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ABF | Abf Kansas City

joes bar and grill said:
It was aftermarket, I went to Pep Boys and bought it and installed it myself
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Hah! You know I was teasing you, Joe........But we are the age that when we talk about 8-tracks and cassettes and CBs,.....we get quizzical looks from the younger crowd......

I suspect 50 years from now, our great-grandchildren will have that same quizzical look, and go: "USB port? Flash drive? SD card?............Steering wheel?........".
 
canaryinthemine said:
Hah! You know I was teasing you, Joe........But we are the age that when we talk about 8-tracks and cassettes and CBs,.....we get quizzical looks from the younger crowd......

I suspect 50 years from now, our great-grandchildren will have that same quizzical look, and go: "USB port? Flash drive? SD card?............Steering wheel?........".
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8-tracks and cassettes?? You kids with your modern electronics! We had real record players in our cars! :smile new:
recordswhiledrivingalskdjflasdjkflj_465_349_int.jpg
 
DCM_Doc said:
I suspect the plans are for more truckload freight in the future. I noticed on the quarterly report Judy mentioned more truck load freight was responsible for softening the covid hit on freight. I was surprised to see the large order of Kenworth screws two years ago. I never thought we would see the return of twin screws in LTL.
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The initial cost & maintaining twin screws is quite a bit more than single axles. There are four more wheels & tires, power divider & extra drive line plus the extra weight. There is a reason for the company spending more for screws when single axles will pull doubles/triples.
 
DCM_Doc said:
The initial cost & maintaining twin screws is quite a bit more than single axles. There are four more wheels & tires, power divider & extra drive line plus the extra weight. There is a reason for the company spending more for screws when single axles will pull doubles/triples.
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At least they didn’t go with the dead axle option. Holland did that for a while.......Sheer hell in snow and ice......

They are widening the Pa. Pike. And they’re planning runs from Chicago straight through to Carlisle......

Twin screws for triples across the pike?
 
canaryinthemine said:
Hah! You know I was teasing you, Joe........But we are the age that when we talk about 8-tracks and cassettes and CBs,.....we get quizzical looks from the younger crowd......

I suspect 50 years from now, our great-grandchildren will have that same quizzical look, and go: "USB port? Flash drive? SD card?............Steering wheel?........".
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We’re already there. I mentioned the word ‘floppy disc’ to our daughters...and promptly got the death stare.
 
driver050319 said:
The word we heard on the twins was they are for the 53's that are being used with the mobile platforms because of the extra weight. That's what they are used for at 050.
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I hear those sleds weigh 5000 lb. True? If so you now can only put 15,000 on the trailer instead of 25,000. That my friend is a lot of lost revenue. von.
 
vongrimmenstein said:
I hear those sleds weigh 5000 lb. True? If so you now can only put 15,000 on the trailer instead of 25,000. That my friend is a lot of lost revenue. von.
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Training for the sleds I had to take, even though they knew my retirement date (wasted money right to the end). ThE numbers people said that even with the lost weight, the fact of less turn around time spent at the dock, 15-20 mins to pull a sled out and put one in, means less trailers needed. So saving on buying and maintaining trailers makes up for lost weight revenue. As we know the numbers people are never wrong lmfao
 
wheelman1857 said:
Training for the sleds I had to take, even though they knew my retirement date (wasted money right to the end). ThE numbers people said that even with the lost weight, the fact of less turn around time spent at the dock, 15-20 mins to pull a sled out and put one in, means less trailers needed. So saving on buying and maintaining trailers makes up for lost weight revenue. As we know the numbers people are never wrong lmfao
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Less trailers needed because of the time it takes to position sleds on the dock? Does this presume all docks will be empty of freight when the Very Large Elephant of a sled is positioned in front of,...or coming out/into a trailer?

Have all docks been renovated to add square footage to accommodate positioning/storage of the sleds?

I only had a mere 42 years of .....handling freight. 98.999% of the time NOT under ideal laboratory conditions. Which,...in My Opinion,....is pretty much how just about every other Freight Handler's real-world experiences are.....

Something doesn't seem quite right. With ABF alone,...I saw continual changes in just the U-Pack equipment,...to reflect various "real-world" conditions. Remember the metal screens with load bars welded to them,...and cardboard zip-tied? The ones they first used for bulkheading U-Packs?.....the "finger-rippers"?....
It seems the Research department comes up with a ....Revolutionary New Way to handle freight.......
And several years later,......it turns out that...Freight Handling is still basically....The World's Second-Oldest Occupation.

You can invent a new oxcart wheel,......replace chain-drives with twin-screws,......Air-condition, power steer, and automate the cab,....
...but Freight Handling is.....Putting heavy things in a wheeled box,...taking them somewhere,...and taking heavy things out of the wheeled box.

Which means that,....the better, more efficient PEOPLE you hire,...the better, more efficient way you get things...in and out of the Box......

In My Opinion,....I don't see an advantage to sleds,.......(I might be wrong..)...but, it just seems like you've put a prosthetic "third arm" on your dock crew.........

Looks Impressive,.....but worthless when you go to scratch your a**........
 
canaryinthemine said:
Less trailers needed because of the time it takes to position sleds on the dock? Does this presume all docks will be empty of freight when the Very Large Elephant of a sled is positioned in front of,...or coming out/into a trailer?

Have all docks been renovated to add square footage to accommodate positioning/storage of the sleds?

I only had a mere 42 years of .....handling freight. 98.999% of the time NOT under ideal laboratory conditions. Which,...in My Opinion,....is pretty much how just about every other Freight Handler's real-world experiences are.....

Something doesn't seem quite right. With ABF alone,...I saw continual changes in just the U-Pack equipment,...to reflect various "real-world" conditions. Remember the metal screens with load bars welded to them,...and cardboard zip-tied? The ones they first used for bulkheading U-Packs?.....the "finger-rippers"?....
It seems the Research department comes up with a ....Revolutionary New Way to handle freight.......
And several years later,......it turns out that...Freight Handling is still basically....The World's Second-Oldest Occupation.

You can invent a new oxcart wheel,......replace chain-drives with twin-screws,......Air-condition, power steer, and automate the cab,....
...but Freight Handling is.....Putting heavy things in a wheeled box,...taking them somewhere,...and taking heavy things out of the wheeled box.

Which means that,....the better, more efficient PEOPLE you hire,...the better, more efficient way you get things...in and out of the Box......

In My Opinion,....I don't see an advantage to sleds,.......(I might be wrong..)...but, it just seems like you've put a prosthetic "third arm" on your dock crew.........

Looks Impressive,.....but worthless when you go to scratch your a**........
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i dont know 100%, but heard that the sleds were only being used between some major terminals/distribution centers and wont go to a majority of terminals. Example, Carlise, Indy, KC
 
iam4us said:
i dont know 100%, but heard that the sleds were only being used between some major terminals/distribution centers and wont go to a majority of terminals. Example, Carlise, Indy, KC
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Yes,....I figured that would be the plan.........How many bets anyone wants to place that some EOL terminal will be....dealing with a sled at the most inconvenient time, in the most inconvenient place,.....within a year?

Do breakbulks have the space to deal with 30-40 sleds?.......or will trailers be put out in the yard....as sled storage?
 
canaryinthemine said:
Yes,....I figured that would be the plan.........How many bets anyone wants to place that some EOL terminal will be....dealing with a sled at the most inconvenient time, in the most inconvenient place,.....within a year?

Do breakbulks have the space to deal with 30-40 sleds?.......or will trailers be put out in the yard....as sled storage?
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Put them on eBay at Christmas time. Don't lots of kids want sleds for Christmas anymore?
 
canaryinthemine said:
Yes,....I figured that would be the plan.........How many bets anyone wants to place that some EOL terminal will be....dealing with a sled at the most inconvenient time, in the most inconvenient place,.....within a year?

Do breakbulks have the space to deal with 30-40 sleds?.......or will trailers be put out in the yard....as sled storage?
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we are building new large whse in KC, similar to one indy is in. Will be interesting to see.
 
The 050 terminal has 150 sleds on the dock at any given time. All freight goes on the platforms OS&D, Appt. everything.
It does speed loading and unloading. An inbound trailer is unloaded in minutes and can be reloaded to outbound in minutes.
Basically 20-30 minute turnaround.
They can be unloaded without removing them from the trailer as well. So if a EOL got one and didn't even have the converter to move them they could still be unloaded. The dock plate can go on top of the platform and drive the forklift on them.
It would be 2-3" higher.
Like Canary said it still comes down to moving an object from A-B. This is an interesting idea, not for every situation, but for some of our "nasty" freight it could be very helpful.
One of our customers ships movie screens some 26' long they load a trailer with a sled in it then the dock can just pull it off and work it from the "sides" to reduce damage.
 
driver050319 said:
The 050 terminal has 150 sleds on the dock at any given time. All freight goes on the platforms OS&D, Appt. everything.
It does speed loading and unloading. An inbound trailer is unloaded in minutes and can be reloaded to outbound in minutes.
Basically 20-30 minute turnaround.
They can be unloaded without removing them from the trailer as well. So if a EOL got one and didn't even have the converter to move them they could still be unloaded. The dock plate can go on top of the platform and drive the forklift on them.
It would be 2-3" higher.
Like Canary said it still comes down to moving an object from A-B. This is an interesting idea, not for every situation, but for some of our "nasty" freight it could be very helpful.
One of our customers ships movie screens some 26' long they load a trailer with a sled in it then the dock can just pull it off and work it from the "sides" to reduce damage.
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And I understand the process better now. You actually use it........I was just conjecturing,.....talking through my hat, as it were...
Thanks for the clarification, Brother.....
 
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