Dock People

Why do dock people not care that truck drivers have scheduled pickups and deliveries, limited time to drive, only so many "awake hours", and their COMPANY IS NOT ONLY CONTRACTED TO SHIP FREIGHT BUT PAID TO DO SO IN A TIMELY MANNER!!!!!!! As a driver I never understood how employees can say "**** WHAT THIS COMPANY IS PAYING ME FOR...I'M GOING TO MOVE THIS FREIGHT WHENEVER I ****IN FEEL LIKE IT!!!!!" Any other career /job will not tolerate this attitude and behavior but "Dock People"...??? THEY RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think it's that they necessarily don't care, but more about them not being informed. Most people don't have the slightest clue about our hours of service requirements, etc.

Yea I can agree. I worked at Walmart & Lowes as well as a few clothing stores like Burlington coat factory etc. while working there unloading these trucks I never knew anything about the drivers time. In fact by them backing in we never saw the driver so I just assume they drop it off & then come back later to pick it up once we were done

I worked 3rd shift stock for Kroger for nearly a year. I never saw a driver once.

I worked 3rd shift stock for Kroger for nearly a year. I never saw a driver once.

For the few b and m I do frequent its kind of setup so that even if you saw me you wouldn't know I was the driver because I only deal with one representative and otherwise im just shopping or using the restroom while waiting.

Well as stated above alot probably don't have a clue. Others your right just flat don't care. I was never so happy than the day I quit bumping docks. I have been told I'm not their problem and even forgotten about completely on 2 seperate occassions. Most dock workers are minimum wage earners and really don't care. I've had it take 6 hrs to pull 6 pallets before. My best was a full trailer and they had it off in 23 minutes. The ones that I really enjoyed were the ones who expected you to be on time, then hold you so long your clock expired and demanded you leave the property immediately after they were done, usually in about 6-7 hrs. Tank farm folks are much easier to get along with.

With the exception of "paid lumpers" (people that get paid by the truck to load/unload), everyone there is an hourly/salaried employee. They punch a clock and have to be there for their shift, regardless of how much actual loading gets done. PAID LUMPERS work harder than salaried employees, because they more they unload (truck-wise) the more they make. This is not a debate on the whole "lumpers are a scam" issue - just a fact.

Then there's those clock-punching employees. They are either unaware of, or could care less about a drivers HOS restrictions, or the fact that we get paid when the wheels are rolling.

That being said - you can often put in for "detention pay", when the contract with the shipper/receiver calls for it (assuming you have an appointment time, and met it), after a certain number of specified hours waiting after arrival. Whether or not you will actually GET PAID detention - depends on the contract and your company.

The excessive wait times (with regards to pay and HOS restrictions) have been brought up in congressional hearings, have been pushed in hearing with the ATA, OOIDA , FMCSA - and there have even been suggestions of MANDATORY REGULATIONS with regards to shippers and excessive waits/pay/etc.

But nothing has really changed - nor is it likely to.

Carriers aren't going to want to lose customers because they nail them with "up-charges" for detention time. It's a competitive business, and shippers that abuse drivers with excessive wait times, will just find a company that won't hit them with these fees.

Like it or not - as important as drivers are in actually MOVING THE FREIGHT - we are still low man on the totem pole with regards to respecting the utilization of our "on duty/not driving" time (HOS clock) - where "technically" - all time spent at a shipper/receiver is ON DUTY (even though most drivers will go to Off Duty or Sleeper after arrival, to at least save on their 70 hour clock).

Rick