Fuel for Thought

Lincoln, Alabama

This was a first. On Saturday I went back to the place I delivered the night before to help the customer find the freight. The delivery was to the address of a very large manufacturing facility, but the recipient was a subcontractor who was using the dock as a delivery point. The dock had its own receiving desk, but it was closed. A worker from the main shipping and receiving office, who happened to be walking by, told me to go to his office one door over. They unloaded me at the dock next to my delivery dock and said they would take it to the right dock. Saturday, dispatch woke me with a call, because the customer couldn’t find the freight. On the second call I described what the two pallets looked like, since the customer only had part numbers to look for. Third call, I offered to come in to identify the freight, since I was only a mile away. Call four, and I was dispatched to meet the customer. At the first dock, we didn’t have to enter. I could see the pallets weren’t where I left them. At the next dock, I was pointing to the freight before clearing the door. Customer exclaimed, “That wasn’t there when I was in here before!” Appparently, as he was going from dock to dock looking for the pallets, they were being moved from dock to dock.

eb