Well My Day Is Off To A Rough Start

I’ve certainly never heard of somebody getting the boot from a shipper/receiver because they took awhile to back. That’s just the nature of the beast. I have however heard of drivers getting the boot for being confrontational or not polite. But maybe that’s just me.

The only time I heard a driver get banned from a Receiver/Consignee is because theywere being belligerent to the Consignee's employees, and this was at our biggest customer. Doh! He was promptly terminated. Being banned for "taking too long to dock"? Wow!

I’ve certainly never heard of somebody getting the boot from a shipper/receiver because they took awhile to back. That’s just the nature of the beast. I have however heard of drivers getting the boot for being confrontational or not polite. But maybe that’s just me.

Went to go drop my load off this morning and couldn't bump the dock to save my life. Itnwas small dock with no lines to follow there was about a 2 foot puddle of water infont of it but indimt feel like that's an excuse. Took me an hour to get in the door, the reciever was ****ed I held them up, I got my ass chewed out they took down my truck number and banned me from the place. I got my truck in the hole just fine, I just couldn't bump the dock straight everytime I was a couple inches off. I ended up sliding my tandems back to the front and had a very nice million mile driver from Knight came over and gave me a hand getting it in, and it took a few times even then to get it bumped straight. I had trouble the other day bumping a dock straight too, I don't know what's going on with me I'm usually way better then this.

I believe you. lol, The last place I worked for was pretty stingy about *their* time. It was a very, uh, how do I word it, crap, what's the word, let's just say, we were constantly on the move and didn't have time for delays.

Anyway, one of our offices was crazy. You had to jack knife into the dock. After you got backed in there was maybe 15 feet in front of you, if your tractor was straight. And you'd get in trouble with the business next door if you jumped the curb or hit their fence which had happened before. And, you couldn't pull a trailer out or back in if a trailer was sitting right next to your dock. Crazy.....

It was a pain in the **s to go in there at night, especially after a 14 hour day.

So, yeah, they had someone that took 2 hours to get backed in. They banned him from the place.

I sent my FM a message about what happened, he or someone in the carrier had a talk with the customer, I assumed the customer probably called right away.i guess I'm not banned the person working shipping and receiving didn't have the power to do that, but they aren't happy I held things. They had a limited number of docks and alot of drivers trying to get in. I was never once not polite, I remained professional the whole time. I wasn't in the slightest bit upset with the customer, they had every right to be upset with me. I'm more upset with the fact thus happened, I feel like I am way better then this, the reason I was having trouble bumping the dock straight was it was crooked with no lines and the weatherstripping covered the whole door making it hard to see if i was straight or not. I know that's not an excuse and i hope it never happens again.

Some of y’all need to lighten up lol.

Some of y’all need to lighten up lol.

Agreed

Back about a month and a half ago I had one of those loads that are late when its assigned to you, can't physically deliver on time no matter how fast you could drive. I had an 11pm appointment (they open at 11pm) and it wasnt my first time delivering there. I got there at 5:30am, bumped the dock, gave my paperwork to the forklift driver and stood there as he cussed about my being there. Mind you it's a small place in WV and not another truck in sight. I politely explained that if it was a problem I'd happily leave with the paper rolls and have the company reschedule the appointment. He said no to that then proceeded to call me a Mother****** as he rolled into my trailer. The only solace in that situation is that my oil separator either cracked or blew a gasket and. I probably left a few gallons of oil on his docks driveway. (I know, kind of crappy of me to be happy about that right?) A few miles down the road my truck shut itself off, roadside came and put 8 gallons (yes gallons not quarts) in so I could drive 4 miles to their shop for repairs. I didn't actually see oil on their drive as I didnt know it happened yet but I got a first warning as I started up and pulled up from their dock lol.

There is a Lowes DC in Orlando where you must go around the building to drop and pickup an empty even though you can see where you're going right in front of you. They have a do not enter sign on the cut through since it's the employees walkway. If you cut through they will call your company and ban you from returning.

I've always struggled when there were no lines. Sometimes you can use the cuts in the cement. Sometimes you just have to get out see what angle the trailer is so you know how to straighten. I will look for a point in front of me a trash can, a car anything directly in front to aim for and center my truck for that point!

As old school points out I think a lot of it has to do with your attitude. One of my deliveries was to a farm and I had a back in off of a two-lane road with no shoulders. I completely tore up the dirt on either side of the driveway and the guy had to pull the post out so that I could back in. The guy said his son was all bent out of shape that I'd torn up their yard but the dad was really cool about it and said that's not that hard to fix. I think he could see I was doing the best I could and my attitude was very professional.

100 percent agreed, met some folks wound up tighter than an alarm clock.

Zach, I had a REALLY rough backing at a Home Depot store yesterday, total time spent there was about an hour, 20 to 30 min of it was backing. The rest was just following that stores protocols (which were a bit on the type A side of you ask me ,but meh, I followed their instructions to the letter). The dock foreman there was simply happy I did precisely as he asked and didn't hit anything.

Count this as a 1 off and move on kiddo, there's bigger fish to fry and better freight out there. Chances are you may never even see that place again, but if you do you'll understand what to do better.

Some of y’all need to lighten up lol.