Can someone explain the logic here???

[Kisa]

I work as a biller for a trucking company. I get scans of bills and enter the data into the system to later be printed out as a reciept. Some of the data auto-fills such as the number of handling units, weight, shipper address, terminal code and pickup date. However, just because it fills in doesn't mean it's correct, so I have to double check everything before I send it.

I got one bill that seemed like any other bill.....until I saw the weight- 1 lb. "Well that can't be right", I thought and I looked to see what the freight was and what the proper weight was. The freight was one box of labels weighing one pound to be shipped 50 miles away.

Who, in their right mind, hires a trucking comany to ship a 1lb box of labels?!! It's like hiring a team of movers to reorganize your spices or bringing in professional cleaners to wipe up a drip of jelly on the counter. I can understand not wanting to drive 50 miles yourself, but why not use UPS to ship it? I'm sure it would be a hell of a lot cheaper. I just don't get it... I keep picturing a huge semi backing up into a lot and the driver throwing open the doors to reveal an almost empty truck with one teeny box inside. It's almost comical.

[Chazzie]

My best explanation is that maybe the company had a lasting contract with the trucking company, and that they just chose to have any and all things shipped that way, depending on how it was billed? I'm not sure, I don't have any experience with that.

[Iseeyouthere]

Maybe it has a label on it...

"For Special Snowflake"

[Kisa]

Maybe it has a label on it...

"For Special Snowflake"

Ahahaha maybe. It said "packages- 1; discription- "plain white labels"; weight- 1lb. I have never seen a bill from that company (which I have never heard of) before or since. I'd imagine the box isn't much bigger than a box of crackers.

[Dave1982]

Some companies do things in a way that is convenient and expedient for them, even if it's more expensive.

For example, at one of my accounts I had several international UPS letters all going to the same address, just with a different "Attention to" name. Because they were going from the US to Poland, they were well over $100 a pop. I asked the person sending them out if there was a reason why they couldn't put all of the letters into a box and have someone on the other end distribute them, as that would have saved them several hundred bucks.

Turns out that because of the nature of the project they were doing they needed the security of individual delivery conformations to each recipient, plus the receiving location didn't have a contact they could ship all this stuff to in one go.

*shrug* Suit yourself....not my money.

So yeah, there could be a valid reason for this that wouldn't be known to someone outside the organization.......or they could just be batshit insane.

[mhkohne]

I'd be willing to bet money that if you could get an explaination out of them that it would be perfectly sensible in the context of their buisiness, and batshit insane when viewed from outside.

I'd place my bet on the trucking company being the cheapest way to get it there TODAY that they could come up with (they probably can't just drive it over due to company policy of some kind).

[Crossbow]

My guess: Dedicated contract with the consignee. They contract for a certain number of trips per month and have to pay for them whether they're used or not.


We're trying to program our software to handle that scenario right now. It's ugly.


Barring that, the consignee's just a pack of idiots. Only other explanation I could come up with.

[Kittish]

I keep picturing a huge semi backing up into a lot and the driver throwing open the doors to reveal an almost empty truck with one teeny box inside. It's almost comical.

I've been a truck driver, and I've CARRIED this, or something ludicrously similar. I had, I kid you not, a pallet with 4 or 5 smallish boxes on it, all neatly wrapped up with shrink wrap that I had to pick up and deliver 400 miles away. And yes, delivery went very much like your description. *chuckles*

[Geek King]

I've been a truck driver, and I've CARRIED this, or something ludicrously similar. I had, I kid you not, a pallet with 4 or 5 smallish boxes on it, all neatly wrapped up with shrink wrap that I had to pick up and deliver 400 miles away. And yes, delivery went very much like your description. *chuckles*

Did you at least open the doors for the loaders with a, "Taa-Daa!"?

[Jester]

If I had to guess, I would say that the one company was sending the package, and was being billed for it by the trucking company, but that it went in a truck with other shipments from other companies.

Of course, that is simply a guess, as the only experience I have with trucking companies is from driving on the same highways as their trucks do. However, I do not in any way discount the possibility of what you picture, i.e., one big truck with one tiny package, occurring.

It's almost comical.

If that is true, I would not say almost comical. There is not almost about it. That is pure 100% grade A all-American comedy, my friend.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If I had to guess, I would say that the one company was sending the package, and was being billed for it by the trucking company, but that it went in a truck with other shipments from other companies.

I believe the industry term here would be Less Than Truckload, or LTL.

This is how we receive our Payless Shoes deliveries. On the truck along with the pallets of shoes will be other items, which can be very small or very large and bulky, going to all different places.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

Wait--and HOW much money does it cost in gas for a truck to drive something like that?

And we wonder how we waste so much fossil fuel.

[Jester]

I believe the industry term here would be Less Than Truckload, or LTL.

This is how we receive our Payless Shoes deliveries. On the truck along with the pallets of shoes will be other items, which can be very small or very large and bulky, going to all different places.

Hell, I know when the food, liquor, and beer companies deliver to us, they are also delivering to other local establishments. WE sure as hell don't warrant an entire truckfull. Not of ANYTHING.

[wolfie]

I've been sent (truckload carrier) with a 53 foot trailer to pick up a load that was small and light enough that it would have fit in my car (1 pallet, weighed less than some people I've met).

Wait--and HOW much money does it cost in gas for a truck to drive something like that?

And we wonder how we waste so much fossil fuel.

Believe it or not, less gas than my car would have used for the same trip. Of course, diesel engines don't burn any gas.