Ten-Roger! :P

The first few weeks of getting on the P&D learning curve are hard. It was the most frustrating new job acclimation I have ever experienced.

I got 'acclimated' in the hight of summer with no A/C, 100 deg in the shade and too much freight for a vet to deliver.... :x

Id say this is very accurate... You go from backing up maby twice a day, to many, many times a day.. Backing in off busy (VERY busy) streets... into places that you wouldnt even think a truck could fit... Hell, seems I dirve better with the trailer leading than I do going straight :shock:

I get so many PM's here about what my (an LTL drivers) day is like... Im thinking about taking a camera with me and making a post with pics showing what we do.. :lol:

Good Idea!

My most difficult regular customer has me back a 48 or 53 indoors with about a foot to spare on each side. They make up for it by being cool people, having my freight ready, etc.

Then there are the easy docks with difficult customers or ugly freight.

just go with FFE, I am a OTR Driver, I am in the Truckload Fleet, or they call it TL, but LTL is mandatory, so sometimes you get a straight truckload, one pickup and one drop and lots of miles and the next load is 6 pickups and 14 drops and you have to unload LTL no lumpers and sort and segregate and palletize the customers freight, that CWX driver knows I seen him before when I had LTL, you will love FFE, they run alot of freight to FSA and SYSCO ohhh and many more companies that will give you hell, this on a small pallet and that 4 boxes on a chep pallet and those 12 boxes on a large pallet, you will love FFE, you will be an OTR driver that does it all like me.... why just settle for either or, do both... hehehehehehehe BOL... and the best part is its mandatory you do it, not allowed to refuse a load with FFE unless your an O/O, they call it FORCED DISPATCH.....its fun being a company driver... ohhh ohhh and sometimes you have to back down an alley and open one door and pull out 6 heavy boxes and carry them one by one into a place with no loading dock, yup sometimes its that much fun, and always at night with no street lights in them alleys so its great just a splash, so sign up with FFE

I can tell you one thing for certain: my first two or three days at that outfit would be my last.

Dude, I couldn't IMAGINE doing 6 pickups/14 drops dealing with refrigerated freight!! And no lumpers?!? I have two grocery whorehouses on my route (US Foodservice and Northern Haserot) and they're BOTH royal pains in the azz. Actually, it's somewhat bearable because I'm paid by the hour. Plus I pretty-much get a door whenever I show up since they know I'll take their pallet(s) back to the terminal if they make me wait LOL! Unfortunately, they screw around with you OTR guys cause they know you can't go anywhere.

This actually made me laugh out loud... We have a TON of problems with one particular grocery wherehouse out here (EVERY driver does, not just my comnpany)... They know we have NO problems taking the freight back to the dock and let it sit there (in a trap trailer) for a while. :lol:

Our biggest problem child is the K-Mart DC.

Heck you can spend an hour in line at the gate. We don't even attempt to live unload anymore as you could easily burn a whole day. We just put their freight in a pup, drop the pup and pick up the empty the next day.

We also have a paint DC thats a bear to pickup from. They love to stack 5 gal pails 3-4 high on a 3X3 pallet and proceed to put one layer of loose shrink wrap around it.

I've actually lifted the dock-plate, shut the trailer door, and pulled away from the dock at those places on several occasions. With 13 other stops sitting on my truck and then pickups, I can't afford to goof around all day at a grocery whorehouse polishing my rims like the OTR guys do.

We've got a guy at our terminal who's main job is to do all the time-consuming crap like grocery warehouses, stairmasters, residentials, tires, odd shipments, volume, etc. Basically all the time-wasting stuff that would kill a peddle run. He hardly peddles freight unless we're really busy like we were this past summer.