Etiquette Question
 

What would you do?

You are in line at the receiver at 2000 hrs you are third in line. The receiver opens at 0500. You get up at 0430, at 0455 neither truck in front is moving or running. Would you go into the receiver and cut in front of the line or try and wake up the other drivers?

Me, I go into the receiver and get my door. I did this today and a SWIFT driver got very up-set. I told him to take a hike, he was not moving, the place opens at 0500.

It should not be my job to wake them. How hard is it to set an alarm clock?

Mark

Passing someone at a dock is a no no

You don't cut in front of another truck. It would have been better to have knocked on his door. I am sure that you would not have appreciated having someone else cut in front of you.

GMAN & yoopr, I respect what you two write, but beg to differ on this one.

If someone cut in front of me because I didn't get up how can I be angry at anyone but myself.

If you drive a truck you are a big boy and should be able to get up on your own. I went and looked in the two trucks in front of me and neither drive was up. It's not my job to wake you up.

I will not wake a sleeping drive unless its and emergency or they are blocking me in.

Mark

IMHO, it is a judgement call.

What I would do is see if their is any sign of life in either truck ahead of me and if not then I would proceed on in if it was my appointment time. If there is signs of someone moving about I would ask them if they are heading up to check in and then take my place in line behind the other drivers.


You never know, and usually have no way of knowing when those other trucks appointment time(s) are. For all you know they may be a day early and are there hoping to get unloaded early.

Since we are on the subject here is a little trick for those times you are at a shipper/reciever way early and are trying to take your break b4 checking in.

Tape a sign to your drivers side window that says "Appointment Time.....Then print the time." or get one of those "Will Return Clocks" and tape over the Will Return and write in Appointment. It may not stop everyone from knocking on your door, but it will cut it down, especially in the daytime.

Hmmmmm i looks in my crystal ball and see a good old fashioned azz whipping coming to some one's way if this habit keeps up and besides ppl.have been shot for alot less.

For what? Cutting in line or waking up a sleeping driver?

I have seen some nasty words and a couple of fights break out in both situations.

If the reciever/shipper gives you a door, your up :D .

Next time the other driver will be ready....maybe.

May be a little more back round would help. The receiver is a beer distribtor, they open at 0500, first come first servered. They don't have appointment time, just be there between 0500 at 1400.

Mark

Sounds like the Budweiser dist. in Knoxville Tenn.

Then once again I would look for signs of life in the other trucks as I walked up and if there are I would stop and say something to the other driver like "Have you checked in yet. Don't want to jump in ahead of you."

If there are no signs of life in the truck then go on up.

Of course if it is 5 or 10 minutes after the opening time and you walk on up then I would not worry about it at all.

If the other drivers cared about getting to the dock first they would have set their alarm clock ,as to be up in time to make it happen.....they chose to sleep in and now are at the back of the line ......

Just as GMAN,and Yoopr said,you dont cut in line. Thats an easy way to get yourself into a fight. :shock: :P

Similar thing happened to me last week in Atlanta.
I got in the night before in a locked in fence when a driver came in as I was checking to see what to do.
I was parked on the road near the gate when he came wheeling in front of me and got out and started to try and unlock the keyless lock, he asked me to shine my flashlight for him, I asked him if I could get in too, he asked if I was delivering there and after found out I was let me in after him.
He told me to park off to the side aND AT ABOUT 5:30 AM SOME ONE WOULD WAKE ME UP TO TELL ME TO COME IN.
I GOT UP AT 5:15 ON MY OWN AND WAITED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR BUT NO ONE SHOWED so I layed back down.
About 15 min later a truck just drove right past me and up to the door so I hurried up and got behind him.
He came back to me after a few minutes and wanted to know if he cut in front of me, duh,lol. I told him yes but for the inconvienience of changing around he could go first, this cost me one hour.
A couple other drivers said to me , weren't you there first and I told them yes but he cut so I let him go ahead and they were surprised.
Also at the same time it made them wait longer so maybe I shouldn't have let him go first!!!!
I think it is common courtesy of first come first serve.
I have woke up many a driver that was there first.
They have all shown they appreciated it.
Now if you have an appointed time then that is the order usually.
I get to most of my places early and if you are nice many times they will unload you.

He didn't gut in line IMHO. The place opened at 0500. the person in the front of the line where you CHECK IN at 0500 is the person who should get the door first. The only case where this would differ is if there was only one door. If some lazy bozo cannot get his feet on the floor at 0430 for a 0500 appt, then they deserve to wait behind those who can.

Sorry, I have to agree with Mark on this one..... no disrespect to GMAN and Yoopr, but being a driver you assume responsibilities and if you're at the yard gate and you're told the gate will open at 0530 for check in, it's your responsibility to be ready at 0530 to roll inside........... it's not another driver's responsibility to wake you up so you can go about your business in a professional manner.

I would check to see if there were any signs of activity, but if there wasn't any, I don't knock on their cab...........if the yard boss wants to do that, that's up to him, it's his yard, but, by and far, most that I've known figure if the driver wanted to get unloaded first he'd have his ass up and ready.

I swear it seems to be a generation thing, this "me" generation seems to be under the impression that oversleeping is a valid excuse for showing up late to work or that a rough weekend partying is a valid excuse for missing work come Monday or walking in after lunch...........when I was running the construction division of our design office down in Florida, I couldn't count the number of subs I fired on my hands and toes, for not showing up, or come waltzing on to the site half way through the day, cause they were just too tired to get there on time.

When I first went solo, I did the customary knock on some driver's door Greenville once.......he was first in line and I was second, I had an 0600 time slot to off load. I pulled up about 0330 and set my alarm for 0500, the guard had already told me the gate would be opened with the first shift at 0530, so I figured I'd get an hour or so nap, be up in time to brew me a quick cup of eye opener and ready to go............at 0530 the guard came out and opened the gate just like he said, I waited for about 10 minutes and the guy in front made no signs that he was even up.......meanwhile, another driver pulls in, goes around us and checks in. I went up to the first guy and didn't see any signs of life, so I just wrapped on his door............well, it was apparent he wasn't a morning person and preceded to cuss me out up one side and down the other for waking him up..........his time slot was not until 0830...........there were more words exchanged.........something to do with my mother and that I was apparently a rookie and that if I bothered him again he'd teach me a lesson I wouldn't forget..............after that I just said to hell with em, if they ain't got the professionalism to be up when they need to be up, it's not my job to be their momma..............you snooze you lose.

Thing was when I came out at 0900, he was still sitting there. Still no signs of life and there were already 4or 5 who had bumped, and about 6 waiting. I mentioned to the guard that the guy in the KW sitting there had told me he had an 0830 slot........he just smiled and said not anymore, it ain't my job to be his wake up call, now he's got at least 11 guys in front of him and he'll be lucky if he gets unloaded today.

I'd be willing to bet he bitches about all the time he has to wait around getting unloaded or loaded and don't you just know......it's got to be the load managers fault that he's not getting the miles he needs.

Oh, btw, he appeared to be in his late 20's or early 30's............maybe it would be better if his momma was riding with him.... she could make sure he got up on time, ate all his Wheaties and wiped his butt thoroughly after he had his morning poo poo

Some good points made! I personally think if someones rude enough to waste your/my time and not be ready to bump the dock (asleep in bunk) when recieving hrs begin and theres a dock open and people ready to unload, then its not rude to go around them. Im noones mom and wont bring a driver coffee and fuzzy slippers when its there turn. If yourestill asleep, ill assume your appt. is later and go around you. It would be rude to wake you :wink:
I think the best thing to do is to check in at opening hour and let them tell you how and where!

But then again, I drive line-haul now and dont know what waiting in line for getting loaded/unloaded is :lol: :) When I drove LTL local i never waited behind a truckload carrier either :lol: :D

Okay, all you NEW BREED drivers. Like Gman and Yoopr, I learned in the "Old School". It's a matter of courtesy. How well do you respect your fellow drivers? He/they worked to get there when they did, and if something happened to their alarm clock, you're going to get in front of him/them? I beat on their sleepers, and if I'm in the receiving office before they are, I also inform the receiver that I have someone else ahead of me.

In the old days, you could find that your horns were "retracted" with the help of a tire-thumper. As recently as last month, I saw another driver crank the landing gear down near the ground. When the driver that jumped ahead of him left, he hit a speed-bump and bent the landing gear. After that, he was never going to get it cranked up again. he couldn't go anywhere until someone came along with a cutting torch and cut it off. And, while I have never done any of them, I know of quite a number of other tricks that have been used on drivers that jump ahead in line. One case I got to see resulted in the trailer buckled and the belly on the ground.

If I'm there when something happens to you, I give you my word that I will not be the one to do anything. I will also tell you I didn't see a thing.

BEWARE!

If the receiver goes by appointment time, it's another matter.

I guess that courtesy should go both ways. You are there holding a place in line - you should have the courtesy to the other drivers behind you to be ready to roll once the yard is open.

What if some of the same retaliation for "cutting" was applied to those holding up the show?

Professionalisim is professionalism. If you are at the yard early, professionalism dictates you are ready when they open. If it's a full day or so early - then I would make sure I was well outta the way of those there only a few hours early for their appointments.

That would be all fine and dandy Windwalker, but experience, rather a few bad experiences have taught me differently.

I used to knock on sleepers to avoid line jumping, however after having one driver pull a gin on me, another take a swing at me with his tire thumper, and a few more simply cuss me out for waking them up I no longer do it. It is not worth the risk of running into these ill tempered jerks with the me only and screw you mentality that are littering the roadways now.

Looks like this is 1/2 and 1/2. I say go ahead of the guy..if the guy in front of you isnt ready to go when gate opens give him a few and go around him...he only has himself to be mad at when he now has to wait even more. if gate opens at 0530 dont set alarm for 0530..get up a few minutes b4 then...alot of drivers are so lazy!!!!! :sad:

I was always taught that early is on time and on time is late. That goes for getting up to be in the yard too.....

I feel that it severely depends on the situation. It can balance out. I had a guy pass me in wisconsin going to a foundry up there thats first come first serve. I got out talked to him and laughed with him because we both new that foundry can take hours to get loaded at. So I ended up behind him. There was another truck there before us but we both got to the shippers office before he did. The other guy was first and I was next. A short while after he backed in I backed in. I was loaded sooner and left while he was still in his sleeper waiting 2 be loaded. Yeah some people take cutting in line seriously though lol. The truck that was there before us saw an ltl/pallet guy proceed to back into an open dock and pulled his truck out and blocked him from gettin into the dock until he confirmed with the shipper that the guy needed to get in there. I won't ever wake another driver up unless I have talked with him the night before. That way I know hes not hostile. If I haven't really talked to the guy and he's sleeping beyond a reasonable time Ill go ahead of him, take my chances and pretrip before I go. If it happened to me I'd be upset I didn't wake up early enough. Professionalism goes both ways.

So how long are you supposed to wait? 1hour? 5 hours? It is not my responsibility in any way shape manner or form to "help" another driver who is too lazy to set his alarm clock to wake up at the correct time. If I'm 3rd in line and they open at 0500 and I don't see any movement in the two trucks in front of me, screw em. If the receiver tells me I have to wait, that's one thing. But if they give me a dock I'm taking it.

If that's is truly the case and not just you trying to show how "cool" you are, then you are truly an idiot. If I saw another driver messing around with anybody elses equipment my first action would be to call the cops and then call that drivers safety dept.

Frankly I am sick and tired of drivers who think that the "old school" way is somehow superior to today's standards. Having been around long enough to observe both I can honestly say I don't miss the old days one bit.

I find it odd that the old school methods include waking up someone in front of you in line and a general attittude of helpfulness. This old school way also includes violence against drivers who didn't tow the line, vandalism against their property, etc.

I'm not sure if the old way is better.

If there's one thing I can't stand it's someone banging on my door when I'm trying to sleep. That's why I rarely ever parked at receivers' gates. When I did park at the receivers' gate the night before I'd set the alarm to get me up super early so I could get unloaded first. I would never expect another driver to wake me up because I was too lazy to get up on time. If a grown man can't get up on time for a job, maybe he should move back in with momma and let her take care of him. :roll:

I guess I could sum up my previous posts in this manner.

When you pull up to a place you should make an attempt to find out what is going on, and if in that attempt you are honestly unable to assertain the order then by all means go ahead.

Maybe I am a little different. If I mess up or my alarm fails and I sleep through my appointment time or miss my place in line then that is my fault and it is not up to another driver to keep me in order.

What does tick me off are the drivers who make no attempt to find out what is going on when they pull in to the factory/warehouse and cruise past all the trucks waiting in line.

i 2nd that!!!!!

I find most of the drivers that babble on about being "old school" have been driving less that 5 years and damn fewer than 10 years! Even in the old days if you felt like sleeping in while at a receivers gate, you'd find yourself at the end of the line. Old schoolers tend to get their asses out of the fart sacks and be there completely dressed and a decent representative of themeselves and would never be caught sleeping when they should be working! :roll:

although i am in no way old school..i 2nd that too!!!!

The steel mill I used to haul out of had a large staging area to park in and wait until the shipper/receiver showed up. The security guard would hand each trucker a piece of paper with a number written on it to be displayed in the corner of your windshield. The receiver would then take each truck in numbered order, no exceptions. The guard said before this procedure was invented, there were many fights about what order the trucks arrived and who was next in line.

I am no ones babysitter. If you are going to do this job, then do it right. Have your butt up BEFORE the shipper/receiver opens, be in there first in line (if you were first) and handle yourself in a PROFESSIONAL manner. It does not matter about old school, new school it's about being a grown MATURE adult who has good work ethics!!!

Someone messes with my truck because his lazy a$$ was still in the sleeper had better BEWARE for I never pull out of any parking spot without checking my truck over.

I wonder if there was some confusion from the question.

Was this a situation where you arrived after the receiver was closed, thus would have no idea when the trucks in front of you were set to unload, or were you checked in when you arrived to park on the street?