greg334
Veteran Expediter
[FONT="]This week was a busy week but it was one where I stopped to help another ‘expediter’ out. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I won’t name the company, it really has to do with the pom pom squad more than anything but here is what happened. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I have some work that takes me to an odd place, multiple companies using the same docks. I pull in, get my stuff loaded and go into the shipping office to get everything written up. In the mean time here comes a really nice apartment on wheels pulling into the docks next to the office. The couple who own the truck come into the office, they are a retired couple who don’t look like they are happy. I stand there with my dirty shirt and pants and they stand on the other side of the office in their nice matching uniform and hats – hint my cloths are dirty because I have to crawl in between the stuff on my truck to get it all tied down. [/FONT]
[FONT="]So I’m waiting and waiting and they go out and direct the fork lift drivers on how to load their truck. I’m watching, my shipping clerk is busy with her cell phone and I am getting interested in what they are doing. One of them, the lady of the team, comes into the office telling their clerk that they are given 10 pallets of stuff but can fit 8 on the truck and they have to call the company to find out what to do. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I am standing there while she is trying to explain to the very impatient dispatcher and then to someone else and then someone else and she is left on hold. I look at the situation, they have the room to put shoring bars up, deck the bars and strap the two pallets on top. I am listening to her on the phone explaining it to another person, the husband comes in and tells her that they will have to take the load off the truck and she tears up as he is walking out the door. [/FONT]
[FONT="]She hangs up the phone and then tells the clerk, who is not sympathetic at all, that the load has to come off. I step up and ask her if she has shoring bars and she says “yes we have 10 of them”, so I suggest using them to support the pallet and then they can take all 10. She darts out of the office to grab the forklift driver, a whole bunch of commotion is going on and they pull out bracing bars to use.
Cr*p… they had bracing bars, I went out on the dock and asked them if they had shoring bars, they thought the bracing bars were the same as shoring bars.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]I explained the difference; they didn’t have them and looked like I just killed their cat, which by the way was in the cab. So I told them I would make them a deal, I will sell two shoring bars to them for what it costs me to replace them - $45 each and they will have the right stuff. I took the two off my truck and set it all up for them, helped them put the straps on them and by that time my paper work was almost finished. [/FONT]
[FONT="]They did their thing with the paper work, they were all happy, I meet the cat and they are on their way to the west coast. [/FONT]
[FONT="]This couple retired a few years back and was told all the fun they could have doing this work, so they bought a truck last year (I think). They planned on seeing the country but I thought it was de ju vu when she said all they have seen so far is truck stop parking lots, used car lots and a lot of bad roads. The company has been sort of good to them, they have given them enough work to keep the truck running but they don’t have a truck payment, they sold their house and cashed in some bonds to buy the truck, it is nice but too small a box. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The lady mentioned that her fun ended a long time ago, they can’t get anything that they want out of the truck and she has had medical problems which makes it even harder for her and her husband to deal with and the company has told them too bad, complaining that they took too much time off when she went into the hospital. She was telling me that some of the places they have been don’t help with loading and unloading and at their age, it is hard to do the work that is needed. [/FONT]
[FONT="]She was amazed at how the pallets were put in the truck; I told her I use my shoring bars all the time because I have a small truck. I was amazed that they didn’t even know how to load the truck, they wouldn’t always strap stuff in or know what strap to use. She mentioned that they had problems with the company when they asked for help; the company told them to find a mentor. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I should be further amazed that this is not the first time I have talked to or helped others out like this. This is the second retired couple I have ran across in the past four months who were hurting like this and bought into the dream only to have it become a nightmare. This lady’s recommendations are simple, if you are retired, get an RV. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I won’t name the company, it really has to do with the pom pom squad more than anything but here is what happened. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I have some work that takes me to an odd place, multiple companies using the same docks. I pull in, get my stuff loaded and go into the shipping office to get everything written up. In the mean time here comes a really nice apartment on wheels pulling into the docks next to the office. The couple who own the truck come into the office, they are a retired couple who don’t look like they are happy. I stand there with my dirty shirt and pants and they stand on the other side of the office in their nice matching uniform and hats – hint my cloths are dirty because I have to crawl in between the stuff on my truck to get it all tied down. [/FONT]
[FONT="]So I’m waiting and waiting and they go out and direct the fork lift drivers on how to load their truck. I’m watching, my shipping clerk is busy with her cell phone and I am getting interested in what they are doing. One of them, the lady of the team, comes into the office telling their clerk that they are given 10 pallets of stuff but can fit 8 on the truck and they have to call the company to find out what to do. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I am standing there while she is trying to explain to the very impatient dispatcher and then to someone else and then someone else and she is left on hold. I look at the situation, they have the room to put shoring bars up, deck the bars and strap the two pallets on top. I am listening to her on the phone explaining it to another person, the husband comes in and tells her that they will have to take the load off the truck and she tears up as he is walking out the door. [/FONT]
[FONT="]She hangs up the phone and then tells the clerk, who is not sympathetic at all, that the load has to come off. I step up and ask her if she has shoring bars and she says “yes we have 10 of them”, so I suggest using them to support the pallet and then they can take all 10. She darts out of the office to grab the forklift driver, a whole bunch of commotion is going on and they pull out bracing bars to use.
Cr*p… they had bracing bars, I went out on the dock and asked them if they had shoring bars, they thought the bracing bars were the same as shoring bars.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]I explained the difference; they didn’t have them and looked like I just killed their cat, which by the way was in the cab. So I told them I would make them a deal, I will sell two shoring bars to them for what it costs me to replace them - $45 each and they will have the right stuff. I took the two off my truck and set it all up for them, helped them put the straps on them and by that time my paper work was almost finished. [/FONT]
[FONT="]They did their thing with the paper work, they were all happy, I meet the cat and they are on their way to the west coast. [/FONT]
[FONT="]This couple retired a few years back and was told all the fun they could have doing this work, so they bought a truck last year (I think). They planned on seeing the country but I thought it was de ju vu when she said all they have seen so far is truck stop parking lots, used car lots and a lot of bad roads. The company has been sort of good to them, they have given them enough work to keep the truck running but they don’t have a truck payment, they sold their house and cashed in some bonds to buy the truck, it is nice but too small a box. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The lady mentioned that her fun ended a long time ago, they can’t get anything that they want out of the truck and she has had medical problems which makes it even harder for her and her husband to deal with and the company has told them too bad, complaining that they took too much time off when she went into the hospital. She was telling me that some of the places they have been don’t help with loading and unloading and at their age, it is hard to do the work that is needed. [/FONT]
[FONT="]She was amazed at how the pallets were put in the truck; I told her I use my shoring bars all the time because I have a small truck. I was amazed that they didn’t even know how to load the truck, they wouldn’t always strap stuff in or know what strap to use. She mentioned that they had problems with the company when they asked for help; the company told them to find a mentor. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I should be further amazed that this is not the first time I have talked to or helped others out like this. This is the second retired couple I have ran across in the past four months who were hurting like this and bought into the dream only to have it become a nightmare. This lady’s recommendations are simple, if you are retired, get an RV. [/FONT]
