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how not to unload a truck
Mar. 17th, 2014 07:58 pmSo there's a rotating cast of delivery drivers who show up with the shipment every week. The one we see most often is Broken Truck dude. The lift on the back of his truck is broken, which means it does not rest flat when raised up to the level of the cargo bay. Because of this, he's unable to unload the truck on his own as it is impossible to get a pallet on the lift and operate the lift at the same time. He always asks someone to come out to help - most of the time this is me since I am Stock Room Guy.
The way he unloads feels like a demo for OSHA on how not to do this work. These pallets are anywhere from 500 to almost 900 pounds depending on what stock we're receiving in a given week. (Breville appliances and Le Creuset are heavy.) He would essentially pull stuff out on the dolly and attempt to prop it up while standing on the ground. The pallets would be leaning at about a 40 degree angle before the lift could be lowered to the ground. Because he could never get the entire thing off the lip of the truck bay, this method of unloading routinely shattered the wood at the end of the pallets. This is also why I wear gloves constantly, because splintered wood and nails are not fun.
For months I have said this guy is going to be killed by a falling pallet one day.
So last week we had a bonus delivery day - just two pallets! Should have been an easy morning! Mostly just new stuff to stack in the back!
Except that when dude starts unloading the second pallet it all goes to shit. He's jerking it back and forth, all 700 pounds of Breville espresso machines and cookware and the new summer dishes. I can actually see the boxes lifting off the pallet, the shrink wrap around them tearing loose. I end up running inside to get my boss because we're the only people there. Steve tries to help him hold the now precarious leaning pile of boxes up. During this time, the truck lift completely stops working. It won't go up or down.
Eventually dude just tells my boss he can't do anything else and he's going to have to let it drop. Lucky for him he managed to get out of the way in time. I hid behind the side of the truck with my hands over my ears as all this stuff and a pallet jack went crashing off the lift. Surprisingly the only obvious broken thing was a wooden serving tray though I didn't look inside every Le Crueset box. The electrics usually have lots of styrofoam on the inside but it is possible we have some jacked up espresso machines and juicers now.
My boss and I stacked everything, running half of it inside the fire door on the side of the store. We snagged a couple cell phone pictures of the aftermath, which my boss emailed to corporate. He was so angry. We've complained about Broken Truck Dude since SEPTEMBER, before I even started work there. In addition to his broken truck lift, dubious safety standards and general weirdness, dude would often show up super late (like an hour or more) for deliveries which made getting pallets unloaded and stashed and cleaned up before the store opened kind of awful.
Broken Truck Dude has apparently been fired from the delivery company or so the word is on that. I feel bad that he's lost his job because regardless of why, finding yourself jobless is shitty. But I'm relieved that I won't have to deal with that nonsense anymore because it felt so unsafe and weird. Every other driver manages to have a working truck and unload pallets safely. Plus they show up on time so I'm not standing around between 6 and 7 in the morning dark just waiting.
The way he unloads feels like a demo for OSHA on how not to do this work. These pallets are anywhere from 500 to almost 900 pounds depending on what stock we're receiving in a given week. (Breville appliances and Le Creuset are heavy.) He would essentially pull stuff out on the dolly and attempt to prop it up while standing on the ground. The pallets would be leaning at about a 40 degree angle before the lift could be lowered to the ground. Because he could never get the entire thing off the lip of the truck bay, this method of unloading routinely shattered the wood at the end of the pallets. This is also why I wear gloves constantly, because splintered wood and nails are not fun.
For months I have said this guy is going to be killed by a falling pallet one day.
So last week we had a bonus delivery day - just two pallets! Should have been an easy morning! Mostly just new stuff to stack in the back!
Except that when dude starts unloading the second pallet it all goes to shit. He's jerking it back and forth, all 700 pounds of Breville espresso machines and cookware and the new summer dishes. I can actually see the boxes lifting off the pallet, the shrink wrap around them tearing loose. I end up running inside to get my boss because we're the only people there. Steve tries to help him hold the now precarious leaning pile of boxes up. During this time, the truck lift completely stops working. It won't go up or down.
Eventually dude just tells my boss he can't do anything else and he's going to have to let it drop. Lucky for him he managed to get out of the way in time. I hid behind the side of the truck with my hands over my ears as all this stuff and a pallet jack went crashing off the lift. Surprisingly the only obvious broken thing was a wooden serving tray though I didn't look inside every Le Crueset box. The electrics usually have lots of styrofoam on the inside but it is possible we have some jacked up espresso machines and juicers now.
My boss and I stacked everything, running half of it inside the fire door on the side of the store. We snagged a couple cell phone pictures of the aftermath, which my boss emailed to corporate. He was so angry. We've complained about Broken Truck Dude since SEPTEMBER, before I even started work there. In addition to his broken truck lift, dubious safety standards and general weirdness, dude would often show up super late (like an hour or more) for deliveries which made getting pallets unloaded and stashed and cleaned up before the store opened kind of awful.
Broken Truck Dude has apparently been fired from the delivery company or so the word is on that. I feel bad that he's lost his job because regardless of why, finding yourself jobless is shitty. But I'm relieved that I won't have to deal with that nonsense anymore because it felt so unsafe and weird. Every other driver manages to have a working truck and unload pallets safely. Plus they show up on time so I'm not standing around between 6 and 7 in the morning dark just waiting.