Monte, I'll Take What's Behind Door #8
On the 30th, I had to pick up at a customer in Schertz, TX near San Antonio. When I arrived I checked with the Shipping clerk who assigned door #8. Sounds simple, right? WRONG!!!
Here's what awaited me.
I went back inside to the office and politely asked the clerk what drugs he was taking. He insisted that door #8 was open and told me to check again. I went back outside, verified that the door was actually #8 and that it was totally blocked. I then went back inside and politely told the clerk that the only way my trailer was going into door #8 was if they hired a "sky crane" to remove the trailer currently there and drop mine in it's place. Either that or start moving some trailers out of the way. Their choice!! I counted 11 trailers that needed to be moved before I could back my trailer into the dock. FINALLY, the clerk got up and went out to check for himself. As soon as he walked out the door, his jaw dropped down somewhere below his naval. He just shook is head and walked back inside yelling on his radio for the "yard dog". Eventually, the 'yard dog' began moving trailers. I conferred with him to let him know what I needed to be moved. He said that he would move enough or him to put it in with his "goat".
I think he moved about 8 trailers to get to this point. In order for me to be able to back it in using my truck he would have had to move 3 more trailers; the two at the far left of the picture and the one at the far right. His 'goat' has a much better turning radius than does my OTR equipment.
The reason that I took the above photos, aside from BLOG purposes, was to have documentation in case the 'yard dog' did any damage to my trailer or the ones on either side while backing in that confined space. Fortunately they were not needed for that purpose. The bottom row are before & after shots. Bottom line was that it took 2 hours from door assignment to docking. Another 1 1/2 hours to load. I had to pull the trailer out of the dock myself, but that wasn't too hard. I only had to "double jack" twice to clear all the remaining obstacles. Things like this surely do eat into my 14-hour driving window.
Here's what awaited me.
I went back inside to the office and politely asked the clerk what drugs he was taking. He insisted that door #8 was open and told me to check again. I went back outside, verified that the door was actually #8 and that it was totally blocked. I then went back inside and politely told the clerk that the only way my trailer was going into door #8 was if they hired a "sky crane" to remove the trailer currently there and drop mine in it's place. Either that or start moving some trailers out of the way. Their choice!! I counted 11 trailers that needed to be moved before I could back my trailer into the dock. FINALLY, the clerk got up and went out to check for himself. As soon as he walked out the door, his jaw dropped down somewhere below his naval. He just shook is head and walked back inside yelling on his radio for the "yard dog". Eventually, the 'yard dog' began moving trailers. I conferred with him to let him know what I needed to be moved. He said that he would move enough or him to put it in with his "goat".
I think he moved about 8 trailers to get to this point. In order for me to be able to back it in using my truck he would have had to move 3 more trailers; the two at the far left of the picture and the one at the far right. His 'goat' has a much better turning radius than does my OTR equipment.
The reason that I took the above photos, aside from BLOG purposes, was to have documentation in case the 'yard dog' did any damage to my trailer or the ones on either side while backing in that confined space. Fortunately they were not needed for that purpose. The bottom row are before & after shots. Bottom line was that it took 2 hours from door assignment to docking. Another 1 1/2 hours to load. I had to pull the trailer out of the dock myself, but that wasn't too hard. I only had to "double jack" twice to clear all the remaining obstacles. Things like this surely do eat into my 14-hour driving window.
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