(no subject)
Quick update then passing out!
So far I've survived... 3 days of this job? And so far I'm quite enjoying it! Still waiting on my forklift certification, much to the frustration of the La Crosse terminal night manager, but otherwise things are going fairly well. I now know that I work Sunday-Thursday running linehaul between Neenah and La Crosse (about 6 hours of driving altogether), as well as dock work from 6-8 Monday-Thursday (and probably 4-8 Friday), plus dock work at the La Crosse terminal since there's only the night terminal manager at that location when I arrive (shouldn't take more than an hour, probably less once I get my forklift certification). Someone has to unload the freight and put it in the appropriate trailers/staging areas as well as reload my trailer! And if needed I do whatever extra crap they require me to do, including moving trailers or whatever. I still have to do a bit of practice with marking (reading manifests, determining what freight needs to go where plus making note of any special handling requirements (marking hazmat, food, guaranteed, etc) and marking it appropriately on the pallets/cartons/etc. as well as taking weights and measures of specially noted freight for quality assurance I guess?) Once I get my forklift license I'll get to learn how to stack freight in a trailer so we don't have a repeat of this morning. I had a lot of freight in my trailer. A lot of freight. 48' trailer, probably about half loaded if not more, stacked and stuff. All of it had to go into a pup trailer heading out shortly after I leave, about 26-28' or so. Definitely very short! Not one carton could be left behind at the terminal. It took quite a bit of work to get it all in there. Unfortunately there was an issue, some freight did get damaged (not my fault! I can't drive forklifts and the freight that tipped over was way too heavy for no less than 4 people to strain to lift without a forklift) as a result of improper stacking, and we had to de-palletize some really big and heavy wheel things to just slide in so it would actually fit.
It seems my hazmat endorsement is finally getting some decent use. I've only hauled one hazmat load so far, but it was on the first day too, and I've had to mark several pallets/drums as hazmat to be shipped off to other terminals. I'd be surprised if I average less than one hazmat load a week.
So far I've survived... 3 days of this job? And so far I'm quite enjoying it! Still waiting on my forklift certification, much to the frustration of the La Crosse terminal night manager, but otherwise things are going fairly well. I now know that I work Sunday-Thursday running linehaul between Neenah and La Crosse (about 6 hours of driving altogether), as well as dock work from 6-8 Monday-Thursday (and probably 4-8 Friday), plus dock work at the La Crosse terminal since there's only the night terminal manager at that location when I arrive (shouldn't take more than an hour, probably less once I get my forklift certification). Someone has to unload the freight and put it in the appropriate trailers/staging areas as well as reload my trailer! And if needed I do whatever extra crap they require me to do, including moving trailers or whatever. I still have to do a bit of practice with marking (reading manifests, determining what freight needs to go where plus making note of any special handling requirements (marking hazmat, food, guaranteed, etc) and marking it appropriately on the pallets/cartons/etc. as well as taking weights and measures of specially noted freight for quality assurance I guess?) Once I get my forklift license I'll get to learn how to stack freight in a trailer so we don't have a repeat of this morning. I had a lot of freight in my trailer. A lot of freight. 48' trailer, probably about half loaded if not more, stacked and stuff. All of it had to go into a pup trailer heading out shortly after I leave, about 26-28' or so. Definitely very short! Not one carton could be left behind at the terminal. It took quite a bit of work to get it all in there. Unfortunately there was an issue, some freight did get damaged (not my fault! I can't drive forklifts and the freight that tipped over was way too heavy for no less than 4 people to strain to lift without a forklift) as a result of improper stacking, and we had to de-palletize some really big and heavy wheel things to just slide in so it would actually fit.
It seems my hazmat endorsement is finally getting some decent use. I've only hauled one hazmat load so far, but it was on the first day too, and I've had to mark several pallets/drums as hazmat to be shipped off to other terminals. I'd be surprised if I average less than one hazmat load a week.