Load shift and damage!

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by GA-TRUCKER, May 28, 2016.

  1. GA-TRUCKER

    GA-TRUCKER Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2014
    Atlanta, GA
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    Hello, I picked up an entire truckload of watermelons yesterday from northern Florida to northern Illinois to be delivered on Monday. they stacked the boxes of them on top of pallets two high. I was on I-75 northbound and out of nowhere a trucker up ahead blew a tire and started swerving therefore caused everyone to lockup the brakes. I was at a good distance but unfortunately it scared me because everyone started driving insane so I braked way harder than I should have and let off quickly, I pull a dry van 53'. Well, I check the load when I got to North Georgia and the top pallets in the front of the trailer went EVERYWHERE!!!! In my career which isn't very extensive yet, I have never had a damaged good except three individual bottles of Crisco once. It was marked on the BOL and I never heard anything about it from dispatch or my bosses. I work for a small company with about 30 trucks. My question is, what is going to happen when I deliver this load on Monday? How many people have experience with a damaged load and clearly a severely damaged load? Now it looks like I can get back there tomorrow during my reset and restack them but I'm sure there are quote a few that are a lost cause. Should I make an attempt to fix it or what? Also, as a side note I had straps on the back of the trailer but obviously that doesn't help the front. I attached the picture of the load BEFORE the disaster.
     

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  3. w.h.o

    w.h.o Road Train Member

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    Chicago, il
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    They would probably reject the ones that are damage.

    I haul glass, so i dealt with damage freight behind. Customer will take them and just write on the BOL how many damage, i have to report it to safety but never heard anything after that. usually these damage freight are not my fault, like preloaded trailers or if the loaders damage it while loading up the trailer.

    I also done container but its easy to blame the train and the crane guy for shaking up the can before putting on the chassis. Sysco and the pop company i work for was kinda anal about it. You could get fired or pay for the damage.

    You shouldn't brake hard if you have sensitive freight. Glass, wine bottles, beers, Car haulers, etc etc they keep their distance even more than recommended, and sometimes drive slower than the rest so they dont have to switch lanes offer or brake offer in traffic.

    I wouldn't worry about it, its up to you if you want to restake it.. but its gna be a long hard work lol

    How many pallets fell?
     
  4. GA-TRUCKER

    GA-TRUCKER Bobtail Member

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    Apr 3, 2014
    Atlanta, GA
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    Thanks for the detailed reply. Yea, I never should have braked that hard I'm beating myself up over it because I'm better than that and am a very safe driver most times, I've dealt with way worse incidents on the road and handled it well but for some reason this one got me. A Schneider truck almost laid his truck over because he was much closer than I was. But anyways, I may try and fix what I can and leave what I cannot. I believe 6 pallets fell containing 45 melons each. It doesn't look like many melons themselves actually busted as they are very hard fruits. But ###### this isn't what I want to deal with. I know other guys in our company get entire pallets from time to time rejected and it's usually glass drinks like Starbucks or Pepsi products every so often but nothing that I have ever been responsible for. I wouldn't ever wanna do glass unless I got paid extra hahah
     
  5. tucker

    tucker Road Train Member

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  6. Dave_in_AZ

    Dave_in_AZ Road Train Member

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    rambo1.jpg
     
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  7. A Bug

    A Bug Heavy Load Member

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    I would have thought you would be using a reefer to to haul watermelon.

    Still good though, hope you are hungry when you get there!
     
  8. justa_driver

    justa_driver Road Train Member

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    Not too much you can do about it. Straighten it up as best you can. I cant tell you how to handle it, but usually if I messed something up, Id tell them I messed it up so they wouldnt have to find it on their own. Nobody is Perfect. Good Luck.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2016
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  9. KillingTime

    KillingTime Road Train Member

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    In all seriousness, report what happened. Suffer whatever consequence, if there even is one. Better to have an explanation (not an excuse) than to ignore it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 29, 2016
    Reason for edit: Removed reference to deleted posts
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  10. iRookie

    iRookie Light Load Member

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