Archived Truck unloaders venting thread

[DUBYA]

Anyone on here unload the trucks?

It's by far the most physically demanding job in the store and can be mentally as well. The trucks are loaded dangerously and the wear and tear on your body is also an issue.

Does your store rotate unloaders? This past holiday season, we "started" switching out/rotating unloaders because apparently stores were claiming they did this and when the DTL would come in and review the tapes, they'd see this was not the case and the stores would get in trouble.

Any brutal unload stories? Complaints? Issues etc?

Let's hear it!

 

[FlowMonkey]

we are told to switch out but most of our team would rather not so we usually don't. the worst I've seen was a double stacked pallet with pet food on the bottom (pyramid style) paper on top and the box stock on the floor keeping the paper pallet balanced so there was no way to pull it out without tipping over

 

[DUBYA]

We've had some awful double pallets as well. Just last week there was a pallet of charcoal on top of a pallet of paper. It was half hanging off and ended up falling over when it just got out of the truck.

There is always furniture, cases of detergent, cat litter, etc all the way at the top as well. It's a miracle no one has gotten very seriously hurt. It's unbelievable what he loaders get away with.

Does one of your unloaders also work the bulk pallets after unload is finished? Is your store allowed to use the electric pallet jack out on the floor?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Dc or flow?

 

[seasonal]

We've had some awful double pallets as well. Just last week there was a pallet of charcoal on top of a pallet of paper. It was half hanging off and ended up falling over when it just got out of the truck.

There is always furniture, cases of detergent, cat litter, etc all the way at the top as well. It's a miracle no one has gotten very seriously hurt. It's unbelievable what he loaders get away with.

Does one of your unloaders also work the bulk pallets after unload is finished? Is your store allowed to use the electric pallet jack out on the floor?

Yes one of our unloaders also does bulk. We don't bring the electric jack on the floor just the regular one for bulk.

 

[rns0504]

we are allowed to use equipment on the floor. used to park the pallet on the mens floorpad, but after a recent visit this has been discontinued to severe carpet damage. now the pallets are parked up by infants but all the equipment including stacker still allowed on the floor

 

[DUBYA]

Dc or flow?

Flow

Anyone that unloads and does bulk pallets feel over worked?

I'm always scheduled for unload and that's the way its been for the past year + and I also do the bulk pallets. I feel beyond under appreciated and I work myself into the ground while others work at a snails pace and rack up more hours.

It has gotten extremely frustrating

 

[kingpin003]

During seasonal another guy and I once threw 2 consecutive trailers without switching out. Of course management assured everyone we switched every 30 min for safety, but we never actually followed best practices.

 

[DUBYA]

During seasonal another guy and I once threw 2 consecutive trailers without switching out. Of course management assured everyone we switched every 30 min for safety, but we never actually followed best practices.

Brutal. For the doubles during holiday season I would unload the main trailer and then go to the 2nd one to finish because they were slow. I'm the last reliable unloader and they sure take advantage of that fact

 

[commiecorvus]

My favorite is that moment when the door slides up and you get hit with the wall of smell that tells you some where in there is a case of busted pickles/cologne/shampoo or all of the above.
So you get the joy of wondering when you are going to hit it, then trying to do a fast clean up, then having it all over you for the rest of the shift.

 

[backroomdude]

Signing pallets that are turned sideways and take up the whole width of the truck. You spend a bit of time turning the stupid thing only to find they sat it that way because its falling over. Another 10 minutes or so to get it out of the truck all the while you got 2-3 people holding it up.

 

[missionimpossible]

Back when I unloaded trucks, during seasonal time we unloaded both trucks at 1 time. 1 thrower per truck. Never rotated. Did it 8 out of 10 days heading to Christmas 1 year. Glad to be in the b/r now. I partly blame that time on the back issues I have now.


I enjoyed pushing the bulk pallets though. I greatly preferred to do that, than having to join the rest of the team in h&b

 

[cihyfthedoor]

Our truck unloaders are rotated every half an hour. There's even a schedule on the wall outlining it so everyone knows who is doing what, and when.

 

[dyskrasia]

Our unloading refuses to switch out. He usually has two guys rotate next to him, but we have one that stays in the truck the whole time.

We don't push the bulk until after the truck unload and it's the scanner who ends up pushing those.

 

[FlowbieCanuck]

My favorite is that moment when the door slides up and you get hit with the wall of smell that tells you some where in there is a case of busted pickles/cologne/shampoo or all of the above.
So you get the joy of wondering when you are going to hit it, then trying to do a fast clean up, then having it all over you for the rest of the shift.

...or oil. Had one of those not too long ago.

 

[DMNDZ bruhh]

when i was on flow i always used to unload the trucks.

ive had a wall of boxes fall on top of me before, and it cut me up pretty good.

we got a bulk pallet that had dog food on the bottom and a pallet of REALLY HEAVY furniture on top of it, so the pallet was slipping, and of course they only wrap it up with one layer of tape, when i pulled that s**t out of receiving, it fell apart and destroyed an end cap next to the doors.

the worst was when a box of ammonia burst inside the truck, i felt like i had to wear a gas mask just to unload it.

i almost got my finger cut off by a falling dresser; it was standing straight up in the truck, and something knocked it over, and it caught my finger in between the sharp part of the skate. it cleaned off a part of the tip of my finger, if my full finger was in the way, it would be gone, the very very tip of my finger has a flat

part now from where it fell on me.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

I think one of my favorite things is when you get 15 air conditioners not on a pallet and then a pallet with one bike and a ton of regular conveyable crap. Our unloaders hate to rotate out. They would rather continue once they are warmed up instead of going out and coming back in. They think it is harder on them.I always offer them the choice, they know how their bodies feel. And its always fun when you get double stacked paper that are too tall to come out of the truck without separating them inside the truck using the stacker. An unload just isn't complete without spaghetti sauce and pickles somewhere on me

 

[konk]

I used to unload as a BRTM. Not sure why, but another br guy and I would come in, unload the truck, then do autofills. Or he would do autofills and I would push mmb. Thinking back on it, it seems really bad, but at the time it was just whatever. I don't remember any major spills, but I do remember the pallets that were too tall to come out and the pallets getting caught up on the dock (had to get a running start).

 

[DUBYA]

Good stuff, guys.

I've also had a wall of boxes come tumbling down on top of me on a couple of occasions. Pretty scary. I wonder if the DC loaders do it blindfolded sometimes or if they purposely load the trucks like jerks to mess with us. There is just zero logic in how/where they stack some of the stuff.

We did the 30 minute rotation thing briefly and now sometimes we rotate once the first half of the truck is finished.

 

[Raiden]

For the summer I worked flow ,they would try to rotate us when we would get around to the halfway point in the truck. This rarely happened and I talked to my ETL saying I would prefer to stay in the truck.I just though of it as a long cardio session.

My favorite stories were getting in the face with a desk when It came crashing down. Also, how a bunch of leaking chemicals were our fault durring the unload and we had a hard time standing up in the trailer without slipping... Why I came back to this place I don't know.

 

[anathema]

We usually have the receiver in the truck and rotate a few people out throughout the truck. Our last receiver was kind of a dick so it was funny to watch a box say hello to his face.

The only thing that really annoys me is when the line isn't straight so boxes get caught and it inevitably causes 5 boxes to fall on the floor when it's pushed down.

Does anyone use a person as sort of a 'runner' to make sure the line keeps moving inside the truck? Seems like it makes it easier on the scanner and the people unloading so they're not worrying about pushing the line at all. Not a huge fan of scanning to begin with, our PDAs don't actually beep above a whisper so it can be tough to hear.

 

[cihyfthedoor]

Does anyone use a person as sort of a 'runner' to make sure the line keeps moving inside the truck? Seems like it makes it easier on the scanner and the people unloading so they're not worrying about pushing the line at all.

The ETL does that in my store. Also keeps them in a good position to make sure people get swapped out regularly and to pass stools as necessary to the unloaders.

 

[FlowbieCanuck]

...15 air conditioners not on a pallet...

Had this last night! 30 even.

 

[salesfloor10]

I love the FDC pallets that are 9 feet tall. What did they do at the FDC to stack the pallet that high, boost each other up?

 

[dyskrasia]

Here's a small vent.
You have a list of how many team members come in for truck each morning. You also have a list of the truck contents and how long it should take to push.
Let's ignore all that and bowl as much product to the floor and give the team 45 minutes to clean it up, even though HBA is 80 hours (or so it seems) and you have STAT, HOME, and MARKET bowled out.

Total sense is made.