Ask a Feeder Driver, Feeder Driver FAQ

[over9five]

Man anyone else hate going to the rail yards? It’s never an easy in/out. Always something wrong with the chassis…

Been waiting on a reset for over an hour now. Container sitting on top of the pins. Just venting

Im with you. I hate waiting around for stupid stuff. It's the main reason I won't bid a day job. Yes, I know we get paid for it....

 

[qdg2]

Don't know. He was taken out of service last I heard. He also got 4 citations from the accident. Not sure what the tickets were, tho.

Those tickets will be the kiss of death. The question is always..."did you get a ticket?"

 

[UnionStrong]

Those tickets will be the kiss of death. The question is always..."did you get a ticket?"

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

Zip tie the corners and send it

Yes- zip ties definitely are rated to hold 80,000 plus. Lol. I have some...

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

The SP yard here in Houston was a mess. The workers at that yard disliked us crossing over the tracks to get our trailers as they pulled them off the train. They didn't like us taking work off their spotters. As a result, they would make sure our trailers were taken off last, then when they took them off, they would put them so close together, we couldn't get to the landing gear handles.

 

[Johney]

Yes- zip ties definitely are rated to hold 80,000 plus. Lol. I have some...

We all used zip ties to hold the pin locks in place we were all actually trained to do it if you can believe that, besides I highly doubt any UPS trailers are anywhere near 80,000 pounds.

 

[Yeet]

We all used zip ties to hold the pin locks in place we were all actually trained to do it if you can believe that, besides I highly doubt any UPS trailers are anywhere near 80,000 pounds.

I zip tie the corners if the locking mechanism isn’t sufficient. I actually think it’s the law to zip tie them if you’re going over a certain distance. As far as them sitting on the pin, you have two choices: you can either have a hammer on you and beat them out, or wait on the crane to correct you. The second option makes you more money.

 

[Johney]

I zip tie the corners if the locking mechanism isn’t sufficient. I actually think it’s the law to zip tie them if you’re going over a certain distance. As far as them sitting on the pin, you have two choices: you can either have a hammer on you and beat them out, or wait on the crane to correct you. The second option makes you more money.

When that happened to myself and others the shifters usually came around with a sledge and knocked the pins back. Most of my rail runs were around 70 miles and I always zipped the locks it added time to my t/a.

 

[qdg2]

View attachment 431865

It makes a difference here.

 

[UnionStrong]

It makes a difference here.

It makes a difference everywhere. It was an attempt at levity. I’m not trying to insult or belittle you. I agree, the driver is in deep kimchi, the citations will bury him.

 

[Cementups]

Man anyone else hate going to the rail yards? It’s never an easy in/out. Always something wrong with the chassis…

Been waiting on a reset for over an hour now. Container sitting on top of the pins. Just venting

Crazy talk. I LOVE doing rails. I sometimes volunteer on Sundays to come in and just run rails. Such and easy peaceful job and they leave me alone. Hell, I'm going in this Sunday to run rails in the morning.

 

[Cementups]

So they really loooked at that, and thought they could make it? That’s a no doubter.

We have a few like that , it's 13'6" in the center,,,12 left & right , I'd go through it all the time in Portsmouth Nh
Stay centered , I don't know what this guy was thinking

There are designed feeder paths you are supposed to follow. Only reason to be caught in this situation is taking a shortcut, construction or detour around an accident. The driver is out of service. They got a new tractor from Penske. The "B" driver is doing all the driving from NY to Texas. They have to stop and give the driver 10 hours rest between shifts. As of late this afternoon, they had not made it back to Texas.

The problem in New York is that bridge height isn't measured from bridge base to road. They are measured to the hubs of the tractor. So none of the measurements are "accurate". And if you don't know that you could be in for quite the doozie.

 

[Coldworld]

Been there done that.

The problem in New York is that bridge height isn't measured from bridge base to road. They are measured to the hubs of the tractor. So none of the measurements are "accurate". And if you don't know that you could be in for quite the doozie.

Do they have sensors before these bridges to notify drivers they are too low??? They have those type of sensors out on the west coast in some areas

 

[Just A UPS Guy]

It makes a difference everywhere. It was an attempt at levity. I’m not trying to insult or belittle you. I agree, the driver is in deep kimchi, the citations will bury him.

Stop with the personal attacks. Post reported.

 

[govols019]

Crazy talk. I LOVE doing rails. I sometimes volunteer on Sundays to come in and just run rails. Such and easy peaceful job and they leave me alone. Hell, I'm going in this Sunday to run rails in the morning.

We have one railyard that is not that bad...it's having to deal with the scales in Arkansas on the way that sucks.

I guess if I lived in and worked for the state of Arkansas I'd be pissy too.

 

[Cementups]

Do they have sensors before these bridges to notify drivers they are too low??? They have those type of sensors out on the west coast in some areas

No but I’ve seen those in Virginia Beach. Just signs on the bridges.

 

[qdg2]

The problem in New York is that bridge height isn't measured from bridge base to road. They are measured to the hubs of the tractor. So none of the measurements are "accurate". And if you don't know that you could be in for quite the doozie.

Interesting. I went there every week. Our "training" in sleepers: "Here's your LMA"(Me: What's an LMA?")." Here's your tractor."

I never really looked at any map...at least didn't "study". I would talk with my friends from my hub..."Where are you?" "Somewhere in Ohio...I think..." Anytime there was a road closure or some such......we'd have to stop and reroute.......usually in the middle of nowhere. My trucker GPS would present a route. I trusted it without question. The LMA had turn for turn, word for word directions offering two different paths. Interesting as you would have had to take your hand and eyes off the wheel to read it....to do properly pull over and stop.

Without question, Los Angeles and Jersey/NY most difficult....really CA. Those states don't have anywhere to pull over.... Even the towns. Truck stops in weird places.

Luckily we never had much trouble.

We have a few overpasses here that read 13'6"....the height of our trucks...right? Ask Mgt.......blank looks. We have a high truck warning here too.....flashing lights. I've had them flashing while I went by......but was that my truck or someone else? Tough call in heavy traffic. We had some 14' trailers here. Mgt: blank looks......BTW, that trailer(14') was used all around our hub for CPU.

We've had plenty of folks "go around" accidents(alternate path) and hole a trailer on a low tree branch. You bet they got charged with an accident. I always thought this was unfair.

 

[I have NOT been lurking]

We have one railyard that is not that bad...it's having to deal with the scales in Arkansas on the way that sucks.

I guess if I lived in and worked for the state of Arkansas I'd be pissy too.

Do scabs park on them? I was watching a YouTube channel

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

UPS moved or did away with, or whatever the term UPS used is, several sleeper runs from one of the HOUTX buildings. One of the drivers saw an ad UPS ran advertising for a"5000+ mile job" from that same building for off the road hire. Research showed they had run this job for 15 consecutive weeks. 2 drivers grieved it and UPS refused to pay it, so it's going to panel, in I think Orlando, Fl. This is a $75,000.00 grievance, and I certainly hope the drivers win it. We all know how UPS hates to write those green checks, especially one this big.

 

[Cowboy Mac]

UPS moved or did away with, or whatever the term UPS used is, several sleeper runs from one of the HOUTX buildings. One of the drivers saw an ad UPS ran advertising for a"5000+ mile job" from that same building for off the road hire. Research showed they had run this job for 15 consecutive weeks. 2 drivers grieved it and UPS refused to pay it, so it's going to panel, in I think Orlando, Fl. This is a $75,000.00 grievance, and I certainly hope the drivers win it. We all know how UPS hates to write those green checks, especially one this big.

That is one thing about feeders. I feel like there is so many ways they can mess with runs or violate the contract and it’s easy for them to hide it. Someone who just comes to work every day and does his job would never know.