Tailgating...Question for Dry Van Drivers.. ???

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by tman78, Oct 11, 2017.

  1. tman78

    tman78 Medium Load Member

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    Was talking to a OTR buddy who talked about "Tailgating for Dryvan Haulers."

    ANYWAY, he tells me when he drove dryvan, often "tailgating" was required by Driver (apparently Tailgating is where the driver has to get out and move the loads from the front to the back so that it can be unloaded easily by shipper/receiver).
    • HOW Common is this practice of Tailgating by shippers/receivers?
    • In What cases would a Receiver not pay a lumper to work his dock?
    • Do some of you refuse to move freight?
    Thanks for your constructive input....
     
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  3. ladr

    ladr Road Train Member

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    Truthfully it varies by company and route. We have one customer where we rotate the couches so the receiver can put the hand dolly under it. We get $75 bucks to do that. We fight over those loads.

    I have never seen a receiver without someone to unload.

    Only time I refuse a load is when I cannot meet the schedule.
     
  4. ZVar

    ZVar Road Train Member

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    I would say it's only common for the guys that do furniture, and to some extent ltl. Ltl tend to unload, not just tailgate though. Of course you might find a specialized company that does it also.
    I would not worry. It's not common and most places actually pay for the extra work.
     
  5. tman78

    tman78 Medium Load Member

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    Thanks.

    What do you mean "rotate the couches?" Do mean, you deliver furniture and and turn the couches (must be a lot of couches) ?
     
  6. tman78

    tman78 Medium Load Member

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    Yeah, but my guy says they pay drivers ##p pay for lumping. He told me a story of him Lumping Owning s Corning Fiberglass (and then trying to shower that off was next to impossible).

    .
     
  7. ladr

    ladr Road Train Member

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    yes furniture, not a whole lot. It's like 30 minutes work and all you do is rotate them in place.
     
  8. ladr

    ladr Road Train Member

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    I've done a lot of Owens Fiberglass, never touched anything. I'm not sure you understand how paying lumpers work. You, the shipper or the company you work for pays them to unload the truck. Unless the shipper has a direct contract, that fee is charged back to the shipper. If your guy unloaded a truck and got paid peanuts, his company did it to him.
     
  9. tman78

    tman78 Medium Load Member

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    Yep...the company screwed him, and he eventually moved into Reefer.

    I was also told that smaller companies tend to get their drivers to unload quite a bit (as opposed to the majors who don't).
     
  10. ladr

    ladr Road Train Member

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    I work for a smaller company and I've worked for a major company. LTL companies do the majority hand unloading on local routes. OTR drivers do very little tail gating.
     
  11. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    There's times when the driver "assists" the consignee to unload, usually at a place with no dock. Furniture comes to mind as does insulation, where you tie rope to the bundles so the grunt on the forklift can pull the bundles to the rear. Then there's pallet loads where the consignee has a forklift and pallet jack where you the driver pallet jacks the freight to the rear. If you're afraid of a little manual labor then you should apply for a desk job somewhere since trucking (and I've said this many times) isn't for wimps. Even union jocks have to touch the freight sometimes. Good luck
     
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