Local driving P&d / LTL

P & D is more difficult if your company does not have a terminal in that town. I delivered a sofa to a residence in the morning. The lady of the house said that I could leave the sofa at the end of the driveway and her husband would get help and move it into the house in the evening. I was at home sleeping during the afternoon because my run started at midnight. My dispatcher phoned and woke me up. He asked, "Did you deliver a sofa today? Well, it is raining and you better pick it up and bring it back to Chicago."

 

We have had several drivers screwed by picking up persoanl checks. I hate taking and carrying someones cash in the cab for 9 hrs.

 

You could always stop and get a money order if it's a large amount of cash,...

 

in my short time as a LTL P&D driver ive already had some interesting encounters

delivered a skid of bibles to a old folks home, had a very small driveway out back that led to a parking lot just big enough to turn around a truck and then the driveway continued on

after the delivery (hand unloading 1500lbs of bibles, no liftgate, no dock, no pallet jack) i asked the guy (who was very nice and just didnt know any better) if i can continue down this driveway and if it leads anywhere and if i can get a truck through (single axle daycab volvo, 48 foot volvo tandems all the way back)

he said something like "yes continue on this driveway and u might be able to turn around in that lot, but if not you should make it out of the driveway ok if you follow it through"

i walked it off, come to find out around the corner the driveway was very narrow and very windy, couldnt of got my 3/4 chevy pickup with a 12 foot trailer through it!

 

I hear you. I work for a local roll off dumpster company just north of Detroit, MI. we are in residential areas day in and day out. Some of our drivers have even riped down eletcrical wires and one backed into a pole and knocked it down. We have hydrolic lines brake in driveways what a mess. And as for money most of work requires us to be paid cash. Most days i could have up to $2000 on me. I went on the internet and found what looks like a can of WD-40 with a fake screw on bottom. I hide the money in there till the end of the day. Just make sure you don't throw away the wrong can.
You can search for them on google.

Don

 

Most customers have never heard about tailgate delivery or extra charges for second floor inside delivery. The shipper usually does not prepay these charges.

I had two pallets of business forms for the court house. There was no loading zone, so I blocked the alley across the street on a cold winter day and tailgated the shipment with a hand truck, not a pallet mover. I had worn a path through the snow bank at the court house sidewalk when a deputy parked in front of my path. The court house janitor was recovering from pneumonia and could not assist. I had to use the passenger elevator to deliver the forms to the basement store room. My employer lost money on that one.

 

Guess I had it easy during my P & D days. We were not by company policy, allowed to go up/down stairs, or into houses.

We could set freight inside a garage if they had one, leave it by the door, in the driveway, or at the curb. But we didn't go in the residence, under ANY circumstances.

At some point in the past, a helpful driver had taken a refrigerator into somebody's kitchen. Crossing a brand new carpet to do so. Apparently he tracked some grease onto the carpet, and our company ended up replacing the carpet. Hence, no more inside deliveries.

We used to do some "drop ship" appliances for stores such as Home Depot. There was one particular salesman at a store that told all his customers we would not only deliver the appliance, we would set it up and cart off the old one. First time I heard this, I figured the homeowner was BSing me, just trying to get something for nothing. But after running into it several times, I let my management know. They got with the store management, and those bogus promises stopped.

I didn't like residential deliveries. But they were usually not as bad as one interior design company that we had. These folks were idiots. There is just no other word for it.

They were on a strictly COD basis, but checks were OK. So invariably I would get there, and there would be no one on hand to sign a check. Most of the time, there was nobody but an elderly lady salesperson there. I'd wind up having to take their forklift, change the carpet stinger to forks so that I could use it. Unload the pallets off the trailer, then change the forks back to the stinger to make their miserable lives easier. When the owner did happen to be there, he was a real piece of work. Can't even remember how many times I wanted to pop him one in the mouth.

I finally just flatly told our dock foreman that I would not go there anymore. Got away with it too!

 

During the year, overages and damaged freight accumulated in a "cage" on the dock. Reports and claims were cleared up by December. Just before Christmas, these items were given to the four drivers and dispatcher at our small terminal.