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ABF | Lay off

grovercxl said:
While I agree that many of the Amazon deliveries are a pain in the neck, back, and even lower extremities, they have probably kept at least two people employed at our shop during the usual slow times. Here locally we do lots of residential and Upack deliveries and would miss that volume in December. That being said, I know our dispatcher will not miss the appointment messes Amazon creates for our lone liftgate.
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In Indy we are pulling from 3 warehouses of Amazon. On Monday we can get 5 or 6 trailers total because of the weekend orders & Amazon doesn't do outbound freight on the weekends with us. Rest of the week about 3 or 4 trailers a day. All outbound freight with an average of about 40 bills per trailer. One of these warehouses is Menlo Logistics owned by Con-Way which is shipping large items for Amazon. This warehouse is located 1.5 miles from an Amazon warehouse (1.4 mil sq ft) in Whitestown just north of Indy. Go figure. It would hurt us in the fact that 4 or 5 people a night would not come in early on overtime to work the freight. From Estes terminal in Greenwood to Whitestown is about 30 miles. With Amazon very picky about being on time with our 4 pm pulls, Estes might find it difficult to be on time. A lot of us think we will lose this out bound freight but regain some of it back in 6 months or less because of service failures & or damage. This type of back & forth between Amazon & ABF has gone on like this for a long time. As much as Amazon likes pricing they like being on time even more. All of it will come back to us & more if Estes can’t produce the level of service we have given them in the Indy market. But if you have seen how they load these 53’ trailers on the outbound shift & the 300lb treadmills stacked 3 high on the floor, you can see why the dock guys won’t miss this freight @ all. Von.
 
vongrimmenstein said:
But if you have seen how they load these 53’ trailers on the outbound shift & the 300lb treadmills stacked 3 high on the floor, you can see why the dock guys won’t miss this freight @ all. Von.
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It's all forklift freight to me. :1036316054: But I'm not working the dock so it's nothing but sore backs to me and those meager tips won't covered to chiropractor bills.
 
I have questioned the long term policy of installing a new lift gate on an old trailer. I was told the reason was that a new trailer would take too long to depreciate at one terminal & the terminal managers didn't want the cost added to their budget. I spent many hours working on lift gates that didn't work both in the shop & road calls at drop points. It seemed that when we got the problems solved the trailers would be moved & another sent to a trailer modification facility for the same. I don't see why a new trailer with a lift gate installed properly when the trailer is built can't be depreciated over a ten year period. I know the bean counters don't think like we do but surely they can be shown that the old trailers with new lift gates are more costly in the long run.
On the positive side I have had several overtime hours going out to make repairs.
 
DCM_Doc said:
I have questioned the long term policy of installing a new lift gate on an old trailer. I was told the reason was that a new trailer would take too long to depreciate at one terminal & the terminal managers didn't want the cost added to their budget. I spent many hours working on lift gates that didn't work both in the shop & road calls at drop points. It seemed that when we got the problems solved the trailers would be moved & another sent to a trailer modification facility for the same. I don't see why a new trailer with a lift gate installed properly when the trailer is built can't be depreciated over a ten year period. I know the bean counters don't think like we do but surely they can be shown that the old trailers with new lift gates are more costly in the long run.
On the positive side I have had several overtime hours going out to make repairs.
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It's hard to tell what they're thinking on such matters. I have heard of new(er) trailers floating around with gates on them and I do believe that it is the BM's call, as is the case with getting newer tractors in. These guys aren't business men so they don't necessarily make the best choices. One thing that I surmise is that they see our older lift gate trailers getting beat up by tree limbs and can't justify putting a shiny new trailer into service to watch it get turned to scrap. I'm just glad that the gate comes down on a steady level attitude instead of trying to dump the freight off and that it's a controlled drop, not the rapid plummet to the ground like it used to be.
 
Try a 350lb treadmill on a u pack ramp! Had that yesterday. 60 year old woman standing in front of the box with her hands stuck out telling me she is going to help as I'm coming down the ramp. That was fun.
 
White said:
So, did you get you some?
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:hilarious: You don't have to be a comedian to survive in this business but it sure does help.
series60 said:
Try a 350lb treadmill on a u pack ramp! Had that yesterday. 60 year old woman standing in front of the box with her hands stuck out telling me she is going to help as I'm coming down the ramp. That was fun.
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I like it when they stand around with their arms folded and commend me on a job well done. :clapping: Best one I heard after dropping my nuts on a ****ing storage shed up the rough ass driveway while they watched was, "You sure do a lot for your money." Of course she was referring to my paycheck 'cause she didn't give me a tip.
 
LS1GTO said:
You forgot the :shit:ters... And the 2200lb skids of hardwood flooring...
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It is hard to beat 2200 lbs of hardwood flooring gently listing to the left on a #35 poplar skid. I really enjoy it when it's lengthwise...8' long, 48" long pallet jack and a 5' long lift gate. I know I don't need to fully describe all the pleasures like the hinges on the gate that stick up to grab the skid or the angle, one way or another, that jams the pallet up on its way off of the gate. :wee:
 
ABFer said:
It is hard to beat 2200 lbs of hardwood flooring gently listing to the left on a #35 poplar skid. I really enjoy it when it's lengthwise...8' long, 48" long pallet jack and a 5' long lift gate. I know I don't need to fully describe all the pleasures like the hinges on the gate that stick up to grab the skid or the angle, one way or another, that jams the pallet up on its way off of the gate. :wee:
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Try an 8' long by 5' wide greenhouse that weighs 2500lbs... and the customer wants you to back the truck into the field and set it down right there... Or we all know about the guy with the steep driveway that thinks you are Superman and don't need any help while you stand there wondering how the hell you are getting the skid of floor tile to the garage door while he stands there watching and waiting... I gave up and told him that he can either help me or I can hand the cartons off to him one at a time to get the weight of the skid down so I could move the pallet... He reluctantly helped break the skid down...
 
ABFer said:
It is hard to beat 2200 lbs of hardwood flooring gently listing to the left on a #35 poplar skid. I really enjoy it when it's lengthwise...8' long, 48" long pallet jack and a 5' long lift gate. I know I don't need to fully describe all the pleasures like the hinges on the gate that stick up to grab the skid or the angle, one way or another, that jams the pallet up on its way off of the gate. :wee:
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Had that last week !! Contractor watched while my feet were spinning on the floor like a bugs bunny cartoon !!! He finally said "do you need help" ? So help me he does, and when we get near the lift gate, he says " will it hold all the weight " ? I said , i don't know ,but if i were you, i would'nt be standing on it when the flooring gets out there !!!!
 
LS1GTO said:
Try an 8' long by 5' wide greenhouse that weighs 2500lbs... and the customer wants you to back the truck into the field and set it down right there... Or we all know about the guy with the steep driveway that thinks you are Superman and don't need any help while you stand there wondering how the hell you are getting the skid of floor tile to the garage door while he stands there watching and waiting... I gave up and told him that he can either help me or I can hand the cartons off to him one at a time to get the weight of the skid down so I could move the pallet... He reluctantly helped break the skid down...
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I think that we can all agree that our jobs pretty much such when it comes to these goofy-ass residential garbage deliveries. In NO WAY do we get paid remotely enough to deal with this stuff. I also think I'm in the super-majority when I say I won't miss Amazon, or their unrelenting demands on how we route and run our routes. We 'kow-tow' way too much for Amazon, and we are still losing it. Good riddance.
 
Maybe they'll see a concurrent drop in injury and back claims,........ Less cable/phone line reports,......Less trailer roof damage from from those shady tree-lined residential streets. .......You're absolutely right that we don't get paid near enough for what we do,........And don't forget to keep a pleasant smile on your face and refrain from snide remarks even when you're dealing with an absolute dolt who,......in one instance I have in mind,........ never saw hand tools in his life, and was enraptured by the workings of a ratchet wrench,....and who offered me $20.00 if I would come back to his house after work and help him assemble his kid's swing set.......There should be a contractual premium for dealing with idiots.......
 
canaryinthemine said:
Maybe they'll see a concurrent drop in injury and back claims,........ Less cable/phone line reports,......Less trailer roof damage from from those shady tree-lined residential streets. .......You're absolutely right that we don't get paid near enough for what we do,........And don't forget to keep a pleasant smile on your face and refrain from snide remarks even when you're dealing with an absolute dolt who,......in one instance I have in mind,........ never saw hand tools in his life, and was enraptured by the workings of a ratchet wrench,....and who offered me $20.00 if I would come back to his house after work and help him assemble his kid's swing set.......There should be a contractual premium for dealing with idiots.......
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Should be an accessorily charge
 
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