Looking for feedback from drivers

NO!!




I vehemently DENY any accountability!
I would NEVER KNOWINGLY attempt to run over any person, dog, building (port-a-loo), structure (dog house) or presidente.

NO!!




I vehemently DENY any accountability!
I would NEVER KNOWINGLY attempt to run over any person, dog, building (port-a-loo), structure (dog house) or presidente.
When, after a lobotomy, would a person then be knowing or unknowing (mental fluctuations) of any applications of, as viewed and/or recorded, misdeeds?
Who then IS Miss Deeds? Is she related to Miss Match or Miss Construed or Miss Applied?

Are you having trouble with stuttering?
 
here's how it works
a ship with 1,000 containers comes to port
the steamship line informs the carriers and brokers
and gives them an appointment to pick them up
all 1,000 appointments are for Monday,8am
1,000 boxes are coming off a ship
there are only 700 chassis available
longshoremen ILA get 2 1/2 hour coffee breaks and 1 90 min lunch break
when you leave the port you go for a final inspection of the equipment
if there is a repair needed, you are sent to the mechanics shop
now think about this....
the inspectors and the mechanics are in the same union.......
again
the inspectors and the mechanics are in the same union......
good luck with you app




I don't usually go into and out of container ports, but I have been in and out of a few in my short tenure as a flatbed driver. One of my earlier experiences was taking a container from one of our larger customer's subcontractors in Washington state to a container port in New York to be put on a ship bound for Russia.

The "high cube" container was placed on a stepdeck trailer, I chained and strapped it down and hit the road.

About 4 days later I arrived at the container port in New York. Now since these places are not familiar to me I have to spend the better part of the morning learning the game. After getting the runaround for several hours, getting yelled at by jerks in fluorescent vests, and other jerks behind what looks like bulletproof glass inside portable buildings that look like they have been there for years, I finally get whatever documents needed to actually enter the chaos that is a container port.

So I drive in and find the line of 1,000 trucks that are there for their 8:00 am appointment (but it is now almost noon), and get in line. No knowing the game I leave the load securement on the can that is on my wagon. When it is finally my turn to get this thing off of the trailer some guy in a white Chevy pickup (that looks like it has been through a demo derby at the local state fairgrounds circle track) yells at me to pull out of the line I have been politely and patiently waiting in, and "Go over there" as he waves his arm in the general direction of an open area, and pull them ****in' straps and chains off, and then get back in line!"

OK.

So I go over to the open area and pull the securement off.

And then I look at the line of 1,000 trucks that are waiting for their 8:00 am appointment.

I look at my watch.

It is almost 2 pm.

I back up to one of the light posts that are on top of large concrete posts. I take out a chain and am about to attach it to the can, when some jerk in a beat up Chevy pickup rolls up and shouts at me, "Hey! What the **** are you doing?"

I tell him, "Well I had an 8:00 am appointment to deliver this load, it is almost 2 pm, and no one here seems interested in taking it off of my wagon. I've wasted an entire day just to get one can off of a truck. So, I'm gonna chain it to that light post and drive out from under it. You can figure out what you want to do with it from there."

There was one of those giant rigs that picks up and stacks cans there in about 30 seconds, the can was off of my wagon, the jerk in the pickup signed my BOL and I left.

I should have done that from the start.

Easy Squeezy

No Pain

No Stain
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Are you having trouble with stuttering?
Yes. I entered a Report Post (at the triangle) and received no reply or confirmation of reception, and the double posting remains.
I'm therefore a stuttering Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie eater, yet I ain't got any Milk...end of line
 
I am hoping to get some input and feedback from the trucking community. I work for a company that is researching frustrations and difficulties most drivers experience. We are very much in the early stages and would love to hear from people in the industry. In addition, we are hoping to create a solution to help relieve some of these issues you face. I appreciate any feedback given and understand that your time is valuable so I will not waste your time. If you could answer a few questions and even add anything additional you feel is important I would be forever thankful.

1. Would a piece of hardware appeal to you if it would help give you visibility of other trucks and routes?

2. Is minimizing the time you have to wait to pick up loads from ports important? What is the average time you wait at ports? Are some ports more difficult than others?

3. Would you be interested in an App/Hardware product that included bill payment from customers, scheduling with ports and various pickups, and also have the potential to route extra loads (Uber for trucking)

Thank you for taking the time and I appreciate everything you do :)

Basics. We only have so many years, spending a good portion of it sitting and waiting at a dock is just wrong. Having no access to a toilet it wrong. But it doesn't really matter how much new hardware you come up with, the problem is the warehouse. When you have a warehouse who gets paid by the hour and the trucker gets paid by the mile? You are going to have the warehouse dragging their feet and the Trucker will be waiting at the dock for free. They will post signs that you can't idle your engine and use your air conditioner and will boast that it is because they are "environmentally responsible". So when you are at a dock in Arizona and it is 115 degrees, you can't idle your truck that you will be sitting in for hours without a toilet.

That is how trucking really is. There is a type of social prejudice toward truckers, they don't want you in their town once you are loaded and if there is a convenient place to park so you can go in and use the restroom? Next week there will be a "No Parking" sign there.
 
I don't usually go into and out of container ports, but I have been in and out of a few in my short tenure as a flatbed driver. One of my earlier experiences was taking a container from one of our larger customer's subcontractors in Washington state to a container port in New York to be put on a ship bound for Russia.

The "high cube" container was placed on a stepdeck trailer, I chained and strapped it down and hit the road.

About 4 days later I arrived at the container port in New York. Now since these places are not familiar to me I have to spend the better part of the morning learning the game. After getting the runaround for several hours, getting yelled at by jerks in fluorescent vests, and other jerks behind what looks like bulletproof glass inside portable buildings that look like they have been there for years, I finally get whatever documents needed to actually enter the chaos that is a container port.

So I drive in and find the line of 1,000 trucks that are there for their 8:00 am appointment (but it is now almost noon), and get in line. No knowing the game I leave the load securement on the can that is on my wagon. When it is finally my turn to get this thing off of the trailer some guy in a white Chevy pickup (that looks like it has been through a demo derby at the local state fairgrounds circle track) yells at me to pull out of the line I have been politely and patiently waiting in, and "Go over there" as he waves his arm in the general direction of an open area, and pull them ****in' straps and chains off, and then get back in line!"

OK.

So I go over to the open area and pull the securement off.

And then I look at the line of 1,000 trucks that are waiting for their 8:00 am appointment.

I look at my watch.

It is almost 2 pm.

I back up to one of the light posts that are on top of large concrete posts. I take out a chain and am about to attach it to the can, when some jerk in a beat up Chevy pickup rolls up and shouts at me, "Hey! What the **** are you doing?"

I tell him, "Well I had an 8:00 am appointment to deliver this load, it is almost 2 pm, and no one here seems interested in taking it off of my wagon. I've wasted an entire day just to get one can off of a truck. So, I'm gonna chain it to that light post and drive out from under it. You can figure out what you want to do with it from there."

There was one of those giant rigs that picks up and stacks cans there in about 30 seconds, the can was off of my wagon, the jerk in the pickup signed my BOL and I left.

I should have done that from the start.

Easy Squeezy

No Pain

No Stain

I delivered the car lifts to Sams Club in Jacksonville NC. I had called the day before to confirm they had a way to remove them from my closed 53 ft van. Upon arrival it was determined they did not have a forklift. The local super said to tie a chain to it and tie it off to that beam. As they tied, I got my bills signed. As instructed I drove out of the loading dock, closed my doors, and drove away.
 
I delivered the car lifts to Sams Club in Jacksonville NC. I had called the day before to confirm they had a way to remove them from my closed 53 ft van. Upon arrival it was determined they did not have a forklift. The local super said to tie a chain to it and tie it off to that beam. As they tied, I got my bills signed. As instructed I drove out of the loading dock, closed my doors, and drove away.

I wonder if anyone ever came back later and tried to file a damage claim?

I moved some equipment for a company that rebuilds refractories from the refinery back to their warehouse where they keep their equipment between jobs. Among the items they placed on my trailer were two of those "JoBox" steel tool boxes.

Now these things were old, rusty, beat up from careless misuse, and one even had a couple forklift holes in it.

When I strapped them down for travel the traps caused the lids to collapse slightly. The guys that loaded me didn't say a word. The trip was only about 50 or 60 miles, and by the time I arrived at the warehouse they had already called. The gal at the warehouse told me that they had contacted her, and asked that she have a look.

So when they unloaded them we took a look. I asked her if she wanted to make a note of it on the BOL and file a claim.

She said no, and signed my BOL, accepting the delivery as OK.

That was last October.

About a month or so ago I got called into the office. Seems the customer had filed a damage claim. Since the boxes were old and beat up they were only going to take $250 out of my safety bonus.

I challenged the claim, maintaining that the customer had chosen to not file a claim and had accepted the delivery of the freight. My manager said that it didn't matter, that the customer could come back as long as 6 months after taking delivery of a load and file a claim. I told them that was ridiculous, that a lot can happen in 6 months, and it was possible that more damage could have happened in that time from careless handling by the customer.

My concerns fell on deaf ears.

And I got screwed out of $250.

For some beat up, rusty old tool boxes.

I guess that when a customer says they are OK with something it doesn't really make any difference, and their word isn't worth anything.
 
I wonder if anyone ever came back later and tried to file a damage claim?

I moved some equipment for a company that rebuilds refractories from the refinery back to their warehouse where they keep their equipment between jobs. Among the items they placed on my trailer were two of those "JoBox" steel tool boxes.

Now these things were old, rusty, beat up from careless misuse, and one even had a couple forklift holes in it.

When I strapped them down for travel the traps caused the lids to collapse slightly. The guys that loaded me didn't say a word. The trip was only about 50 or 60 miles, and by the time I arrived at the warehouse they had already called. The gal at the warehouse told me that they had contacted her, and asked that she have a look.

So when they unloaded them we took a look. I asked her if she wanted to make a note of it on the BOL and file a claim.

She said no, and signed my BOL, accepting the delivery as OK.

That was last October.

About a month or so ago I got called into the office. Seems the customer had filed a damage claim. Since the boxes were old and beat up they were only going to take $250 out of my safety bonus.

I challenged the claim, maintaining that the customer had chosen to not file a claim and had accepted the delivery of the freight. My manager said that it didn't matter, that the customer could come back as long as 6 months after taking delivery of a load and file a claim. I told them that was ridiculous, that a lot can happen in 6 months, and it was possible that more damage could have happened in that time from careless handling by the customer.

My concerns fell on deaf ears.

And I got screwed out of $250.

For some beat up, rusty old tool boxes.

I guess that when a customer says they are OK with something it doesn't really make any difference, and their word isn't worth anything.

even if you had taken "before and after" pics, you would have still been nailed for the "extra" damage, since the before pic, would not have shown the slightly collapsed lids.

the only thing that "might have" saved you, is if the numbnuts boss of yours, saw the "other pre-damage" (from your pics) to those boxes and told them to screw off, as the boxes were already abused, and they can kiss his ass......

and sometimes, a "customer's word" is about as sound as whispering in the wind.
 
like the steel hauler who always signed the bill of lading Rusty P Smoove
 
We're porting some software to newer leftover hardware that's FREE and it will save you several days the next time you pick up a container.

It also has an English to everything converter so you can insult the other drivers in the yard, and their mothers, in their own language.
 
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