Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

It's been great. I had one hell of a paycheck from last week lol made all the long days worth it.

 

2500 cases in, it stops feeling light, for sure. It's a trade-off...we get lightweight product, and the rest of the foodservice world gets built in air conditioning.

 

What a night.

Go to Scottsbluff Nebraska. sweet, some place different. it's 210 miles. 3.5 there, drop and hook (got a single), 3.5 back.

Get there, the gate doesn't open. Call dispatch. Uhhhhh, I'll call HQ, wait a few. nothing. There's a number to call (national linehaul, probably the same person). I call it. Guy says ok, should be opening. nope, nothing. Well that's all i can do from here he says.

Call dispatch again. Well do I leave it in the employee parking lot?

Uhhh, wait, should I call the local terminal manager? (it's midnight).

Like I know? I'm just a stupid truck drive, remember?

He calls that manager and the manager says oh yeah, ti's broken, just pull it open. (great big 10' tall, 25' wide gate).

Ok, so I do. (after sitting for 30 minutes).

Which is fine, but

A. why doesn't anyone seem to know this? they get 3 to 4 trailers a night? WRITE IT DOWN.

B. What is the point of all this fenced in, razor wire, cameras, all lit up security when you can just open the gate by hand????

 

So then I get back. (3:45am). Hey, we had some trailers come in late, they are sorting them now, could you run it over to home delivery? (20 minutes away)

Sure

Ok, it will be ready at 4:30

Ummm, that's not what you just said. It's 180 packages. 1000lbs. (a trailer holds 1200 packages plus/minus and i've had them be as heavy as 22,000lbs, but usuall around 15k) so we're talking nothing here

Ok, but i need to leave here to go home by 5:30, I have an appointment (an interview, but they don't need to know that) at 4pm, which means I need to leave at 3. And I need to get some sleep.

Yeah, no problem

4:30, not closed
Oh yeah, they are almost done, be done by 4:45
4:45 not done
Oh yeah, they just emptied out the last of the trailers, should be done any minute.
4:55, if it's not done in 2 minutes, you need to repower it
5:00 teh door finally closes, I hook up, pull up to the ready pad, jump out to write down the seal number and.........

a light is out.

Now, I barely care. it's 20 minutes away, i'm not getting a ticket and it's just one of the DOT lights. But they have an inspector at the gate, they won't let you out of the gate. (tires, lights, ABS light, no damage to trailer). So, I"m boned. I call up and say you need to repower it. (it's hours late at this point), I don't have time to wait for this, even if it's simple it's 10 minutes for them to fix it.

SO i haul it over to the shop and drop it in front of the door (so the new power can grab it)

YOU CAN'T LEAVE THIS HERE. IT'S LOADED.

Well no #### sherlock, why would I bring over an empty? I'd just go get another.

YOU HAVE TO GO PUT THIS OVER IN INBOUND. (200+ trailers)

Fine, i move it, tell dispatch they wouldn't let me leave it there, i'm out. (it's like 5:15, it's an hour drive home)

And what do I see the yard dog moving into position in front of the shop as I"m walking out? In the same door where I had it? C'mon, guess.

yeah, same trailer

off to my interview. I"m interviewing them see if I have any interest in working there. We'll see if they appreciate the new approach. (i doubt it, but I get free pizza )

 

My terminal is in the same #### show too. Freight sitting in trailers and the dock for 2+ weeks. Dock supervisors gone all week,a driver called off today, and one driver is off tomorrow. Every day we leave hours late and bring back freight to add to the hold piles. When I first started here the old manager and supes had this place running like a top. Succeeding managers have run it into the dumpster and pissed away our terminal's reputation. Yay corporate brilliance!

 

Oh yeah, forgot I was the critical link! Today I took out 2 trailers with deliveries, took out first then came back for second one. Also had to come back in the middle of second round to have a pallet that tipped over(dock crew has never heard of straps apparently) taken off since it was tipped and the consignee was closed anyway. Had a total of 24 delivery bills to 18 customers and 4 pickup bills at 3 customers. Of those 24 delivery bills 4 were redelivery of short pieces-a waste of time due to dock NOT MAKING SURE ALL FREIGHT IS ON THE ####ING TRAILER BEFORE SENDING IT OUT. I had 4 returns and 2 that were NOT ON BOARD THE ####ING TRAILER. I also had 1 missed pickup. Yay.

 

You guys are light weights. At our 6 truck terminal we have at least 3 53' and 7 28' trailers full of freight we have not delivered in the past 2 weeks plus all the other freight covering the dock floor.

 

Apparently, the geniuses in management think the freight is just going to magically transport itself to the customers, and they don't need to hire any more of those driver things.

Every time I get annoyed with my yard, I just read this thread and thank the Lord for my job. Maybe I should contact our sales reps and tell them where to find some customers that actually want their freight delivered before Gabriel blows his horn...