One load from hell...

[Jimbo]

I see some questions from time to time about strapping down loads. I am not bragging when I write this, just trying to get a point across.

I was a pretty new falt bedder, with about 50 loads under my belt. I get a load going from Hatch, NM. to Chicago, IL. It was a load of onions. Since I didn't have a side kit, I figured the load would be in those heavy cardboard boxes you see produce being loaded into.

WRONG!!

Turns out I had to secure a full load of loose bags of onions. I felt like killing somebody for giving me this load, knowing I didn't have the right equipment to do it. The point I want to get across is....when the load seems impossible, keep your head, and use your brain.

I put my tarp over the top of the load, with it hanging down each side about 2 feet. I couldn't cover the load all the way, because they needed to be kept ventilated. Using the tarp to stabilize the top of the load, and a few extra straps to tie things down, I got the load delivered without a single bag lost. Along the way to Chicago, I saw signs of other drivers not being as lucky as me. Bags of onions littered the highway 2 or 3 times, and I saw loose onions evry few miles the whole way. And these were guys with the proper equipment.

Sometimes when the load seems impossible, you have to look at at from all angles to figure it out. Having a few extra straps and a few pieces of rope handy helps a lot too.

The picture below is my truck backed into the chinese food distributor in Chicago. I'm not saying it was easy, but it was able to be done. The reason I took the picture was a matter of pride, my being able to do what others said couldn't be done.

http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Onion_Load_01-285x165.jpg

I never had the "pleasure" of pulling onions :wow: but I did have a few loads, that when I got to my destination, I went.....WHEWWW :rofl:

[Foxfire]

You should have been there when I pulled my first load of bagged onions on a 48' spread. I looked at those Mexican guys like they had lost their minds. They were real nice, even tho' they acted like they couldn't understand English. They threw the v-boards up on top and even put the tarps up for me. Then they all just POOFED! And this was a load that was higher than my cab, loaded all the way to both ends of the trailer. I didn't even have a place to stand other than the cat walk or the bucket on the headache rack. Have you ever tried to climb up bagged onions? It ain't happenin'! So I scratched my head a few times and went to find the guy with the forklift. I pointed at the load, then myself, then UP on top of the load. Lo and behold he figgered out what I wanted! He put me up there with all of my straps and I let them fall down over the load and the v-boards. Then I yelled and got his attention and I pointed at me and the ground so he knew I needed help down. I kept the end flaps rolled up and secured with tarp straps (bungies). All they required was for air to be able to pass thru' the onions. I brought this load from 36 miles East of the California line in Arizona to Miami, Fl. And, like Jimbo, I saw where others were hauling them on flatbeds too. I then told my dipatcher to forget me going to Arizona again until onion season was OVER!

I get a load going from Hatch, NM. to Chicago, IL.

Thats what you get for going to NM with a flatbed.. :rofl: :yikes:

Let me guess...you couldnt resist the money... :thinking:

[DrivingZiggy]

The only time I ever hauled onions it was a nightmare for me.

The front stacks kept trying to fall down. I got some new tires in Phoenix and the guys there were nice enough to use their forklift to take down one pallet so I could re-stack it.

Then, when I finally got it to New Orleans, they put in a claim for "missing bags" even though it plainly showed on the bills that some of the bags were 5 of the 10 pound bags stuffed into a bigger bag. The receiver was a serious ass and refused to re-count in front of me. I let the broker know and forgot about it until a month later when I was finally paid and found that they had deducted a few $$$ for the "loss".

I remember that load you had from California.... :rofl: Didnt know you had problems getting paid though.....

[DrivingZiggy]

It wasn't much in the way of $$$. I was mostly mad because they took any $$$ at all!

[CD]

I had always heard that that those bagged onions paid pretty well.....but it just never seemed to me that it was worth all the headaches.


My worst load ever??

A crated load of preformed fiberglass chutes(think a playground spiral slide) and the pole/platform that they all attached to. Was some sort of inventory control and disbursement system that was to go from one floor of a warehouse to another.

Anyhoo they get all this crap loaded on my trailer and I start throwing straps and as I am just about done the shippin dude sez,"uh.....you know you gotta tarp that right??!! :yikes: :yikes:

Well I tried....and got about 10 miles outa town and had already tore the one tarp around the pole to tethers and I decided this load was not gonna be delivered by me, turned the truck around....went back to shipper and dropped trlr on their lot and found me a motel to wait till monday(I loaded it on a friday afternoon and was sposed to be in Pa. on Monday)

The shipper was a bit miffed,but my company backed me 100% and we stopped hauling for them after that ;)

[Preacher]

I hauled an odd shaped piece of equipment that had sharp edges and was supposed to be tarped. I got about 5 miles down the road and it tore-up one of my tarps so I untarped it and hauled it the rest of the 985 miles with no tarps. When I arrived to deliver it, the receiver came out and looked at the equipment, and I said: "Yup, it's all there" and handed him the paperwork to sign. :deal: He signed it as received in proper order and I went on my merry way. No one ever said a thing!

10-4 I have actually done that same thing too.


I picked up a bunch of pickled(galvanized) pre-fab steel in Ohio going to SoCal. UGLY UGLY load.......Of course,a soon as they get it on the trailer I get they dreaded,"ya know ya gotta tarp that??" :wtf:

It's galvanized steel for cripes sake??!!

I had to complete the load with another p/u across town and begged my way outa tarping until i got the other p/u........got the last piece and off to Cali I went.

Upon arriving at the consignee,I rolled in and found the GC(general contractor) and asked him where he wanted the stuff. He looked at the stuff on my trailer and asked,"why aint that stuff tarped??

I looked straight at him and said,"because it's galvanized and really doesn't require any further protection"

GC kinda smiled and said,"your the only one outa 14 loads of that stuff that came in here untarped........I was wondering why in the hizzell they tarped a bunch of steel that was gonna be sitting out in the weather for the rest of its life anyhow!!??"

I figure I at least saved the company about $800-1000 in replaced tarp costs,cuz that load woulda tore them to shreds(like it did the 5 others in our outfit) :classic:

[Foxfire]

One shipper actually told me when I questioned tarping a load of metal fence posts one time, that the only reason why it had to be tarped was because one of the Head Dogs at the reciever said " A tarped load looks nicer than one that isn't." So, I put my tarps on the front of the trailer and carried the load to the Farm Supply place in Brandon, Ms. When I got there I went in search of the person who was supposed to have said this. I was amazed when I actually found the guy and he fessed up to saying it. So I asked him if he would help me do something. He was very agreeable. When we got out to the trailer I told him I wanted him to help me tarp the load. And we did so. I purposely let him think I was sick and really needed the help and being that I was one of the Homegirls from just south of there he was just jumping hoops to be of aid. Well after we got it tarped I asked him if it looked nice. He was hot and sweaty and covered in dirt and he said it looked nice but that it wasn't needed as those were fence posts that went in the ground. BINGO! I said to him. Then I took off the tarps and unloaded his posts. He changed his mind about tarping.

A lot of times, the shipper wont give you your paperwork, untill you finished tarping...as is the case with this load I'm hauling out to WI.

I haul these loads about once a month, and I know well enough by now that the receivers,(job sites) couldnt care less if the load is tarped....

These are chillers, that go on top of buildings....8 foot high 8foot wide, and they look like big round barrels...When you tarp them , there are a lot of room between the units..(usually 6/truck)..as sooon as the wind gets, underneath the tarps, it looks like a weather balloon.. :rofl: even with the straps over the tarps, and in between the units.

Usually, I stop at the first truckstop, and untarp them suckers...Noone ever said anything about it not being tarped..

[DrivingZiggy]

I had always heard that that those bagged onions paid pretty well.....but it just never seemed to me that it was worth all the headaches.
Well, I guess it pays better than other freight out of southern California and Arizona. But not much better and hardly worth the hassle.

In face, I had a customer wanting me to bring some stuff to Phoenix for him. I told him I would look into it. I called on a few loads out of the Phoenix area and all of them turned out to be onions paying about $1.30 per mile.

So I called my customer back and told him that I couldn't do it at his price. He told me that he had just gotten off of the phone with a broker he uses on occasion who had a bunch of onions paying almost $2 per mile. He gave me the broker's number and I called.

The broker said that he didn't have any more for that day, but if he did he would be paying about $1.30 per mile to move them. I guess that means that the broker was making a cool $.70 per mile for it.