How do I know which warehouses to stay away from?

Its like the Amazon reviews where the smartest among us rate the product with low stars because the shipper was slow, or vice versa, they rate the product high because their shipper was prompt. The product and the 3rd party shippers have separate rating systems.

 

Complain all you want but from where I'm standing, shippers and receivers that deal with refrigerated goods are vastly better today on average, than they were 20+ years ago, and improving every year. It will never be "perfect" everywhere but we have to keep our expectations reasonable. If they moved from average of 2.5 hours to average of 1.5 hours, drivers would still complain and want it done in 30 minutes or less as if they were ordering a pizza.

Walmart grocery is much better today than 18 months ago as long as you have a load that you didn't trash while en route and you arrive 60-45 minutes early.

 

I don't really have problem anymore up to three hours thanks to my year of doing Refrigerated loads.I've had them take 15 hours,but I know of some that have taken days not hours to load.

 

There are a couple that come to mind where I've sat for up to 8 hours. Safeway DC in Tracy California is the worst for food distributors and lumpers, and I refuse to ever haul another load there again. There are a couple union wine DC's in the Napa Valley area that are horrible as well. One in particular has the drivers sitting in a refrigerated warehouse seating area for them to call your name for a door. There are about 8 seats and I've been there when 20 drivers are standing around waiting for hours. You can't wait in your truck you have to sit in their area or you miss the call and your door. We all get to watch the warehouse employees take their 10 minute break every hour, then lunch, then more breaks. I sat there once for almost 9 hours, and told my dispatcher if she ever booked me there again I would quit because we never get detention. She did, and I quit.

 

Just know it's sucks to deliver a food warehouse

 

Those warehouses are horrible.

At ABF we had a giant cold warehouse next to our barn that feeds the regional grocery giant store. Block away.
OTR reefers ( almost out of time ) would come to our dock and one our drivers would pull that trailer next door and wait a small bit to get unloaded.

Not bragging, We walked in and told them straight up the situation in/out under 2 hours.
Stupid what these OTR ON TIME drivers put up with. I think the unions were working together on that crap. This was weekly !