“There are still companies out there that are fined for late freight”
There are still companies out there that are fined for late freight. I know mate, I just finished a stint with one of them.
I have always said to anyone that will listen that the gear is more important than the deadline and the lives of other road users is above all others. The decision to abuse the rules, the speed limit and put other drivers at risk falls squarely on the driver of the car or truck and to blame things like deadlines being late or whatever is a crock of crap and if you believe half of the excuses that are laid on by these idiots than you are more gullible than what you think.
Anyone that knows me knows that I can from time to time drive faster than I should but never at anyone else’s cost and not at a speed that endangers other people’s lives. When you first get in this game the first thing you must learn is to be aware of the choices that you make on the roads impact on other road users. By not thinking what will happen if I do this, you could be putting other drivers at risk.
What I am trying to say is ….. THINK of what will happen by making that dangerous maneuver BEFORE you do it rather than after you have already done it and got away with it this time and whether you are driving to your experience level or well above it. In some of the instances I see it is well above it.
Be safe out there and learn to say no when you are being pushed. It will not only save your life but maybe mine too
An Australian Trcck Driver
September 8th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Just to clarify one point. Are trucking companies fined by the retailers for example for late freight or are the drivers fined by their companies for being late?
Westy’s observation “When truckies view the lives of other road users as being more important than their freight” becomes less relevant if drivers are being fined for being late.
In an industry driven solely on price where profit margins are cut to the bone and where fuel prices can snatch whatever profit is left, the thought of further loss of income in fines would be unbearable.
Unlike low profit margins and soaring fuel costs, making sure he is not late is a variable the driver CAN control by speeding and taking dangerous risks.
We need to identify the companies/retailers who hold the threat of loss of income for lateness over trucking companies/drivers and remind them of the potential consequences of their threats. This type of policy thumbs it’s nose at chain of responsibility legislation and should envoke enormous fines as the lives of the drivers tehmselves are placed at risk as are the lives of all other road users.
September 8th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I have worked on and off for both major supermarket chains over the last 30 years. What has always totally p****d me off is their attitude to you guys.
So many of the supermarket backdock peolpe think it is a joke to let a truck wait. They have no consideration of the problems it causes further down the line if the truck has multiple drops on. Some of them even think it is “funny” to stuff the other shops up by holding up their load. The supermarket where I am now demands that their Saturday refrigerated load is there at 5.30am. Quite often he can still be waiting to be unloaded at 6.30am. Yet, if he gets held on the highway for whatever reason, he is the worst mongrel in the world according to them.
Perhaps if we want to get pressure of deadlines we need to start at the supermarket back dock. We need to change the ” they work for us, they can wait for us” attitude. That quote was said to me by a BigW second in charge at Port Macquarie 25 years ago.
David (dj)
September 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
OKAY now this is cutting news and it hurts to hear this sort of thing….I had an answer to solve this in my time and that was if you wanted your freight there yesterday send it by QANTAS and if that failed they better have a better insurance company than I did and the reactions I got from both quotes was DO YOUR BEST and you know it worked… the other option was if my truck was not on its wheels where was the freight then all over the road and that wasnt taken to kindly most of the time either…. what I cant understand is that most of the freight has a USED BY DATE so why have it there tomorrow when its still got a long USED BY DATE… logic does it apply here…..
September 12th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Hi Ritchie,
The reason supermarkets want it there at certain time is that 95% of a load goes straight on the shelf, and the fill staff are there waiting to put it on the shelf. So the use by date doesn’t really come into it. The only stock held in the storeroom is backup for specials and a minimal amount of fast selling lines to carry over to the next load, which is usually the next day or two only. The supermarket shelf is largely the storeroom these days. Even with the staff there, the trucks sometimes still wait until the staff are good and ready.
David (dj
September 13th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
David tell me somrthing that I dontnow been there done that over the years and you know when you wait and yes like you say its great when you tell them that okay been here long enough see you tomorrow and you will get your load that works and they are out there like a rocket and you are unloaded….. I did find that there was a few that was good enough to get the gear off as soon as you got there and one of the worse ones that I ever come across was DAVIDS in Silverwater right next to the Silverwater Prison time slots there were a joke eg. 6am time slot and still that at 3pm what a joke that was …. and yes I know how the supermarkets work as well and there was many at time that I have had a few harsh words with so called back door staff at some supermarkets….
September 21st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Richie my friend ….. I too - believe it or not - have had dealings with supermarket chains in the past and the two times that I carried foodstuffs for them I was instructed to be at the customer no later than 0600am on the day of loading in brisbane.
I waited in the queue as patient as most mild mannered profesional drivers like myself till 10.30 pm the same night and was finally loaded for townsville and instructed the freight was super high priority express - go flat nacker and what ever the dock supervisor could think of to motivate me to be there at 0800am the following morning to which i replied well its like this old mate it takes about 17 hours to get there at the legal speed limit but mate because you told me the high priority nature of the freight and because i was out to impress this new client with my keen sense of understanding of how important it was i winked at him and said mate because its you i will have a real go at it and travel at the highly dangerous scary blinding pace of 101kms an hour that will get me at least 15 mins better time.
What do you think mate bloody - impressive or what - and i promise on my mums grave (shes alive and well readers sorry mum if you are reading this) to take a 12 hour break in Mackay not my usual when ever i decide to drag my sorry carcus out of that haven of rest and well being my gateway to the dream land (which is sensored so i am not telling you) should put me there day after tommorow and dont thank me mate its the least i can do.and left without a reply feeling safe in thinking he was very impressed with his new drivers keeness and dedication to getting his freight to townsville with great haste.
When i got to townsville i was met at the dock by a bloke or should i say kid with a badge all official like gold and shiny who took my paperwork and said quiet abruptly that i was a full day late and what was the story to which i told him in a polite manner that the extra effort i had put in and the dangerous extra speed i had travelled at and the break i had shortened to meet my new clients needs only 14 hours instead of the usual thinking that this would impress the bloke alias kid but to my suprise and i will bet to yours too readers he informed me that i was a smarty pants.
That’s not what he said - I cleaned it up for you readers and i would not be unloaded until tomorrow and would have to stay outside the facility until tommorow with there high prioity flat nacker freight so it became time to take charge and and show them what sort of bloke they were dealing with here and told the bloke (alias kid) that that was not acceptable and he should look at the manifest and then he would see that this was serious and i was informed by the nice man in brisbane that this freight was highly important and i was suposed to go flat nacker and he looked honest and wouldnt lie to me would he readers to which the bloke (alias kid) said that unless there was an influx of births at the hospital or a boat load of pregnant womam that were about to give birth that a truck load of new born baby nappies were not such a big deal to him to which i said i bet all the pregnant woman at the hospital attempting to put a football sized baby through a space no bigger than a twenty cent piece dont think so and they would be very upset if they heard him saying that and proceeded to open the doors and walk to my pride and joy to give them a hand to unload after all i owed it to all those beautiful expectant mothers out there to be on the ball and drove at good speed toward the dock yelling to the bloke (alias kid ) that i had only attemped to do this once before and i was a professoinal and not to try this as a new express unloading tech and applied the brakes with force untill all the pallets had slid gently from the rear of my trailer and deposited on the finger dock and told the kid not to worry i would sign the paperwork myself it was the least i could do and how much he had made my experience with his store so memorable and exited the premises feeling great in the knowlege that i had completed yet another super urgent high priority express load.
A call from the state manager the next day that i was banned from the stores premises and all surounding property and if he had his way it would be australia wide ands tried to send me a bill for damages to the pallets and some ripped boxes i mean readers i was shocked lol i will pass on to you next week the other story and i am sure you can draw your own conclusions to supermarket chains and there dead lines and loading cues but untill then bye for now.
stay safe your favorite b double driver nitro.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hahahahaha …. I was busting my gut laughing at this Nitro.
Talking about expectant mothers,my daughter-in-law is due about Nov. ….gee she’d love the comment about space size of a twenty cent piece. I’m not game to tell her.
you’re a mad buggar,look forward to the next story.
Dave
October 4th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Nitro,
I can’t believe that an old pro could ever engage in an act of such brazen irresponsibility. And I don’t believe a word of the pallets “slid GENTLY from the back of the truck”, I have never seen a pallet fall four feet, ‘gently’. Well, maybe they slid gently, but you should show a bit more concern for the pallets for when they hit the ground. I hope you at least picked up the nails from the broken ones, the bloke (alias kid) could end up treading on one.
On the positive side, your demeanor had turned an incidence of “Dock Rage”, into a fine example of ‘demonstrating for educational purposes’, and I commend your efforts to improve the quality of ‘dock reception’. I hope the manager goes Australia wide so that all stores can benefit from your selfless attempts to educate dock staff.
Cheers
Westy