Should you or Shouldn't you, tip your preloader?

UnconTROLLed

perfection
You get a sizeable thank you every Friday.

Yeah, why not protect people who can't do their job?

I'm not greedy.
More and more and more, I hear "people who can't do their job"

When I started, most preload pulls were between 600 and 900 pieces. That was 15 years ago. Now they're 800-1500 and with the same exact amount of time to do the work. Our center averages at least 30 or 40 misloads a day and were 50+ last week.

The math DOES add up. It used to be, if you had a misload or two a day, you'd be talked to and asked to improve. Now, a misload or two a day is more than acceptable...it's actually excellent.
 

Loyal Teamster

Well-Known Member
One of my drivers would bring me Jumba Juice every Friday and said thank you daily, I'd always give his truck extra care. Another driver was an ass & would complain everyday. I didn't give a schits about his truck, I would usually add 1 package of the trucks next to him so he had to deliver it. I knew it made his day a bit more miserable, it gave me pleasure because he was a stingy ass.
 

Get me a steward

Well-Known Member
One of my drivers would bring me Jumba Juice every Friday and said thank you daily, I'd always give his truck extra care. Another driver was an ass & would complain everyday. I didn't give a schits about his truck, I would usually add 1 package of the trucks next to him so he had to deliver it. I knew it made his day a bit more miserable, it gave me pleasure because he was a stingy ass.
Or he probably just brought it back to the hub and you had to load it the next day
 

brown bomber

brown bomber
decent loaders got a nice tip,...however the loaders I had prior to my leaving didn't get JACK :censored2: T K E,....I actually had my loader jump for me during my last peak,...he saw what I had to deal with
 

BakerMayfield2018

Fight the power.
One of my drivers would bring me Jumba Juice every Friday and said thank you daily, I'd always give his truck extra care. Another driver was an ass & would complain everyday. I didn't give a schits about his truck, I would usually add 1 package of the trucks next to him so he had to deliver it. I knew it made his day a bit more miserable, it gave me pleasure because he was a stingy ass.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh yesssssssss. I love it. Us "stingy ass" drivers Lmfao . Looked for a pkg in the 2000 secetion today. Couldn't find it. Looked on floor under it. Found pkgs from 2000, 3000, 4000, and 7000 secretion in a crumpled mess. Lmfao. Tip. Tip. Tip???? You want a tip?....... I need another beer.....
 

Loyal Teamster

Well-Known Member
Ahhhhhhhhhhh yesssssssss. I love it. Us "stingy ass" drivers Lmfao . Looked for a pkg in the 2000 secetion today. Couldn't find it. Looked on floor under it. Found pkgs from 2000, 3000, 4000, and 7000 secretion in a crumpled mess. Lmfao. Tip. Tip. Tip???? You want a tip?....... I need another beer.....


Its ok if your stingy, but at the very least you should thank your preloader on a daily basis & make sure u let him know u appreciate his hard work. Let him know the day after about the crumbled mess & together u may figure out a better way to load ur route.



Thanks,
Loyal Teamster


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J

jibbs

Guest
[super too long;didn't read-- there is no summary at the end, so skip this post if you feel so inclined]


A preloader-for-three-years' perspective:


Most preloaders would absolutely love a tip, especially if they're consistently on the same pull and, more often than not, give you the best load that they're able to given any particular day's workload/environment.

We also don't expect it, for the most part. Tips are a surprise for us, unless they're hinted at towards the end of the year.

Amount of money or gift card or basket or whatever the hell you feel like doing is irrelevant also. If you're dealing with a loader that's been there for a year at least, I can pretty much guarantee that any kind of tip barring a handful of pocket change is also going to buy you a little extra motivation on the loader's part to do his or her best not to :censored2: your particular load over when they start to get slammed on the belt throughout the year. The same would probably hold true for a seasonal, for at least as long as they last at the job or until they morale is worn down to a nub.




On the other hand, I know a few people that would flat out refuse a "tip," in whatever form it came in unless it was unreasonably extravagant. That's not a hold out for nicer things they feel entitled to, it's simply a matter of an offer being too good to pass up. It's easy to tell the guys that might be inclined to feel that way, though. They tend to be good, hard workers that come in to do their job and get paid for it; no more, no less. Anything extra would constitute a debt in some people's eyes, whether they'd ever admit to the fact or not.... and debts are meant to be repaid.

Okay, I'll be honest, I'm one of "those guys." For two reasons now, though it initially was just because I view tips as handouts on top of my agreed-upon pay, and I don't look kindly on being given a handout. Gives me a sense that somebody thinks I need help and they're the ones that need to give it to me (it's a personal issue, admittedly), and I'm hostile to a person I don't feel close enough to making that kind of judgement. (I'm tellin' you guys, my head's ALLLLL :censored2:ed up. Just because I can put words together all nice-like doesn't mean :censored2:.)

The second reason is that, on my second peak when I started to become an actually-somewhat-okay loader that stayed clean as :censored2: during peak, I had two drivers bait me along from November on about if I keep giving them the loads I was giving I could expect gift cards and monetary tips (not gonna disclose the amount, but put together from the two it would've been a nice Christmas bonus had they completely kept their word.)

So I worked hard that peak, and not just for those guys. I do everything in my power to stay clean so I can sit back and chill while I watch everyone stack out and get backed up, and it results in, at the very least, decent loads for all my trucks on most days. These two particular drivers kept mentioning it to, and the day before Christmas Eve one of them told me to look forward to an extra christmas gift the next day. I was stoked, dude, first tip ever preloading and I was getting two. That's a :censored2:in' bet, right?

So I come in Christmas Eve. They put me on a spot inside the building (as opposed to working outside the building for the complete 3 months prior), loading trucks I've never loaded for seasonal drivers I'd never met. :censored2: it, though, I did what I could. End of the shift, I went over to the doghouse in the parking lot where I'd been working with the tip-promising drivers, and the sons of bitches actually came through, believe it or not.... they just both gave the tip to the gosh darn mother :censored2:ing seasonal they had cover that pull that day because they said they "asked and no one knew where you were, so we figured they had cut you for the year." AS IF I HADN'T BEEN LOADING FOR THEM FOR MONTHS.

After that, they actually did cut seasonals and the :censored2:er that got my gift cards and money was never seen again inside the preload.



Dude, I can't even lie. I hated you :censored2:ing drivers for a long time after that, lol. I'm over it now, though.
 
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