Is The "Empty Trailer Procedure" Company Wide?

QKRSTKR

Well-Known Member
One time I hit the gate with an empty on my rear. Called in at the phones and they claimed it was a 30% load from where I took it from. Almost crapped myself even though I knew I checked it during pretrip. Still had to get out and verify it was empty.

For those not in feeders, when we go to a small little center, sometimes no one is there, when we drop our loaded trailer, we hook an empty to bring back to the hub.
 
I went to Joliet Ctr one sat morn. Dropped a trailer off and went to hook to the empty one I was given the number of by my center. I backed under and BOOM came to a dead stop. I get out and look and there was a kingpin lock on it. Turns out I was given a number of a still loaded trailer.

And that's why you always check that your trailers are what they're supposed to be.
 

Dracula

Package Car is cake compared to this...
Seems like I say this a lot, but it always amazes me how the wind blows in different directions under the same umbrella. OK, I've never said THAT before, but the point is how different we do things in the same uniform.

We got the empty trailer memo, but all ours was about was flashing our lights twice at the guards entering and leaving our buildings. Yeah, most of the time our guards can't see us, or just don't care. And besides, what are the guards going to do? Here, they only bolt railboxes and clip inbound trailers heading for a door. Otherwise, we just drive through the gate.

Our supervisors were making more jokes about the directive than we were. Just another case of a someone high up on the food chain trying to prove they work for their paycheck...and failing.
 

frateshkr

Active Member
Must be a directive from corporate after someone noticed sometimes trailers get forgotten about and not unloaded. Nothing new other than it is probably done on purpose sometimes now. They need a fall guy to blame so the last person responsible for checking will get hammered for any mistakes. That is usually a PT sups job to check I thought.

Last month a dispatch sup told me to put a loaded trailer in a slot that is usually occupied by red tag trailers. She said it was to "seed" the lineup for when the person who is supposed to walk the yard and check trailers to find it. I told her that I couldn't do that since the record would show I was the last person to move that trailer. She said not to worry about that.

In the end it was agreed that I would drop the trailer on the yard and a shifter would do whatever they told him to do with it. No way would I leave myself open for something like that as too many mistakes get made already and when that load may have been missed who would the company blame?
 
Last month a dispatch sup told me to put a loaded trailer in a slot that is usually occupied by red tag trailers. She said it was to "seed" the lineup for when the person who is supposed to walk the yard and check trailers to find it. I told her that I couldn't do that since the record would show I was the last person to move that trailer. She said not to worry about that.

In the end it was agreed that I would drop the trailer on the yard and a shifter would do whatever they told him to do with it. No way would I leave myself open for something like that as too many mistakes get made already and when that load may have been missed who would the company blame?

A sup said spot it so spot it. You can't make a note on your phone of the date, time, trl number, sups name? I'd have dropped it and been on my way.
 
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