Yard Jockey

Ive done a bit of yard jockeying in my time, I actually was assigned a brass foundry as a shipper jockey with my OTR tractor once. Big fat FLD 120 trying to stuff 53's in downtown buffalo. Oh joy. Three days of it.

The other jockey work that I found satisfactory was here in Jacksonville Arkansas. Herd 25 trailers, 3 docks at a production building move over to the shipping building half a mile down the road with 15 docks and parking pad. Start with trailer one, finish with 25 start over with one. round and round until you are told to go home sometime tonight. Nice tractor too. One of the last newer ford 9000's which I think are not made anymore. Turns like a witch.

Pay? eh, I don't recall because at the time It was more important to get into a semi and break the rust off. Once I discovered that I could back in one move I enjoyed the rest of the day.

The last jockey position is actually as a crew boss in Adesa, herd of CDL temps put em into the trucks train em fast for auto or manual as needed. Make sure they don't do anything stupid. Any trailers on the tractors, those belonged to me. I take em into that barn for the sale. And finally older equiptment requiring a certain touch was my problem also. Many new truckers don't know what air start is. So I introduce em to it.

 

If you move reefers you will likely be handed a clipboard to check unit temperatures, record time of day, fuel level in unit etc for the whole yard....

There is no such thing as "Not my job" when you are a goat.

 

No harm, Im the idiot. Coke plant = reefers. What I was trying to illustrate is that a yard goat on the property will be first to a problem. Management comes out of the air conditioned offices later if the problem is big enough.

I had one driver unhooking his 5th wheel while sleeping leaned over the steering wheel. I hooked my steer into his right hand drives and dragged him around the dirt a bit. It got him stopped when he stalled.

pulled the glad hands right out of the trailer along the pigtail etc.

Nice little rodeo, but the problem was 6 gasoline tankers across the dirt that he might have run into while sleeping.

 

Dude, if you have to turn the reefers on, really its no sweat. Just gotta hit the button. Filling the reefer tanks is the job of the driver that brings it in.

 

First, thanks for your service.

Yeah, reefers arent too bad. In all honesty you shouldnt have to turn them on. The drivers probably do it when they drop it. One thing about reefers though ar their doors are thicker and stick out further so easier to catch them on the door rippers, if Coke has them.

In my position I move dry vans, reefers, containers, and a few tankers. Everything from 28 footers to 53's.

 

Thank you for your service.

I hope you take my posts with a grain of salt. I am a deaf man who somehow escaped the confines of the state and restrictions imposed by family attitudes... (You are doing what? now? On MY HIGHWAY?!)... and get away with it this far.

Take it easy, all work that is learned has a curve to learn it. You will find that once learned Jockey goat work is relatively mindless. Managers will be the ones to tell you what buttons to push and when as you plot to really push THEIR button from time to time.

 

Were they not hiring because you were in Florida or because you needed to be home every weekend