[geeshock]

Originally Posted by BIG JEEP on 44's

Safeway in Denver ...And kroger in Denver ...If you choose to pull pallets off your trailer at the docks ,and not hire a lumper at the Safeway in denver CO they will sit you off to side and keep telling you they have no available docks for hours until you decide to pay for a lumper .

I was at safeway in chicago, It was a royal pita, not becuse of detention but the dock manager was an a**. I'm usualy easy to get along with and slow to anger but he got me there w/in 5 seconds, and the policy of getting out of truck and waiting in the lounge for however long then they don't even bring you your bills, they yell your door number from halfway across the warehouse so you can forget about resting, might as well unload your own truck, at least you'll be doing something and keeping yourself awake.

[RottsATruckin]

You guys are much more tolerant than I am, I’ve called my dispatcher twice after waiting 2 hours to get loaded, the first went like this “if I’m not loaded in 15 minutes, I’m leaving” (I was throwing straps in 15 minutes) the second went “guess what I’m doing while I wait, looking for jobs that respect my time” (I got detention pay)
Seriously, I’d have left or quit had I been made to wait like you’ve been, drivers and companies need to let the customers know this is unacceptable behavior, if they can’t be ready when we arrive then we won’t return, and without us they go out of business. (Of course ultimately without them, so do we)

[clawHAMMER]

You can pretty much bank on getting delayed and jerked around at any union warehouse, especially union grocery warehouses, unless you're a union driver.

The rest of us get to stew in the parking lot while the dock workers lull around in the breakroom, read the newspaper in the bathroom stalls, and generally go on a power trip anytime a driver checks in to get unloaded.

If there is any kind of work involved whatsoever, your cranky, unfriendly neighborhood union dock worker will see to it none of it gets done on his shift and will let you sit until the next shift shows up.

Good ole American productivity. Now you know the rest of the story....

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Originally Posted by RottsATruckin

You guys are much more tolerant than I am, I’ve called my dispatcher twice after waiting 2 hours to get loaded, the first went like this “if I’m not loaded in 15 minutes, I’m leaving” (I was throwing straps in 15 minutes) the second went “guess what I’m doing while I wait, looking for jobs that respect my time” (I got detention pay)
Seriously, I’d have left or quit had I been made to wait like you’ve been, drivers and companies need to let the customers know this is unacceptable behavior, if they can’t be ready when we arrive then we won’t return, and without us they go out of business. (Of course ultimately without them, so do we)

I Tried that with my FM ,And sent almost the exact same messages...You know what it got ...A reply message to PLEASE CALL DISPATCH ...when I did I was angirly told that this was unprodessional use of the Qualcom and would be documented .

[Orangetxguy]

WOW...all these complaints about food warehouses takes me back to my 3 week experience as a "reefer hauler" in 1988!

My last run into Los Angeles with that now defunct reefer company, took me to the now defunct SE Rykoff warehouse in Watts (South Central for you newb's). :twisted: :twisted: The warehouse supervisor told be I needed to pull all 20 pallets of shrink wrapped meat off the trailer, and break each pallet down into individual orders, so the workers in the warehouse could shelve those orders!!

After several minutes of "heated" discussion about them wanting me to perform labor for less than minimum wage :x :x ...I offered to unload SE Rykoff's steaks using the brake check method.

For a proper brake check method of unloading, you pull your unit out on to the city street..closest to the "Poor Housing units", get your unit lined up so it is centered in the lane...then full throttle reverse..and slam on the brakes.
You pull forward far enough after stopping, to allow you a good back wards run for each subsequent backwards brake check !!!!
How long do you think the residents of that area would have waited, to clean up those boxes of steak??

That particular warehouseman thought I was joking, until I fired up that detroit and was releasing the brakes to pull out from the door. Five minutes later there were two pallet jack operators pulling those pallets of steak off that trailer!

LOL...my reload out of LA was IceCream bars headed to Safeway in Seattle. I was told, after loading the ice cream, to stop at the company terminal in Modesto (where they pulled the ice cream load from under me). They told me, at the terminal, that I was going to spend a week running the Campbells dedicated, from Modesto to San Jose. Nope..not gonna do that...so I headed home.(I already had a start date for my job at "BO"), so I cleaned out the truck, handed the keys of said truck to the terminal manager, and started to call a cab to take me to the airport, to fly home.

Before I called for a cab..the terminal manager told me that "THEY" weren't going to give me a ride to the Bus Depot..I would have to walk or call a cab. I just looked at him with a questioning look, and asked him what made him think I was riding a bus back to Seattle. I planned on being home for supper....it was only 9 am.

Oh yeah..the dispatcher that was on duty, liked the manner in which I handled the "terminal Manager" so well...he (the dispatcher) drove me to the airport in Sacramento to catch my plane! I still have the boarding pass and ticket for that ride!!!

Needless to say..I have not pulled reefer since.

Originally Posted by clawHAMMER

You can pretty much bank on getting delayed and jerked around at any union warehouse, especially union grocery warehouses, unless you're a union driver.

The rest of us get to stew in the parking lot while the dock workers lull around in the breakroom, read the newspaper in the bathroom stalls, and generally go on a power trip anytime a driver checks in to get unloaded.

If there is any kind of work involved whatsoever, your cranky, unfriendly neighborhood union dock worker will see to it none of it gets done on his shift and will let you sit until the next shift shows up.

Good ole American productivity. Now you know the rest of the story....

I guess I'll have to take offense to this because I worked in a union warehouse after I got off the road. That was no picnic...it was work, mister. Yeah you got smokebreaks and a 1/2 hour lunch but they got every penny out of you and more. Mandatory overtime = 60 hour workweeks.

The thing was, being a former OTR driver I really worked hard to get guys unloaded and get their paperwork to em' so they could get rolling again. I'd say 85% of the OTR drivers were very cool and respectful...and the thing about the dock is that if you give respect you'll generally get it back. I had a Landstar driver ask if I could work him in before his appt the next day which was generally a no-no. Said he had to get home for his daughter's birthday. Not sure I really believed him, but he seemed cool so wtf worked him in anyway. Dude gave me 50 BUCKS after I unloaded him!!!!

Then of course there were 15% of OTR a$$hats like this clawHAMMER character. Bitching and moaning about waitng...hey it ain't our fault you agreed to sit around for no money. Then making cracks about the union...well unfortunately such loudmouths made it harder on themselves because we'd make em' SIT...for hours and even a day in some cases. And the bathrooms suddenly became OFF-LIMITS...as did OVERNIGHT parking on the property. :lol: :lol:

[derelict77]

Originally Posted by ColdFrostyMug

I guess I'll have to take offense to this because I worked in a union warehouse after I got off the road. That was no picnic...it was work, mister. Yeah you got smokebreaks and a 1/2 hour lunch but they got every penny out of you and more. Mandatory overtime = 60 hour workweeks.

The thing was, being a former OTR driver I really worked hard to get guys unloaded and get their paperwork to em' so they could get rolling again. I'd say 85% of the OTR drivers were very cool and respectful...and the thing about the dock is that if you give respect you'll generally get it back. I had a Landstar driver ask if I could work him in before his appt the next day which was generally a no-no. Said he had to get home for his daughter's birthday. Not sure I really believed him, but he seemed cool so wtf worked him in anyway. Dude gave me 50 BUCKS after I unloaded him!!!!

Then of course there were 15% of OTR a$$hats like this clawHAMMER character. Bitching and moaning about waitng...hey it ain't our fault you agreed to sit around for no money. Then making cracks about the union...well unfortunately such loudmouths made it harder on themselves because we'd make em' SIT...for hours and even a day in some cases. And the bathrooms suddenly became OFF-LIMITS...as did OVERNIGHT parking on the property. :lol: :lol:

Union workers are like everyone else. Some of us are good, some of us arent. I dont understand why some people hate on folks who organize. Probably because the talk radio said it was so, and it was so.

[whispers65233]

I hate Krogers in Texas. It took them 6 hours to unload. We had to wait to be told how much the lumpers charge (a concept I still don't understand-lumpers) then the guy who was suppose to unload us disappeared. Boy did I come unglued. When they did start it took forever.

[Double R]

Originally Posted by clawHAMMER

You can pretty much bank on getting delayed and jerked around at any union warehouse, especially union grocery warehouses, unless you're a union driver.

The rest of us get to stew in the parking lot while the dock workers lull around in the breakroom, read the newspaper in the bathroom stalls, and generally go on a power trip anytime a driver checks in to get unloaded.

If there is any kind of work involved whatsoever, your cranky, unfriendly neighborhood union dock worker will see to it none of it gets done on his shift and will let you sit until the next shift shows up.

Good ole American productivity. Now you know the rest of the story....

And your problem with UNIONS are............
It doesn't matter if the dock is Union or not. I have been to Union docks that treat drivers with respect and get you in and out. I have been to NON-UNION docks that could care less about you and make you wait all day. It depends on the work ethic of the employees, not if they are Union or non-union.

[smokdu]

with all of this waitin talk, im glad that i didnt take a job bumpin' docks