ABF | Trailer sleds

What about cramming as many bills as possible into the trailer, and production numbers? Will they load a sled with only four or five bills to make service? Will they load empty sleds on top of each at locations with more inbound than outbound?
I’m thinking of the terminal I just retired from, and there is literally NO room to start stock piling these empty sleds if they start piling up. Not to mention the fact that running them down the ramp to the yard will be a challenge...especially when the dock is full of freight (every morning) and the ramp to the yard is blocked. There’s only one, MAYBE two doors, where there’s enough room to actually slide those things out to strip them, and even then getting to them from both sides will be damn near impossible.

I’m headed to Costco in a few days to buy a big box of microwave popcorn, a portable microwave oven, and a nice comfy chair to take down to my old terminal. Gonna set up the operation, kick back in the chair, and enjoy the show!
 
"Wait till someone puts a 5,000 generator in the nose end and shoves it in . That would be fun to get out of the trailer"

It shouldn't matter as there are steel rollers under the sleds that engage when the coupler is attached.

The sleds cannot be stacked on top of each other is what we were told. Only 1 per pup empty or full but as others have said you can unload them while still in the trailer.

They are interesting
 
"Wait till someone puts a 5,000 generator in the nose end and shoves it in . That would be fun to get out of the trailer"

It shouldn't matter as there are steel rollers under the sleds that engage when the coupler is attached.

The sleds cannot be stacked on top of each other is what we were told. Only 1 per pup empty or full but as others have said you can unload them while still in the trailer.

They are interesting
It is a new and interesting way of moving LTL shipments.
 
It is a new and interesting way of moving LTL shipments.
Innovative, to say the least. I hope the plan is to ‘test market’ these contraptions before they go system-wide. I wasn’t around when the Cubes came on...maybe some of you could share some of the nightmares you encountered with those in the early days???

The one positive to these things that I see right out of the gate is that they’re basically a ‘trailer’ you can load/unload from three sides, rather than just the rear.
 
In an attempt to be on the 'leading edge of technology' the maintenance department at times was on the 'bleeding edge' being guinea piged to try something new & at times unproven. A few times it was costly.
I think the company has thought through this new concept & decided to run with it. I think the new long trailers are a part of this. Change is necessary to stay profitable with an ever changing market.
 
"Wait till someone puts a 5,000 generator in the nose end and shoves it in . That would be fun to get out of the trailer"

It shouldn't matter as there are steel rollers under the sleds that engage when the coupler is attached.

The sleds cannot be stacked on top of each other is what we were told. Only 1 per pup empty or full but as others have said you can unload them while still in the trailer.

They are interesting
1 per pup? So they can’t fit side by side?
 
Innovative, to say the least. I hope the plan is to ‘test market’ these contraptions before they go system-wide. I wasn’t around when the Cubes came on...maybe some of you could share some of the nightmares you encountered with those in the early days???

The one positive to these things that I see right out of the gate is that they’re basically a ‘trailer’ you can load/unload from three sides, rather than just the rear.

I can see it now, the guy loading on the left side goes over the half-way line and the guy loading on the right side gets annoyed and starts arguing with the guy on the left side and then all he** breaks loose as a brawl starts! :hilarious:
 
Why not just go to curtain sided trailers and a whole bunch of guys can load/unload at the same time!

curtain-side-truck-creme-and-green.jpg
 
"1 per pup? So they can’t fit side by side?"

They are 26' long and will just fit inside a roll door trailer

You can put two in the new 53' trailers which is why they are swing doors. It makes it easier to push them on
 
In retrospect, this takes me back to the seventies when I was working for an airfreight forwarder. This is how airfreight is loaded into airplanes. With different size preloaded containers.
fN2sod9.jpg

Way back in the day when UPS did retail deliveries for department stores, the stores loaded parcels into wheeled cages which were then rolled into UPS vehicles called "cage cars", large, boxy vehicles with a seat and an engine. Wish I had taken a picture when I was there.
 
In retrospect, this takes me back to the seventies when I was working for an airfreight forwarder. This is how airfreight is loaded into airplanes. With different size preloaded containers.
fN2sod9.jpg

Back in the day, the company for which I worked, contracted relocation services for a company called Jaycor. They developed explosive resistant containment pods for this application.
 
I’m thinking of the terminal I just retired from, and there is literally NO room to start stock piling these empty sleds if they start piling up. Not to mention the fact that running them down the ramp to the yard will be a challenge...especially when the dock is full of freight (every morning) and the ramp to the yard is blocked. There’s only one, MAYBE two doors, where there’s enough room to actually slide those things out to strip them, and even then getting to them from both sides will be damn near impossible.

I’m headed to Costco in a few days to buy a big box of microwave popcorn, a portable microwave oven, and a nice comfy chair to take down to my old terminal. Gonna set up the operation, kick back in the chair, and enjoy the show!
They tell me they are going to put the sled back into the empty trailer, but in all reality we never have enough trailers, so they will take up a lot of the dock....
 
They tell me they are going to put the sled back into the empty trailer, but in all reality we never have enough trailers, so they will take up a lot of the dock....
Until that trailer is needed for a U-Pack because it’s the only one without a hole in the roof. Either way, the yards will start looking like scrap metal yards. Also, any idea of the cost per unit? And is there any special forklift attachment needed to handle them?
 
Top