Then once again I would look for signs of life in the other trucks as I walked up and if there are I would stop and say something to the other driver like "Have you checked in yet. Don't want to jump in ahead of you."

If there are no signs of life in the truck then go on up.

Of course if it is 5 or 10 minutes after the opening time and you walk on up then I would not worry about it at all.

 

If the other drivers cared about getting to the dock first they would have set their alarm clock ,as to be up in time to make it happen.....they chose to sleep in and now are at the back of the line ......

 

Just as GMAN,and Yoopr said,you dont cut in line. Thats an easy way to get yourself into a fight. :shock: :P

 

Similar thing happened to me last week in Atlanta.
I got in the night before in a locked in fence when a driver came in as I was checking to see what to do.
I was parked on the road near the gate when he came wheeling in front of me and got out and started to try and unlock the keyless lock, he asked me to shine my flashlight for him, I asked him if I could get in too, he asked if I was delivering there and after found out I was let me in after him.
He told me to park off to the side aND AT ABOUT 5:30 AM SOME ONE WOULD WAKE ME UP TO TELL ME TO COME IN.
I GOT UP AT 5:15 ON MY OWN AND WAITED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR BUT NO ONE SHOWED so I layed back down.
About 15 min later a truck just drove right past me and up to the door so I hurried up and got behind him.
He came back to me after a few minutes and wanted to know if he cut in front of me, duh,lol. I told him yes but for the inconvienience of changing around he could go first, this cost me one hour.
A couple other drivers said to me , weren't you there first and I told them yes but he cut so I let him go ahead and they were surprised.
Also at the same time it made them wait longer so maybe I shouldn't have let him go first!!!!
I think it is common courtesy of first come first serve.
I have woke up many a driver that was there first.
They have all shown they appreciated it.
Now if you have an appointed time then that is the order usually.
I get to most of my places early and if you are nice many times they will unload you.

 

He didn't gut in line IMHO. The place opened at 0500. the person in the front of the line where you CHECK IN at 0500 is the person who should get the door first. The only case where this would differ is if there was only one door. If some lazy bozo cannot get his feet on the floor at 0430 for a 0500 appt, then they deserve to wait behind those who can.

 

Sorry, I have to agree with Mark on this one..... no disrespect to GMAN and Yoopr, but being a driver you assume responsibilities and if you're at the yard gate and you're told the gate will open at 0530 for check in, it's your responsibility to be ready at 0530 to roll inside........... it's not another driver's responsibility to wake you up so you can go about your business in a professional manner.

I would check to see if there were any signs of activity, but if there wasn't any, I don't knock on their cab...........if the yard boss wants to do that, that's up to him, it's his yard, but, by and far, most that I've known figure if the driver wanted to get unloaded first he'd have his ass up and ready.

I swear it seems to be a generation thing, this "me" generation seems to be under the impression that oversleeping is a valid excuse for showing up late to work or that a rough weekend partying is a valid excuse for missing work come Monday or walking in after lunch...........when I was running the construction division of our design office down in Florida, I couldn't count the number of subs I fired on my hands and toes, for not showing up, or come waltzing on to the site half way through the day, cause they were just too tired to get there on time.

When I first went solo, I did the customary knock on some driver's door Greenville once.......he was first in line and I was second, I had an 0600 time slot to off load. I pulled up about 0330 and set my alarm for 0500, the guard had already told me the gate would be opened with the first shift at 0530, so I figured I'd get an hour or so nap, be up in time to brew me a quick cup of eye opener and ready to go............at 0530 the guard came out and opened the gate just like he said, I waited for about 10 minutes and the guy in front made no signs that he was even up.......meanwhile, another driver pulls in, goes around us and checks in. I went up to the first guy and didn't see any signs of life, so I just wrapped on his door............well, it was apparent he wasn't a morning person and preceded to cuss me out up one side and down the other for waking him up..........his time slot was not until 0830...........there were more words exchanged.........something to do with my mother and that I was apparently a rookie and that if I bothered him again he'd teach me a lesson I wouldn't forget..............after that I just said to hell with em, if they ain't got the professionalism to be up when they need to be up, it's not my job to be their momma..............you snooze you lose.

Thing was when I came out at 0900, he was still sitting there. Still no signs of life and there were already 4or 5 who had bumped, and about 6 waiting. I mentioned to the guard that the guy in the KW sitting there had told me he had an 0830 slot........he just smiled and said not anymore, it ain't my job to be his wake up call, now he's got at least 11 guys in front of him and he'll be lucky if he gets unloaded today.

I'd be willing to bet he bitches about all the time he has to wait around getting unloaded or loaded and don't you just know......it's got to be the load managers fault that he's not getting the miles he needs.

Oh, btw, he appeared to be in his late 20's or early 30's............maybe it would be better if his momma was riding with him.... she could make sure he got up on time, ate all his Wheaties and wiped his butt thoroughly after he had his morning poo poo

 

Some good points made! I personally think if someones rude enough to waste your/my time and not be ready to bump the dock (asleep in bunk) when recieving hrs begin and theres a dock open and people ready to unload, then its not rude to go around them. Im noones mom and wont bring a driver coffee and fuzzy slippers when its there turn. If yourestill asleep, ill assume your appt. is later and go around you. It would be rude to wake you :wink:
I think the best thing to do is to check in at opening hour and let them tell you how and where!

But then again, I drive line-haul now and dont know what waiting in line for getting loaded/unloaded is :lol: When I drove LTL local i never waited behind a truckload carrier either :lol:

 

Okay, all you NEW BREED drivers. Like Gman and Yoopr, I learned in the "Old School". It's a matter of courtesy. How well do you respect your fellow drivers? He/they worked to get there when they did, and if something happened to their alarm clock, you're going to get in front of him/them? I beat on their sleepers, and if I'm in the receiving office before they are, I also inform the receiver that I have someone else ahead of me.

In the old days, you could find that your horns were "retracted" with the help of a tire-thumper. As recently as last month, I saw another driver crank the landing gear down near the ground. When the driver that jumped ahead of him left, he hit a speed-bump and bent the landing gear. After that, he was never going to get it cranked up again. he couldn't go anywhere until someone came along with a cutting torch and cut it off. And, while I have never done any of them, I know of quite a number of other tricks that have been used on drivers that jump ahead in line. One case I got to see resulted in the trailer buckled and the belly on the ground.

If I'm there when something happens to you, I give you my word that I will not be the one to do anything. I will also tell you I didn't see a thing.

BEWARE!

If the receiver goes by appointment time, it's another matter.

 

I guess that courtesy should go both ways. You are there holding a place in line - you should have the courtesy to the other drivers behind you to be ready to roll once the yard is open.

What if some of the same retaliation for "cutting" was applied to those holding up the show?

Professionalisim is professionalism. If you are at the yard early, professionalism dictates you are ready when they open. If it's a full day or so early - then I would make sure I was well outta the way of those there only a few hours early for their appointments.

 

That would be all fine and dandy Windwalker, but experience, rather a few bad experiences have taught me differently.

I used to knock on sleepers to avoid line jumping, however after having one driver pull a gin on me, another take a swing at me with his tire thumper, and a few more simply cuss me out for waking them up I no longer do it. It is not worth the risk of running into these ill tempered jerks with the me only and screw you mentality that are littering the roadways now.