From the road...

My last two forklift deliveries, out of Houston, for the new Tailift forklifts we sell, were delivered by truckers that didn't know how or couldn't back into our driveway that leads to our building. I've never had this problem before and now 2x in 2 months. The previous one, was a flatbed and we were able to unload in the neighbors lot in front. HE could drive in forward and spin around without having to back the trailer.

So the driver that showed today jack knifed the truck and then finally got it in a little ways. He came right around 4 pm, I was out in the tow truck and he wanted to offload and as we are about to shut down then. My "union guys" LOLOL said it was too late and he would need to come back tomorrow. Generally drivers or dispatch always call to schedule a delivery or ask when they can come by. This guy just shows up. So when I get back from my run up to Van Nuys, and then back to Commerce, he is blocking my driveway.

I took pity on him and offered to go ahead and unload tonight, it took us probably 1.5 -2 hours to get it all done, but he was happy because he could leave to his next delivery in Fontana, and the traffic would be nice and light since it was already after 9pm.

 

My wife deals with truckers that can't back up or speak english all the time. Seems to be becoming a common theme.

 

Yes that was also a problem. Living in S cal I’m so used to that, that I catch myself saying the few Spanish words I know and this guy was Asian. Lolol

I offered him Agua like an idiot I tried to communicate with him on what to do and it ended up just being hand signals and he did understand enough to tell me he was going to Fontana later.

I always figure all these guys speak better English versus me speaking their language, so fortunately that keeps me from getting frustrated.

 

Next time pull out the Google translate app. You and him can talk into it and it’ll translate on the fly.

 

I think some of the high schools in neighborhoods where kids dont have wealthy parents should be encouraging their students to be truck drivers.

Everywhere around here is hurting for them, even the basic back up to loading dock guys.

The specialty guys like concrete pumpers, tankers, fuel, etc are even in more demand and are all making 6 figures, plus they're in their own bed every night.

 

Pretty amazing that the CDL tests are available in 30+ languages and the majority of highway signs are in English.

 

See this all of the time. Last week, my last delivery was at a place that really isn't fun to back into: right-side off the street, halfway across the parking lot you have to swing blind-side into the dock between cars. This guy refused to go any further than just off the street (which took him almost 15 min.), blocking almost all of the employees from leaving. Then, he wouldn't help move the sh$t to the tail so the forklift operator could pick it off. Spoke no English.

Best one was a couple of weeks ago. A guy shows up @ one of my regular pickups saying: I huv peekup, Ihuv peekup. That's about all the English he knew. He finally gets out: peekup for International Falls. Problem was, he was supposed to peekup in International Falls at that time and deliver to my pickup in Oshkosh, WI two days later. He was only 16 hours out of his way. This guy didn't even bother to try to back in, it would've been tight with a big sleeper.

 

I thought it was bad years ago when I had to deal with truckers who couldn't read hitting the dock because I couldn't imagine driving in Boston or NYC without being able to read the signs, but now you're dealing with guys who are illiterate in two different languages.

 

There was a team looking for a driver, based north of ATL, earlier this year. I can’t remember where I saw them post it up. Anyone know who it was?

 

Yep. I think you’re right. Thanks!

 

Dang it, man! They really dug deep to catch this guy. Haha.

https://cdllife.com/2022/michigan-t...cdllife-kevel&utm_campaign=recommended-widget

 

You could say they wanted swift justice

 

Guy’s last surf.

https://cdllife.com/2022/motorist-c...-top-of-semi-trailer-prior-to-fatal-accident/

 

at least he got the views he wanted #darwinism

 

The Tesla Semi Truck Is Finally Here After Years of Waiting—Can It Haul the Expectations?

https://www.motortrend.com/news/202...-review/?sm_id=organic:sm_id:fb:MT:trueanthem

 

What do the Oakleys it wears cost?

 

Where do you recharge it?

 

duh...with your gas generator

 

Fixed