TP60 Package Car Trailers Coming "Unhitched"

[Indecisi0n]

Unfortunately we will have to wait until one unhitches and hits a car and kills someone before ups does anything.

 

[Bubblehead]

Unfortunately we will have to wait until one unhitches and hits a car and kills someone before ups does anything.

My thoughts exactly when investigating it here locally.

Of the 6 scenarios here, all but one could have easily ended just like that.

Scary.

 

[Indecisi0n]

My thoughts exactly when investigating it here locally.

Of the 6 scenarios here, all but one could have easily ended just like that.

Scary.

It's just ashame that some random person loved one will pay with their life for UPSs greed.

 

[Bubblehead]

I'm betting there are more than several people reading this, that think they were given a "break" by not incurring discipline, who are hesitant to tell their story?

Remember this, if 10 days have passed, you are safe....


.....but how about the general public traveling your local highways?

 

[Brownslave688]

Had a driver in my Local recently, who had a TP60 trailer come unhitched while traveling at 65 mph on the highway, breaking the chains, landing it in a hillside along the highway.

Driver wasn't charged with an accident, just told to "be careful" after hitching up subsequently, which sent up a "red flag" in my mind.

Over the weekend, with the help of a Facebook Group exclusively for the UPSer's in my Local, we have uncovered 6 separate instances of run away TP60 trailers being pulled by modified package cars in recent years.

Is this just an uncanny frequency of independent anomalies that we are experiencing here, or is this a regular occurrence across the country???

I had it happen once pulling out of the building. My fault. Forgot to
Lock the sleeve.


After that I always jumped up and down on the back of the trailer after I attached it. If my fat ass wasn't pulling it off nothing was.

 

[Bubblehead]

I had it happen once pulling out of the building. My fault. Forgot to
Lock the sleeve.


After that I always jumped up and down on the back of the trailer after I attached it. If my fat ass wasn't pulling it off nothing was.

We had a guy vindicated from "avoidability" by jumping up and down on the tongue, until it disengaged.

I have a theory that tongue weight, or lack thereof, playing a key role in these runaway trailers.

Remember, the average preloader likely receives no training, or has little understanding of the physics at play here.....

.....all the while with an equally ignorant part time supervisor pushing them to "just throw it in there".

 

[brownmonster]

We had a guy vindicated from "avoidability" by jumping up and down on the tongue, until it disengaged.

I have a theory that tongue weight, or lack thereof, playing a key role in these runaway trailers.

Remember, the average preloader likely receives no training, or has little understanding of the physics at play here.....

.....all the while with an equally ignorant part time supervisor pushing them to "just throw it in there".

Much like a Uhaul trailer, 60% of the load weight should be in front of axle.

 

[Bubblehead]

Much like a Uhaul trailer, 60% of the load weight should be in front of axle.

But what happens in the preload?

The bulk gets stacked out and the irregs and over 70's come down at the end of the sort.

 

[pickup]

But what happens in the preload?

The bulk gets stacked out and the irregs and over 70's come down at the end of the sort.

Sounds about right!

 

[Bubblehead]

What really pisses me off, aside from the obvious shortcomings in this scenario, is UPS's insistence that they cannot alter the original design of the manufacturer's vehicle in regards to such safety related features as seat belts, power brakes and steering, and non-slip floor strips.

Somehow this notion is null and void when there is a dollar to made, like when they installed these trailer hitches to existing package cars, as well as keyless entry and ignition.

This company has completely lost whatever soul it ever had.

 

[What The Hawk?]

It's just ashame that some random person loved one will pay with their life for UPSs greed.

That's usually how all multi-million dollar companies change things. When someone is killed or seriously injured from something they were already knowledgeable of. You'd think they would fix it now so, cause if they don't and their mistake kills someone they would have to pay the family millions to settle anyway. Wouldn't UPS lose more money in the event of an injury or death?

 

[silenze]

I can't say anything. They said they would pay me an extra 10 cents an hour if i remained silent

 

[Observer]

Wouldn't this be a LARGE accident waiting to happen? Does DOT check the hitches or would that be something that Osha would handle? OF course, if people have to ride with tires that are far gone - this doesn't really surprise me. You would think with Abney being a former driver - he would be more in tune on the driving end of it. Of course I know making nine million a year - keeps you busy trying to spend it. UPS forgets there is always Karma.

 

[Indecisi0n]

That's usually how all multi-million dollar companies change things. When someone is killed or seriously injured from something they were already knowledgeable of. You'd think they would fix it now so, cause if they don't and their mistake kills someone they would have to pay the family millions to settle anyway. Wouldn't UPS lose more money in the event of an injury or death?

I tend to agree with this. I did work for a large fortune 500 company before this and they would never have done this. They were very much involved in keeping their employees and the public safe. It's sickening.

 

[trickpony1]

I would think the DOT would be interested in a nationally known freight company knowingly putting dangerous vehicles on the road?

 

[BigUnionGuy]

Had a driver in my Local recently, who had a TP60 trailer come unhitched while traveling at 65 mph on the highway, breaking the chains, landing it in a hillside along the highway.

We've had the same thing happen here. (late 90's ?)

The TP60 actually passed the driver and wound up in the median.

Driver was a newbie who didn't receive any instruction or training, so

he wasn't charged or disciplined. Lucky it didn't wind up in oncoming traffic.



-Bug-

 

[Wally]

The company will issue duct tape to rectify the issue.

 

[Dracula]

Wow!!!

Sounds similar to a couple of scenarios of our 6 here.

Found a couple a national campaigns and a technical bulletin for these trailers from 2003-2007.
No doubt many of these units are still in the fleet.

I've never understood how UPS gets away with this, just to put more work on one package car. Do drivers who carry a trailer get extra training for this? Because to me, this falls under the feeder classification. I mean, what happens when that trailer gets assigned to a driver who has never pulled a trailer before, at work OR home?

In feeders, we go through all kinds of training (in theory, anyway) for any new thing that affects our job. When the new tractors, with radar, lane assistance and automatic transmissions, came on line, we were required to go through training before they would let us drive them. And the new dollies, which automatically move the back trailer closer to the front trailer, and vice versa, also required us to get training on before we could use them.

Of course, this being UPS, the training was too brief and inadequate, but training all the same.

Tell me you get trained before they jam a trailer on the back of your package car.

 

[Dracula]

We had a guy vindicated from "avoidability" by jumping up and down on the tongue, until it disengaged.

I have a theory that tongue weight, or lack thereof, playing a key role in these runaway trailers.

Remember, the average preloader likely receives no training, or has little understanding of the physics at play here.....

.....all the while with an equally ignorant part time supervisor pushing them to "just throw it in there".

This is the primary difference between package car and feeders, which is, a proper and thorough pre-trip. Looking back on my 21 years in package car, I never once pre-tripped a PC the way I pre-trip my feeder equipment.

I used to bump heads with my on-road supervisors about my feeder pre-trip routine, because I routinely found myself on the wrong side of the "on-time network", but when they rode with me, or attempted to harass me in the yard while I hooked up, they found they can't say, really, anything about my pre-trip routine. Because my routine is the same EVERYDAY. I even have extra things I check that aren't a part of the trained way of doing things, that I've incorporated because of things that have happened to me on the road.

These things don't really take up much extra time, and when questioned, I explain why I do them, and to their credit, they don't push me on it, because they know why I'm doing it. And really, the primary reason why I leave late is because of things beyond my control. That is just what happens in a huge hub. It was always amusing to me how they concentrated on my routine, instead of a hub that could never get done on time, or didn't have a seal in the trailer or a load that wasn't secured or how they didn't have a tractor for me, but we're used to that, aren't we?

But I get it; I remember the package car days, with NDA's to the brim, where a full pre-trip is almost an afterthought. I guess that's the difference between PC and feeders: a mistake in feeders can cost lives or your job. That's what raises my ears about these PC trailers.

 

[Bubblehead]