get laughed out.

 

Yeah, it just goes to show how far disconnected people are, these days, with where they get their food from...

I think us truckers can relate to that same thing with how people treat, and act toward us... Like they don't understand that we bring them EVERYTHING they buy at the store.

 

A 1905 Baltimore map in PDF from original in the archives showed a cattlefarm for milk etc where miles of row houses were eventually built.

Eventually the very last farm at the end of that one road sold out in the mid 70's and it's all paved over with either roads or buildings now. Plus homes 10 feet apart.

There are a few farms still hanging on Hubers, Webers and so on. Including even the ones that support the school of the blind for cider in season. I don't think they will ever sell out. The land in between isnt much good along the big gunpowder being snake infested and bottom land. (That eventually becomes part of the Bay off the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.)

Ive been in many bulk plants and most were pretty good. Thankfully. But a few were not very good. Frankly if I had taken my time and waited for the next man to finish instead of listening to that yelling suit saying move it. (Impossible. Even today.) I would probably still be there, in stone most likely.

Lehigh closed the major quarry in Union Bridge and I think that one is at least if not almost as old as this Nation. A new one is being bored 5 miles by conveyor belt to the plant now. So that should cut down on some of the work.

Ultimately it's Lime from Bittenger PA off 30 that got me. It got into my lungs and did some damage before they did some extra equiptment to keep the stuff out but there was no point in continuing.

The one thing though. The training I got in those days was rock solid. I think going from the mid to late 80's until around the late 90's I touched another bulk and was empty by myself in 45 minutes proving that training was not forgotten. (Cement) The problems was in Fly ash. The plant management had no problem or cared if I was 130,000 pounds gross against a 9800 Paystar day cab from Redfield where we have one of the power plants there.

Ultimately I quit them. Enough is enough. But the knowledge is still retained. Some of it anyhow. That and a 5 gallon bucket of water for the seals of the fittings at the unload end.

 

So, how much did the company pay the judge?