Is it a huge deal if you’re a little crooked at a dock?

I remember a place in NY where the lines were spray painted and were not straight. From time to time there were no lines at all. If the dock plates are large enough you can be a few inches off and it won't cause a problem.

 

Really depends on the place, how they’re setup and lumper. I think it mostly reflects on the driver. That being said, sometimes I’ve thought #### they can’t back. Then I back in and it looks funny. So I get out and look under and trailer is square with the dock. So it could be lines. Or the building moved. Not always on the driver.

 

There are some places where it is critical. There's a company near Muskogee where i used to deliver plastic bottles. The building is quite old and the doors are real close together along with a very limited amount of room to get set up to back in. It only takes about 20 minutes to unload so they keep the doors staged with trucks. If you're not about perfectly straight, the next truck won't be able to back in and by the time they figure it out, you may be missing a mirror or worse. Learning to get straight to the doors is something you have to work on, don't accept close from yourself, get out, look and correct until it's right. It may save your truck in tight situation.

 

My personal favorite is when you're square with 1 side, and you walk around to see you're crooked as a politician on the other side.

 

As long as the dock plate and dock lock do what they're supposed to do, you're good. Nobody gets it perfect every time.

 

Getting the dock plate in is all well and good, but like both RideandRepair and Freddy said, there are some facilities with closely spaced doors where you are going to need to do better so as not to obstruct other drivers. Just take whatever time you need to wiggle in correctly to these places, any embarrassment will quickly fade after you leave.

 

I get frustrated with the docks where the cushions for the trailer bumpers are missing. I kinda don't care, because if they are unprofessional enough to not even take care of their docks, they can kiss my big fat butt if I dock a bit off.