Had My First Rejected Load

Well get to the receiver in plenty of time. Arrived at 9:30pm for a 4:00am delivery. Went to the guard shack to see if they could take me early (large grocery chain in Phoenix) . Security tells me they don't have an appointment for me so I head over to their overnight parking area for a few zzz's. They said they would call me when I could dock. About 2 am they called and had me dock. This was a flower load so I knew it was time sensitive. At 5 I heard the forklift running in the trailer so I thought I might get out of there at a decent time. So I wait until around 8am and I hear the forklift back in the trailer. Saying to myself all the while this can't be good. Receiver calls us in and says 167 cases are rejected. I ask why and the lumper says to see the buyer standing over there. I ask the buyer and he said he already talked to the shipper. I said that's fine but my company will want to know as well. Poor quality and storms off. So called claims and told them. They called back and told me to deliver them to a florist in Phoenix. Florist was ecstatic to get 100cases of roses and 67 cases of lilies for free. And what did I get? Aggravation lol

Yes sir welcome to trucking =) At least you didn't have to drive back to the shipper with the rejects or entire load. During TNT training, we picked up a repowered meat load in South Carolina that a Wil-Trans driver picked. I was asleep when we met the guy at a rest area near Manning but evidently the Wil-Trans driver popped the seal to switch or get his load locks he put on out. He replaced the seal with a Prime company seal and made up a story and wrote on the BOL that a security guard at the 01 took off the seal to check the load. It was a BS story that eventually got the driver fired.

Anyway trainer called FM to tell him about the seal thing and he told him to go ahead and head out since it was a meat parts load that was loaded in bins, not packages/boxes. We took the load out to Missouri and the Receiver ended up refusing the load after sitting us there for 10 hours and talking with the Shipper and Prime. We ended up taking the load back to the shipper where they had a whole team of white collars, ready to see the load, cameras in hand, snapping photos of everything. Not sure what they ended up doing with the meat, but they probably tossed it. I don't know for sure.

Anyway Brian, sucks you had to go thru that but it's the first of more if you stay trucking long enough. I only have 4 or so total years OTR and have only had 2 loads get completely refused and had to find either another buyer (watermelons) or had to take back to the shipper.

Shipper:

The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

TNT:

Trainer-N-Trainee

Prime Inc has their own CDL training program and it's divided into two phases - PSD and TNT.

The PSD (Prime Student Driver) phase is where you'll get your permit and then go on the road for 10,000 miles with a trainer. When you come back you'll get your CDL license and enter the TNT phase.

The TNT phase is the second phase of training where you'll go on the road with an experienced driver for 30,000 miles of team driving. You'll receive 14¢ per mile ($700 per week guaranteed) during this phase. Once you're finished with TNT training you will be assigned a truck to run solo.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Thanks Terry I know it's all part of the job. By no means am I upset. Just thought I share the story since everyone is going to face it one day. I don't think I ever seen a happier person when that florist receiving all those roses before Mothers Day for free! Hopefully he makes a killing, seemed like a real nice guy.

evidently the Wil-Trans driver popped the seal to switch or get his load locks he put on out. He replaced the seal with a Prime company seal and made up a story and wrote on the BOL that a security guard at the 01 took off the seal to check the load. It was a BS story that eventually got the driver fired.

Thanks. ALWAYS appreciate being taught.

Moral of Terry's meat story- unauthorized breaking of seal will get you fired. The written lie was a second black mark against the fired driver. Probably verbal lies also.

If the fired driver would have had patience, would have contacted his manager, AND obeyed his written instructions, then as far as the fired driver, he would have kept his job. Also this driver may have taken a couple hundred dollar loss of his lock(s).

Assumption that what Terry wrote is what happened. I'm not challenging or questioning what Terry wrote.

This is a "crossed the line" event like DUI.

I assume the fired driver will NEVER be hired by another company that sees this info in the system. Probably have to go with a smaller local company- maybe like driving a garbage truck. There's nothing wrong with being a garbage truck driver.

For myself this is something else to check. After sleeping at a stop to check the seal to make sure it has not been tampered with. If there is tampering immediately contact the manager in writing and be patient.

DUI:

Driving Under the Influence

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Well my post didn't come out the way I posted. Or typing error.

I havent had an entire load rejected yet, but my first one was pretty good.

Delivered a Campbell's load, and out of an entire +40k trailer, one single jar, in a 9-jar case had cracked. So they rejected it, Swift told me to leave the property and dispose of it. So at my next stop I threw away 6-jars of Pace Picante Salsa.

I love that Pace Picante. I would have thrown it in the fridge!