Shippers/receivers that want your keys

Best thing I ever did was leave Indiana. Lived there 22 years too long.

 

Nah, no autocorrect there - I meant what I said LOL. When I am on TTR, I am on my desktop computer - the only autocorrect associated with it is the one in between my ears (I was a school spelling bee winner more than one year - my between-the-ears autocorrect is only good at spelling but not at grammar). I purposely used the word "resemble" because even though I do not know where the phrase "I resemble that remark" originated, it was used extensively by both my mother's and my father's side of my family while I was growing up. "Bass ackwards" is another phrase we use extensively.

 

I've been to a bunch....They've NEVER asked me for my phone or my keys.

I have delivered to a nuclear power plant before and was not asked for any of my electronics either, I was just told not to take any photos.

Really?
One of these days they'll just tell you to leave or perhaps do what they should have done years ago and start telling companies that they will not do business with any company that allows dogs on the truck!

No....It's illegal to idle in CA....Period! Your pet makes no difference.

How do you get the A/C to run with the engine shut off?

No!

 

I deliver to a govt contractor in scranton pa that takes cell phone ,pocket knives searches the truck and watches me unload with armed gaurds...pretty common for chemical plants to take cell phones and cameras...when we load at Air Products they will take the truck keys....also pretty common when loading to chalk wheels hang a sign on the mirror ...

 

I looked that up just now; I learn something new each day! I often hear "bass ackwards" as well - one of those regional sayings. At least we Arkansans don't use words like "yous"

 

when we load at Air Products they will take the truck keys....also pretty common when loading to chalk wheels hang a sign on the mirror ...

Having loaded there myself....I assure you they would not be happy campers if we drove away with the 3" cryogenic hose attached. I know for a fact their own people have done this in the field and in the plant.

 

No....It's illegal to idle in CA....Period! Your pet makes no difference.

What if you have a "certified clean idle" truck?

 

Never been asked for the keys but Eli Lilly does make you drive over a giant X ray machine that scans the trailer and then they take these mirrors on a stick and look all over the bottom of the trailer. Had similar treatment at prisons and government facilities.

 

You find it personally insulting because a company chooses to institute a dumb policy? Sometimes it isn't about what's safer, its about what makes their insurance rates lower. Stupid? Yep. Dumb? Sure. But why get insulted about it? I just don't get that.

I'll give it to you from my perspective. I doubt you'll change your mind about anything but maybe you'll at least see fit to treat the guy on the dock, who is just trying to make a living, just like you, a little differently next time.

I work for a driver leasing company so I'm a temp. A while back I spent a month or two on an assignment where I would make local deliveries part of the time and work in the warehouse the rest of the time. I was a driver but I also worked the dock. This particular company required the forklift operator to verify that trailer wheels on both sides of the truck were chocked and to obtain and hold the truck key on the forklift before the trailer could be entered. If the driver didn't want to turn over a key, they didn't have to, but they would have to drop the trailer and pull the tractor forward, and then we would have to install a gladhand lock. That was their policy and I followed it because my supervisor would do spot checks and if I was on the truck with forklift and I didn't have a key from the driver, I got dinged for it.

When I asked the key I would always explain that they could give the truck key or drop the trailer, their choice.

Some drivers, like yourself, would get offended by this. Why get offended at me? Its a policy. I didn't make it, I think its as silly as you think it is. But if I don't do it, I can lose my job so why hate on me for trying to do my job the way my company wants me to? I'm trying to do my job properly enough so that I don't get fired so I can make a living just like you.

FWIW, I got lots of laughs out of the policy. I would laugh to myself when someone like yourself got all huffy about it. Because my attitude was that one of us was going to decide to have a bad day over a stupid policy and it wasn't going to be me. And I'd laugh to myself when drivers would hand me a file cabinet key or a padlock key and think they were being slick and getting one over on me. The policy was I had to ask for a key. The policy didn't say I had to verify it was the right key or the only key, just that I had to ask for one and get it. I could care less if you give me the right key as long as you don't hurt me (and if you do, god help you when my lawyers get done with you). But these drivers would come in with this I just robbed the cookie jar look on their face thinking they're getting a good one over on the dock guy by giving me the key to the footlocker where they keep their phil collins CD collection.

We know what truck keys look like. At least everyone in that place did. We just didn't care. The policy was we had to ask and that's what we did. But all those phil collins fans liked to think they were pulling a fast one on the stupid dock guy so who was I to ruin their night? I'd just let them revel in their little delusion and get on with getting them empty so we both could go home and get on with our lives.

Not all policies are good policies. This is true at just about every company. But its very rare that the grunts on the front lines have anything to do with creating those policies. If they're following a dumb policy its because that's what they have to do to keep their job and keep a roof over their head and food on the table. If you get your panties in a wad and take it out on the dock grunt, you're doing nothing but making yourself look bad.

 

Sounds like Amazon. Safety is all well and good but they take it way too far. I already know somebody here will say you can never be too safe, but they really test that theory.

2 wheel chocks, 2 jack stands, have to unhook, glad hand locked, ICC bumper locked and 3 cones placed in front of trailer and TWO people who walk around together to check that all of this is done, every single time. Completely overkill. I dont care what anybody says, it takes them an hour just to come out, do their safety crap and take the bills from you (drivers are never allowed inside).

And its not for high value freight or heavy freight or anything. Stupid in my opinion. And their yards are always littered with cones, chocks and jack stands making it like an obstacle course. But it probably makes some bean counter feel good.