re: Truckers. Well, my Brother was a trucker for many years, and a trainer of truck drivers for his company. And he confirms that yes, some of the people coming into the industry, are, well, not the sharpest tools in the shed. That of course doesn't apply to everybody in such a huge business. But enough to be a pain.

And the industry is set up in a way to drive many smart folks out, and to make it really hard to make a living.

re: BOL - best ever - I have a large cabinet shipped to me, and on the BOL the seller has written "WILL CALL". I get a phone call "are you near by, I'm at your shop...". Answer: "No, I'm 3 states away. And I'm almost never at the shop during business hours. Which is why the BOL says WILL CALL".
Them: "Oh, well, we could bring it back tomorrow?" ME: "How about Thursday at 3am? NO? Then WILL CALL would apply, wouldn't it????"

I must be awful easy to find, I rarely get calls asking how to get here. I have no idea if GPS coordinates are right or not.. I use mapquest usually, and boy has it been wrong a few times. Bottom line is sometimes even if the atlas/ gps is perfect there are extenuating circumstances - road construction nearby, floods, hurricanes, active weigh stations, etc. There are some damn good drivers on the road and I'd personally go insane driving a truck full time. There are also some of the class who Milacron describes.... A story I could not have possibly made up:
A driver from the south comes to Iowa in February delivering a machine to a plant on a flatbed. Long awkward machine....leaves the truck running overnight on arrival. Had trouble backing a standard width load through a 14 x 14 door - one of the crew was on the running board helping.......get it backed and shut the truck off to reduce diesel fumes while untarping. Got it picked, gonna drive the truck out to let it down on skates. Problem is the driver does not know how to restart the truck..... had to wait 45 minutes for the home office to open to get help. As long as he was driving forward and never had to shut it off he was golden. Kid looked to be about a day over 21......

I know it's not true, but I envision Milacron in a small office with raised wood floor, metal cage from the 4 foot level upwards, (similar to.....Louie DePalma....on Taxi) small 20 watt desk lamp illuminating the (dimly lit) "office"...snapped-in-two pencils in the waste basket...
Pining over a 14 inch IBM COLOR VGA Monitor, and banging his fist on the desk piled with papers and snorting 'WRONG CATEGORY'! and WHERE'S THE -OT- IN THE TITLE OF THAT OFF TOPIC POST MORON!!....etc,etc

LMAO ...actually I still am on dialup at the shop office...

Friend of mine built a new hog barn 3 years ago. The first trucker that came in to bring in pigs decided the GPS that gave him a route that saved 5 minutes was better than the owner's directions.

Got a 53' pot jammed in a one lane bridge so tight they had to hook a 300hp tractor on the back to pull him out backwards, then the owner of the barn had to back him 3 miles out on a one lane dirt road before they could find somewhere to turn the truck around so he could drive the 20 miles it took to get in the other way he was supposed to go in the first place.

Honestly with your attitude I when I saw a load to your facility posted on the load board I would ignore it. There is no sense dealing with people that START the interaction with a crappy attitude. it more or less sounds like you resent doing what is part of the job....like bitching about the metal chips all over the floor after a mill job on a bridgeport.

YOU are the trucking companies customer, the driver is their representative, they call for directions to make sure you get your freight delivered and picked up ON TIME. Any decent trucking company then puts the directions you provided in their direction book each driver carries with them.

I have used GPS for probably 100 destinations a week when I did cable tv work, about once a week it would fall flat on it's face providing directions to get a normal van to the address listed....let alone an 80,000 lb tractor trailer rig.

Also customers fail to tell the trucking co. that they have height restrictions, some trucks have higher stacks that will not fit through their overhead doors for example.

My wife is a dispatcher for a trucking co so I hear all of this stuff day and day out. Some brokers fail to tell the company that takes a load that the customer REQUIRES appointments too, the courtesy call clears up any possible problems there too.

Bill

OK, I repeat again, for the last time-

Do you think it's perfectly fine for a driver to totally rely on the customer to provide him all directions.... and for the driver to not make any attempt to research the route on his own beforehand ?

I repeat, that's the heart of what this thread is about.

You are making the odd assumption that just because I'm fretting about this on an internet forum, that I also am fretting about it in "real life" to the driver. So far, I have not. No "attitude" is perceptable to the driver.

In answer to the original question, yes I do think it's "perfectly fine" for a delivery guy to call to ask for directions without doing his own homework. Not ideal, but OK. At least he's going to deliver the goods, rather than failing to do the job, and I'd much rather get my stuff than worry about whether the driver is "lazy." The really lazy ones have actually turned back and told their office they couldn't find us (or that were were closed when we weren't), had the office call the next day to make the delivery on a later scheduled run.

Mostly, though, we get deliveries from carriers that come to our shop daily or weekly, so it's not much of a problem.

Now, I have a different attitude about giving directions because we have to do that multiple times a day on average at our shop. While we're extremely easy to get to, we have a very unusual location for a retail business. We're in a commercial area, but the closest regular retail area is half a mile away. Because it's a matter of attracting customers, we're naturally glad to give directions, and never consider it a waste of time.

Forty years in the retail business has given me the opportunity to encounter all manner of fools, psychos and other unusual types in addition to a terrific crowd of really great people. So, I suppose I tend to compare those who squeak by doing a minimal job favorably compared to the really incompetent.

Two decades or more ago I had a different attitude, and I'd get angry when a delivery guy wouldn't put out what I thought was reasonable effort. It took a divorce and a new relationship for me to truly understand the underlying source of that particular difficulty. . .

Sorry to hear that a bad relationship would actually effect your attitude on something as mudane as a truck driver's performance, but glad that you feel comfortable in your "wise old sage" mode now.

Btw, do you feel that Katie Couric suffers from "low self esteem" ?

Indeed, some folks (me included) are sure that they don't bring their domestic or work stresses to other venues, but I believe they are simply wrong about that. The problem is when the observer and the offender are the same person, the recognition is usually not there. I think that's why virtually everyone I meet who says, "Hey, I'm just being reasonable here" are absolutely NOT being reasonable. Don't have to look far on this forum to find that kind of behavior, yes?

Katy Couric? Well, I'm sorry to say I've never seen her broadcast - I'm barely aware of who she is. I my news from NPR and Pacifica radio, and newspapers.

All true, but the extent of it various by personality, and it served zero purpose for you to mention that aspect of your past in the context of this conversation.

I get my news mostly from NPR as well, but figured it would be difficult to miss the news chatter (on NPR) over the latest BS from the Sarah Palin book, where she, like you, is playing amatuer physcologist.. when of course the real purpose of the comment is a "dig" to someone who has annoyed her, in the pretence of trying to be "helpful" and "understanding".

Well, again we disagree. I believe mentioning my own "guilt" and later awareness actually improves the credibility of my remark that the perpetrator of "attitude" often does not recognize the impact or source of it.

Sorry Milicron, but it's called trip planning. First make sure you can get the load there on time-some shippers think because their state has a 70mph speed limit, that's how it should be everywhere. Plan route-fuel stops, food breaks, sleep stops. Get directions to shipper and consignee-brokers don't supply directions 98% of the time, only a phone # and address.
Routing is done on a rand/mcnally-providing they deem your town, burg, burrow or village worthy to publish.
Directions are obtained first by phone from nearest highway intersection or interstate exit(about 70% of customers can tell you accurately how to get to their place of employment). Also this call is to confirm delivery appointment-time, correct entrance to delivery area, parking availability if early arrival, address comfirmation, and any special instructions the customer may have concerning the load.
Directions are then checked on mapquest-street map and aerial view(which is not updated near often enough to keep up with industrial/business park growth and changes). This is only for those of us who spend $1500 every other year for a laptop and $818 a year just for the antenna service.
GPS is only used about the last mile, usually in fog, or unlit areas, because it doesn't tell you low weight limit bridges or roads, no truck roads, etc..(FYI the big guys in NY and NJ are trying to make it illegal to use GPS in commercial vehicles due to all the bridge strikes)
After the fact that my truck grosses 50% less revenue than 5 years ago, my net income is 70% less, a forklift operator left his forks up about 8" and tripped my wife-leaving us with an ambulance and emergency room bill-her with 40 stitches and a busted knee cap.
I just want you to know that we will continue to serve you to the best of our abilities regardless of your attitude toward us, or your opinions of us.


I don't play the lottery, but if we ever come across that kind of money, we'll buy a new Kenworth W900 with a stretched sleeper and work this job till we're broke again. Then again, I wouldn't be bitchin' about you while I'm making $3.00 an hour.

I think your meaning may have been missed. FWIW, I interpreted M's response to mean that he thinks your first marriage affected your behavior and attitude in a negative way. I take your meaning to be that your second relationship inspired you to some insight or awareness that changed your attitude and made you more tolerant.

Did I get it?

Oh me oh my, let me put my 2 cents worth in as the wife of lazarus who is off the truck do to the negligence of a shipper/receiver. As I wait for my knee to heal so I can help my husband drive/dispatch/etc again. I have a possible answer to your frustration. Even works for the best of the dumba$$es. Set your phone to answer, 1 for directions (now you have a secretary) on the msg give your receiving hours and directions.) Problem solved. I dispatch all our own loads and the receiver/consignee are my last calls. They are courtesy calls to ensure the rec/con. of my concern and professionalism toward their freight and their business needs. You are an instigator and I am sure are enjoying the massive attention. Hoping all your loads are done in excellence, (even when it ticks you off). Lazarus' co-driver/wife