Food Service delima...

[zipy46]

How do you guys handle the deal where you spend 4 hours or so getting loaded...drive to the final for a 0200 am drop...and you MUST leave the
warehouse's property as soon as empty...You are long out of hours in your 14 hour day by the time you pull away from the dock
(you were legal all the way there)
and the nearest truck stop (which is certain to be full at this odd hour...is 30 miles away)

This seems to happen on a very regular basis in the food world...

WTF!

Its insane that these 300 mile runs end up stretching almost 18 or 20 hours

[matcat]

Happened a lot to me too in the dry van world. Usually just outside of the property there is a nice long stretch of driveway filled with parked trucks . In the case where this was in or near a major city, there is always a walmart/kmart/lowes/home depot/target/you name it around to park at.

How do you guys handle the deal where you spend 4 hours or so getting loaded...drive to the final for a 0200 am drop...and you MUST leave the
warehouse's property as soon as empty...You are long out of hours in your 14 hour day by the time you pull away from the dock
(you were legal all the way there)
and the nearest truck stop (which is certain to be full at this odd hour...is 30 miles away)

This seems to happen on a very regular basis in the food world...

WTF!

Its insane that these 300 mile runs end up stretching almost 18 or 20 hours

This is why I won't work for mileage pay anymore.

All the good long-haul runs are on the rails now. OTR trucking has evolved into multi-stop, medium/short-haul work with boatloads of unpaid waiting around...waiting to be unloaded, waiting to be loaded, waiting for load assignments, etc.

C00lie OTR trucking sucks. Run away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JewelsnTools]

The above poster is quite right about normally being able to park at any of the big box store lots, BUT... keep your eyes peeled on the way in!! That way, you'll already have an "exit strategy" in place.

Be careful, though, and watch your signs, closely. There ARE places that prohibit truck parking, and they will ticket you if you're caught parking there.
As hokey as it sounds, ask some of the dock workers. Sometimes, they know of little off-the-wall spots where you can park that's closer than a crowded truck stop.

I can't give you the section and subsection, but the rulebook allows for a short period of driving in order to find a "safe haven". You don't want to be too liberal, at all, with this, but it is in there, somewhere! I've used it, and the safety people didn't make me attend another class!!
Jewels

[Uturn2001]

Before leaving the warehouse make a note in your logbook in the remarks section as to why why you are in violation and include the source of information as to why you had to leave, i.e. Joe at Sam's Dist, or sign posted in office.

[zipy46]

Yeah i usually find a spot on the way in so that when
i exit i will have a place to chill.

but last night there was nothing visible

Just an effed up day all around

.............................................
(This just in),

Log Dept sez if they ask you to leave then you have no choice,

do not attempt to 'make a stand' and get towed.


Make a note in the remarks section of the log book,

get a document stating you must leave(if possible)

and then find the nearest Safe Haven.