Super-sized order of blame pie: who gets the biggest slice?

The receiver was supposed to, but they somehow missed it. This particular receiver has a reputation for problems of this type.

It was too dark in the trailer to see with the naked eye what may or may not be up in the nose. But of course, thanks to Thomas Edison, that's not a valid excuse.

Bingo.

I don't know the exact answer to that question because I wasn't there, but my theory is dispatch was too preoccupied with whatever was on his front burner to pay enough attention to what I wrote, to then put two and two together and realize that something had gone terribly wrong.

Turns out I'm the driver who found the freight. With hindsight, I was too nonchalant with my report. Instead of merely describing what was there---pallet of freight in nose, no bol, no seal---I should have SHOUTED ABOUT IT and sent photos immediately. So I get at least a sliver of the pie.

 

Not only did those who ship the freight regard it as time-sensitive, they paid for such, so I'm still going with time-sensitive.

 

Yes and yes. The pallet was destined for the dock the driver was backed into---not a different location.

 

Even though I'm not a flatbed driver, I still love this answer!

 

Well put. While I don't know him all that well, I do like the driver and consider him a competent guy, so my first inclination was to defend his actions completely. However after giving it more thought, I realized there was no getting around the fact that it was a serious slip up on his part to not do whatever it took to make sure the trailer was empty when he departed from the receiver (as soon as one of our other drivers pointed this out to me, I immediately knew he was right).

The driver who left with the pallet is pretty young (in his 20s I'd say), which probably helps to explain how he let it happen. (You learn something new every day on this job no matter how long you've been out here.) I strongly doubt he'll ever let that happen again the rest of his truck-driving career, and I fully expect he will be out here as long as he wants to. Despite the slip up he's got a good head on his shoulders.

 

This too is very well put. Anytime you drop an empty it's imperative you make absolutely sure you're not leaving the next driver with a nasty surprise.

 

Exactly. This is a key fact---all too often receivers will replace whatever they did want, with all manner of things they don't want, in your nice big 53' trailer that's conveniently backed into their dock.

 

Actually it wasn't OS&D. The pallet was part of what the receiver was supposed to receive.

Just to keep things simple, in my story I changed what the receiver told the driver to "we're done now" from what the driver told me they actually said, which was "the trailer is empty." This minor difference doesn't relieve the driver of any responsibility at all, but it might increase the receiver's culpability a little.

 

So far I haven't informed anyone in management (besides my boss) that the freight was discovered when it was. And my boss will likely never incriminate himself by voluntarily letting anyone know about my first email to him.

My silence to management isn't because I think I will get in trouble if I say something, it's because even though he really should be doing something else (he's not a very competent FM, frankly), I'd rather not be the one who piles on the straw that gets him fired if I can help it. I've heard he's already on the chopping block, so it could easily bring down the axe if they find out he bears much of the blame for the delivery delay's excessive length.

I'm pretty sure he is aware of his own culpability in the matter (I reminded him over the phone about my first email right after he received my second one). Once he finally understood what had happened, he also knew immediately that he needed to write the driver up for his not making sure the trailer was empty at the receiver, so he did. Interestingly, the driver then went above him with an appeal. The driver hasn't heard anything back in six weeks, so maybe they let him off the hook.

My hope is this whole thing is over with now and everyone has moved on and learned from the experience. The freight did eventually get delivered; it was about a month late, but it did at least get delivered.