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Picked up my backhaul at a place with multiple sets of loading docks, each set having its own shipping desk. At the guard shack, you give them your pickup number and they direct you to the appropriate set of doors.
Remember Goofus and Gallant from Highlights magazine? Goofus has grown up, and drives a truck.
I give my pickup number to the guard, he looks it up, and tells me to go to door 41 (the "people door" associated with a set of loading docks). I go there, see a bunch of dropped trailers in the dock doors, except for one (#40) where there's a truck doing a live load. There's also a truck waiting in the staging area, so I pull around and park behind it, then go in to register my arrival.
When I get to the desk, Goofus is being handed his paperwork, and they tell him to put his PARS sticker (used to uniquely identify a load for Canada Customs) on a particular sheet. His response? "What's this PARS stuff for anyway? I'm supposed to be going to Baltimore". Turns out a shipment going to Barrie Ontario had been loaded onto his truck, and now has to be unloaded and the proper freight loaded. I sign in, and return to my truck.
On my way, I tell the driver of the waiting truck that there'll be a delay - the wrong freight got loaded onto the truck in the bay. His response? "I know - that's the freight I was supposed to pick up". He had parked his truck and walked in to register, and the shipping clerk told him to back into the open bay. While he was walking back to his truck, Goofus came along and rather than parking behind the waiting truck and walking in to register, he pulled right into the bay. The shipping clerk, having told a driver to pull into the bay, assumed that the right truck had pulled in, and started loading it.
Time passes, and some of the dropped trailers, having been loaded, get pulled out. Waiting truck gets sent to bay 38, I get sent to bay 39, and another truck arrives. The shipping department finally gets the right cargo onto Goofus' truck, and he goes to pull out. He revs his engine for at least 5 minutes (sounds like he's having trouble building air pressure), and pulls out of the bay. I notice that his right front hub is dragging (right rear is rolling), and give a couple blasts on the horn to get his attention. I get out to let him know what's going on while he's closing his doors. Why was he having trouble building air pressure? This shipper uses a very common safety precaution to keep a truck from pulling out while they're loading it - they put a lock on the trailer's red gladhand (air pressure must be supplied on the red gladhand to release the trailer's parking brakes, so the lock keeps the brakes applied). They had removed the lock when they finished loading the trailer, but it's always up to the driver to reconnect the air line. Goofus had forgotten to do this. He didn't seem to be too concerned that he had at least 2 problems with his brake system - an obstructed air line (without an obstruction, an open red air line will cause the red button to pop out again immediately, and if you hold it down the open line will dump air pressure faster than the compressor can build it up) and a brake that's not working (remember how I told you his right rear hub was rolling?).
It could have been more interesting - the truck that arrived after I did was going to Cleveland. If it had been this truck, rather than the one that was waiting when I arrived, which Goofus had cut in front of, there would have been no PARS sticker (since the load would have been staying in the U.S.). Since the need for the PARS sticker was what triggered the check to see if the right freight had been loaded, Goofus would have been on his way to Baltimore with freight intended for Cleveland.
Remember Goofus and Gallant from Highlights magazine? Goofus has grown up, and drives a truck.
I give my pickup number to the guard, he looks it up, and tells me to go to door 41 (the "people door" associated with a set of loading docks). I go there, see a bunch of dropped trailers in the dock doors, except for one (#40) where there's a truck doing a live load. There's also a truck waiting in the staging area, so I pull around and park behind it, then go in to register my arrival.
When I get to the desk, Goofus is being handed his paperwork, and they tell him to put his PARS sticker (used to uniquely identify a load for Canada Customs) on a particular sheet. His response? "What's this PARS stuff for anyway? I'm supposed to be going to Baltimore". Turns out a shipment going to Barrie Ontario had been loaded onto his truck, and now has to be unloaded and the proper freight loaded. I sign in, and return to my truck.
On my way, I tell the driver of the waiting truck that there'll be a delay - the wrong freight got loaded onto the truck in the bay. His response? "I know - that's the freight I was supposed to pick up". He had parked his truck and walked in to register, and the shipping clerk told him to back into the open bay. While he was walking back to his truck, Goofus came along and rather than parking behind the waiting truck and walking in to register, he pulled right into the bay. The shipping clerk, having told a driver to pull into the bay, assumed that the right truck had pulled in, and started loading it.
Time passes, and some of the dropped trailers, having been loaded, get pulled out. Waiting truck gets sent to bay 38, I get sent to bay 39, and another truck arrives. The shipping department finally gets the right cargo onto Goofus' truck, and he goes to pull out. He revs his engine for at least 5 minutes (sounds like he's having trouble building air pressure), and pulls out of the bay. I notice that his right front hub is dragging (right rear is rolling), and give a couple blasts on the horn to get his attention. I get out to let him know what's going on while he's closing his doors. Why was he having trouble building air pressure? This shipper uses a very common safety precaution to keep a truck from pulling out while they're loading it - they put a lock on the trailer's red gladhand (air pressure must be supplied on the red gladhand to release the trailer's parking brakes, so the lock keeps the brakes applied). They had removed the lock when they finished loading the trailer, but it's always up to the driver to reconnect the air line. Goofus had forgotten to do this. He didn't seem to be too concerned that he had at least 2 problems with his brake system - an obstructed air line (without an obstruction, an open red air line will cause the red button to pop out again immediately, and if you hold it down the open line will dump air pressure faster than the compressor can build it up) and a brake that's not working (remember how I told you his right rear hub was rolling?).
It could have been more interesting - the truck that arrived after I did was going to Cleveland. If it had been this truck, rather than the one that was waiting when I arrived, which Goofus had cut in front of, there would have been no PARS sticker (since the load would have been staying in the U.S.). Since the need for the PARS sticker was what triggered the check to see if the right freight had been loaded, Goofus would have been on his way to Baltimore with freight intended for Cleveland.
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