Fingerprinting

So the load information came in this morning. I am to take a trailer that was brought in from the west out to Michigan with a total of five (!) stops. One in Omaha, one in Des Moines, three in Michigan itself. Each of the intermediate stops is only for a pallet or three to be taken off, with the bulk heading to a town near Detroit.

The Omaha drop goes okay, though the dock workers and I noticed the single pallet heading to Des Moines had tipped over. It was shrink-wrapped together with a bunch of different items and there was no way to restack it... or reason, for that matter. It could just as easily tip over again in the two hours I would need to get it do its destination.

My appointment time in Des Moines was noon and I arrived around that time, only to find that the workers have an hour-long lunch break between noon and 1 PM. Once they came back they opened up the dock doors and beheld the pallet they were destined to receive.

"No way we're touching that. Don't have the time, pal."

So I got to spend 45 minutes of my day cutting away the plastic wrapping and restacking the pallet. During the process I found two cases of drinks that had split open, which didn't help matters.

When a driver assists in loading or unloading a trailer the industry slang is "fingerprinting a load." After some back and forth with my dispatcher afterwards, it was agreed that I would submit a lumper receipt for $20 to pay for the new back pain medication I have just today found a need for.

The drive out to Michigan was a long one but I couldn't take a break before I arrived near Grand Rapids because my next appointment was 0200 the next morning. What dunderhead came up with that plan I don't know, or the next appointment at 0700. Once those are taken care of I can haul my tired body over to Detroit and get the bulk of this stuff off of my truck and take a load off, so to speak.


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PS Have you ever wondered why you pay so much at the grocery store? One reason is that I had to pay $40 to a lumper to take a single pallet with 22 boxes off of my truck this morning, or almost $2 a box. Its okay though, I get the money back. You, well you're out the money pal. So sorry.