Hospital Deliveries

[MikeJ]

How do hospital deliveries work?
Here in Cleveland Sysco sends a 53' trailer to some of the hospitals and the hospitals will take the entire trailer. Is that kind of delivery all day? How does all that work? Do you have to take the stuff all over the hospital or does the loading dock at the hospital take the stuff where it has to go?
Obviously I would figure that is considered a dock stop so do you just pull the pallets off? I could not imagine a hospital having enough U-Boats handy to accomodate the 2,000 cases that could be loaded on a 53 foot trailer.

 

[Lazlo]

I do a couple, pallet drops for the most part. Smaller regional or specialty type hospitals don't get as much and are usually two-wheeled here. Anywhere from 4 to 17 pallets (250-700cs) for the ones I do, then run the rest of the route. 10-11 more stops, 500 or more cases left depending on the day
Problem is getting the freezer out at first stop. I sometimes have to unload an entire trailer onto a dock to get 1 or 2 freezer pallets then reload the whole thing. Used to load those on the back refrigerated but now they don't because they want it all kept in the freezer. SYSCO logic dictates it's somehow better to have a full trailer sitting on an unrefrigerated dock for 45min rather than run 2 pallets of frozen at 36degrees to my first stop. Oh well, they don't pay me to think.
Still get full case rate here for pallet drops unlike some of the other houses.

 

[foodguy]

Dock stops are so easy. The only down size is when you have to unloaded you whole trailer. You also got to be carefully not to dump the pallet. But most hospital are easy.

 

[grocerythrower]

We have all the major ones here, one takes an entire 40' then the driver comes back to the yard and grabs another delivery trlr, another gets a delivery every day, loaded on his regular delivery trlr, the freezer is almost always on the right side so after the hospital is done your through the trlr.

At our house we have a reduced case rate for dock stops.