Is BACKING a bad habit?

^ LoL !

 

Probably Backed more than some drivers will ever drive forward. not hard.

 

Well, in food service you have to back up we back up into parking garages off the street been there done that actually this one time I had to back into Ohio's tallest sky scraper the dock is in the basement sad part was the backing into it was no bargain, but it actually wasn't that that bad, the worst part was actually getting out while it was forward driving, they let a cut away box truck park in front of me and I cleared the truck and those concrete yellow polls by a good solid half inch barely squeezed my way out.

Actually though like where I work on Friday I have a stop that's a back in off the street, it's not hard except it's a busy road and traffic will not give you a break not really I usually lay on the air horn let them know I'm backing and that I mean business so you four wheelers who are in the way can get out of the way. In fact, I put them early because of that problem, we have had times where traffic would not give our trucks a break to back in and they had to give up and park in a parking lot next door it has happened.

When I was in school one of the instructor said he hauled steel and got to a place that was a back in off the street and sure enough traffic gave him no breaks couldn't do it unless someone stopped traffic. He said he walked in and said someone's got to stop traffic so I can get in the plant said no go screw your self he said fine sing the bill of lading saying undeliverables and I'll just take this trailer with your steel on it back to the yard. The receiver went "Oh all right fine and went out and grabbed his hi-vis vest and metal stop sign.

The instructor said "When I saw him grab the Stop sing I got so angry because they knew at that plant they had a problem and they were just being LAZY."

As far as dock zilla I'm in the 28' world backing a 53' trailer and a 28' trailer are different animal's that is for sure. I've been mostly smaller trailers my whole career thus far every time I back a big trailer at the warehouse I go holy cow how much easier it is, well it's not as prone to get away from you, not that being said, I wouldn't want to run a chain route in a 50' trailer they off track way more and some stops we have it would never work.

Generally actually it's written in our company rules avoid backing if possible, in other words don't do it just to do it. Were not limited we can back as much as we have to, but if we don't have to then don't. Get out and look too, that's what I like to do, best thing you can do.

 

I agree we have some stops we do where your forced to and it's like asking for trouble, I remember when I went into the sky scraper by the way were the only company that sends tractor trailers down there everyone else sends straight trucks down there, I remember getting into the dock and a driver from Paragon Produce of Pittsburgh saying to me "Why don't you guys send a straight truck down here like everybody else?"

We do have some stops though that have become such a problem or were deemed un-doable even with 28' trailers that the company has gone to a bigger style of take-a-long cargo van and also has leased a small straight truck from Pensky to do certain stops.

See the company I work for is all tractor trailer because were a large drop lot operation that relies on pulling doubles from the warehouse to the drop lot, problem is in bigger older east coast cities that doesn't always work especially for food deliveries to restaurants that are in out dated and antiquated buildings and they don't seem to want to go over to the big straight trucks, like we have in Canada, because it's not always needed, but they have certain stops that are flagged van or Izuz Straight Truck.

The thing I don't get is there are companies Sirna and Son's produce of Norwalk and Revena, Ohio, Paragon Produce, and Dairy Fresh from Michigan that are huge multi state operations, but to my knowledge have no real drop lots or depots in other states yet they can manage to run out and back stop to stop to stop routes an entire state away with straight truck fleets. Sirna and Sons I think might have maybe one tractor trailer maybe yet I've seen there straight trucks as far south as Kentucky, Paragon I've only ever seen straight trucks from them Dairy Fresh is mixed fleet, but I've seen plenty of there straight trucks very far from home which is Troy or Detroit, Michigan area. JFC foods out of Port Clinton, Ohio is another one, but there trucks are big Freightliner Cascadia 10 wheeler straight trucks probably 26-28' long I know they run out of state operations, it's just weird to me that some companies they have to have drop lots and then others run multi state operations from one or two warehouses. It's weird how one company can send a straight truck 400 miles away it can do a route and then be back to the warehouse at night and another company doesn't want to or can't or what ever. Now granted food business is a little different then steel or raw materials or pieces parts to a production facility, but still were talking about backing it's easier to back something that's one piece then two pieces where you can't see at all on one side. Now to be fair these big straight truck companies why they choose the equipment they choose I have no idea, but they have there reasons.

I always scratch my head when I see these big multi state straight truck operations and always wonder how they can do that, but I guess there must be enough hours in the day. I always said if I was in charge hard back in's or real problem places depending on what they are getting if we can put it on a straight truck we will.

The Canadian refer company Erb does a lot of that they take big 53' tractor trailer loads to there depots and break the loads down. Actually they have a fleet of 10 wheelers that they like to send into New York City to keep there 53' trucks out of there and I was talking to one of there drivers and he said his yard in Pennsylvania was the only yard left at Erb that didn't have any straight trucks assigned to it, but he said they were sending a lot of 10 wheelers with the DOT sleeper cabs into New York City I guess they can hold enough and for a refer company that's usually a full days work. I guess he said the guys who do the 10 wheelers and go into New York City get paid pretty good to do it, and Erb is a pretty big outfit so they must know what there doing.

 

At oil rigs they have signs saying you HAVE to back in to your parking spot. Reason being if there is a blowout they want folks to put it in gear and GO!

 

That would make sense for sure don't want to be screwing around with an oil blow out.

 

I haven't had that "luck" yet, but I got to turn around a set yesterday in what was essentially JUST enough room to do it. Concrete and metal barriers and a bunch of lumber stacked all around. Had to form the perfect curve to get it to go back down the driveway to get the truck far enough around to turn.

I think I got out at least 10 times to check not only clearances but the angle of the trailers to make sure they were going in the right direction (the lead's rear bumper got within a foot of one of the concrete barriers before I could pull forwards).

I can back them straight no problem. This was a challenge. And a testament to GOAL.

 

The blowouts are the half of it. Many sites have H2S monitors required, ones you wear under your nose. If your monitor or the rig H2S siren go off you are to evacuate IMMEDIATELY and DON'T stop to help ANYBODY that has collapsed. That's in the safety training. You stop to help and you are dead.

 

Next time you want to have some fun backing put it in high range, lmao it's really difficult not to let it get away from ya.