Totally Screwed

Well, assuming things would possibly go smoothly proved a bad assumption today. I woke up excited to start my day. I had to pick up an empty trailer at the Wal-Mart DC in Lewiston, ME first and then head over to the Nestle Poland Spring Bottling plant over in Poland Spring, ME to swap the empty for a preloaded trailer full of water. That load was then to turn me south headed towards home. Of course, that couldn't possibly have happened.... nope. Not for me!

No, what happened was the load I acquired was over gross. After scaling at a nearby truck stop, I headed back to the shipper to have them fix the problem. After being directed to a dock door and parking, I was left wondering what would happen next. What did happen next was a phone call from company headquarters with two company representatives and two of the shippers representatives to my cell phone. The call consisted of them asking me some basic questions regarding the load, the trailer, my tractor, the scale I used, etc. After answering the questions to the best of my ability, I was dismissed from the call and I hung up my phone.

Shortly after ending the call I felt fork lifts moving in and out of my truck, assuming they were just taking some out and rearranging the others. But after 15 minutes the movement stopped and the light by the dock door turned green and I was called over the CB. The guy told me I was free to go and to please leave the premises immediately.

I went in and asked for my paperwork back and was then informed that there was no paperwork to get back since they took the load out of my now empty trailer. BUMMER! So now, I sit and wait at the truck stop where I scaled wondering if I will ever get another load.

Comments

Sam Huss said…
Unfortunately I've had that happen before. Carries contracts load for a certain weight. When the customer can't load that much weight on a trailer they give the load to someone else and the original carrier is usually fined for the issue...being that they promised to truck capable of a certain weight and didn't deliver!
February 10, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Mark Krusen said…
That Sux!Why didn't they just adjust the weight? Wouldn't anybody tell you?
February 10, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Anonymous said…
What!? Were they expecting you to run illegal? That's insane. Hope this gets "adjusted."
February 10, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Anonymous said…
Sorry Rox. If I had know I could have invited you over or dinner :)
February 10, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Wow sounds like they expected you to run the over weight load. LOL just like dispatchers & shippers questioning the driver as if the driver is the reason the load was over weight. I hate that type of attitude that oozes out of the cubical residing desk jockeys.

Stay safe Gigi

EW
February 11, 2009 at 12:11 AM
Anonymous said…
I hope you get some sort of pay for all that screwing around
February 11, 2009 at 8:24 AM
Anonymous said…
When I read stories like this, it seems like you truckers are always getting the shaft. You sit around and just waste major amount of time waiting on a load and don't get any real money.
February 11, 2009 at 11:53 AM
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