The World Is My Dock

As a flatbedder I never know what kind of location I'll be delivering to. We don't bump docks. Well, on a very rare occasion I have, but we typically drive inside buildings, deliver on the street (I've done this lots of times in Chicago), go inside huge warehouses with overhead cranes, and many times deliver out in the open at jobsites. I once delivered a load of styrofoam sheeting out in the middle of a pasture. Crazy stuff like that keeps this job interesting!

Today I delivered a load of aluminum pipe to a 30 acre construction site where a new electrical substation is being built.

Tomorrow who knows?

Old School, what you do is just a pipe dream to me. LOL

Old School, what you do is just a pipe dream to me. LOL

With a little bit of determination, and a sprinkling of insanity, the flatbed life can be yours, too!

That is one of the things I love about flatbed, so many diverse locations, we get to see.

Since you deliver to so many different kinds of locations, do you flatbed drivers often find the QC's directions misleading? I mean, it sometimes has difficulty directing drivers to the average warehouse street address. I'd imagine some of the places you go to are hard to pinpoint.

Since you deliver to so many different kinds of locations, do you flatbed drivers often find the QC's directions misleading? I mean, it sometimes has difficulty directing drivers to the average warehouse street address. I'd imagine some of the places you go to are hard to pinpoint.

That is when I use specific GPS coordinates. I use Google earth to get the coordinates, and then enter them into my routing. There have been times, that I have had to take 10 to 20 mile "turnarounds" because I forgot to do this, and went by the address in the dispatch.

do you flatbed drivers often find the QC's directions misleading?

This is especially true when dealing with new construction sites. I will use Google Earth just like Danielsahn, and I will usually call the job superintendent to get any other details I might need to know.

This particular location I delivered to today was five miles further down the road from where the GPS wanted to place it.

Old School,

Post likes these about the regular adventures in trucking, add to the appeal of the lifestyle for people like me who can only experience it through seasoned drivers like you.

Thanks.

With jobsites and odd places, it's best to get in contact with the shipper/receiver. Even better if you can talk to the person who I'll actually be doing the loading/unloading. Occasionally however, I would end up delivering to the Amish who didn't really use phones. That was always stressful. One of my last deliveries with Maverick went to some guys house in the sticks in Ohio. There were chickens and pigs on my tarp while I tried to fold it. Barefoot kids and abandoned vehicles, the whole nine.

Old School----

You do have a very interesting job. And if my knee wasn't so messed up, I think I would like you division. My Qualcomm has sent me into residential 3 times last week. The street names were the same on one side of the road as the industrial side. Two of them you couldn't tell it was residential until you were already committed.

But as you say using Google Earth surely saves the day.

Raptor

That's what I love about my job. So many different types of deliveries. Never want to bump a dock. Gross.