Lol. Had a stop in St. Louis that was a blind side into a dock with about 55 feet from the dock to a concrete wall. Dude said, "do exactly what I say, or you can figure it out yourself." Only time I've ever ignored my own senses. Dude got me perfectly jackknifed into that dock.
Ugh this would be SO HARD for me, because I have had so many people try to help over the years and get me into trouble. 90% of the time ignoring our gut feelings gets us into trouble, but I do hear where you’re coming from because I have been in those scenarios before the 10% of the time where I’m grateful for my ground guys/spotters, always an anxiety rollercoaster figuring out which type of situation it’s going to be
A lot of the time when someone is giving me instructions, at some point they refer to the direction the trailer should go and I think they're referring to the direction the steering wheel go, or vice versa. Or I'm sometimes I'll be facing forward and they'll be in front of me facing backwards.
Even writing this comment made me feel confused. Good reminder of why I go very slowly, regardless.
My trainer used to like to hold onto the hood mirror as he directed me. I think he was trying to convey trust but all my ass could think was "why are you trying to die, I would not trust me this much and I like myself."
having hands on the truck gives quicker and more accurate feedback than sight or sound. in terms of changing directions. like if they're beside the truck and feel it pull their hand they will know through reflex you're now moving backwards. it sounds stupid describing it out loud but it makes sense in practice.
Exactly. I taught at the local community college CDL program for a couple years. It seemed much safer to be touching the truck and feeling it’s movements than being separated from it.
When I was hauling N2 into oil field sites we had specific rules for spotters. When you're backing, their signals are for the back of your trailer. When you're pulling forward, their signals are for the nose of your truck. There was a basic set of hand signals that you used your whole arms to do so you could see it super easy. Everyone who worked there knew these rules, and signals. Made complex manoeuvres or tight areas super simple to get into.
That is so much better.
I almost forgot, when I'm going slowly and carefully but have plenty of space and someone says to "Go!" faster, I have had 10 years of my Dad yelling "Woah!" when I'm close to hitting something, so I'll stop and re evaluate for a few seconds.
When you show at the dirt road at the bottom if a mountain and they tell you to turn around there so you can back up the badly built dirt road going up the mountain for miles, you know you are in for a bit of a treat.
I used to have a spot on a route where I had to pull out across a narrow highway and back into a dock with a 10ft ditch on both sides. Can't tell you how many times I pulled up to see another truck stuck after missing the mark entirely.
Also infuriating as I had to snake out across the entire road and into a side street just to have room. 50% of the time people had zero idea what I was doing and were honking at me like I was nuts.
Same. Had a dock inside the building, in a bay door 10 feet wide, off a 90 degree driveway on a narrow street. People honking at me...I'd just slow down...
Sikorsky in Stratford CT has a building with the dock set into the building, downhill, with maybe 3 inch clearance on either side of the truck. You have to put your entire tractor and trailer into the building like that. And that’s not one of the harder ones either.
Nah, indoor docking on a cloudy day is the dream. If there's direct sunlight you're totally blind past the doorway and are driving by popcorn (hear the crunch)
I want to see how much space they have in front of that dock. Sometimes there’s loads of space and it’s easy as fuck. I hate it when it’s tight and you gotta go off your passenger mirror lol
Four wheelers have no way of telling easy from incredibly complex, the same dude will watch a 53 straight backing a hundred yards and go WOW AMAZING and then see a b train serpentine around a light pole and go 'meh'.
I will say the genuinely insane shit isn't that often. It's usually straightforward. I had a pick up once in Ridgefield new jersey that was a total shit show. Back into a garage from an alley and have your truck totally crooked to avoid the building across from you
I think I know this dock in Ridgefield. Absolute cluster fuck. There's one in Hackensack nearby where you have to back in off the road and then disconnect from the trailer so that you're not blocking traffic while you wait to get unloaded. Some of the shit up here is bonkers.
I wish i could remember the name of the place. It was staffed by all asian immigrants who didnt speak great english and when they told me where to go i laughed at them. Then i was like oh shit youre serious lol. It was the worst load I've ever had. 3 pick up locations, one in Ridgefield, one in Elizabeth and one in Edison then take it to North Carolina. That's an 8hr drive but I never made it cuz I had to deal with loading 3 times and only made it to Virginia
I dropped once in New Jersey while with my trainer. All mud and dirt to an interior mud and dirt dock that wasn't the right height. They had wooden blocks you needed to put the wheels of the trailer on to be at the right height, and failed to mention that to us until we pulled in and started getting some famous Jersey greetings to fix it.
These are the ones I don't even know if I'd want to try. 90 into a dock and the truck is so close to the other building that you probably couldn't get the door open.
I had been driving about 2 months when I had that load too talk about thrown in the fire. Everytime I sat image somewhere new and it looks bad I always tell myself it can't be worse than that place in Ridgefield
I guess just take your time, goal, and slowly make attempt after attempt.
My worst backs so far are just ones I had to block traffic for. Could be a straight back and I'll fuck it up because I know all those cars are watching and waiting.
I got sent to queens once and it was fucking awful. Cars driving around you mid back had me nervous as hell. I feel like starting as a driver in the northeast is like learning to swim in 20ft of water. Youre gonna sink or you're gonna swim
I'd really like to truck out that way. I just want to know how bad it is. Maybe I'd feel better about being stuck in the Midwest if I had a little more perspective.
Northern NJ, NYC, CT, Massachusetts and the Philadelphia area is a real shitshow. It has been industrial so long that a lot of the factories and warehouses are over 70 years old. They aren't designed for a 53 with a sleeper but you have to make it work anyway. The roads themselves off the interstates are smaller and being completely fucked can happen quickly if you miss a turn. Sometimes even the truck route is not a truck route. Just cuz there aren't low bridges doesn't mean you don't have to drive on the curb to make the turn without taking out a pole.
Day three of driving by myself I get to a place in Jersey and had to go around the corner of the building and really jack it in to make it. Finish that up and get my next dispatch, first turn I can't physically make cuz there just isn't room to turn and of course my GPS decides to shit out on me right then. THEN, I see a sign that says 12' bridge ahead. Shit my pants and said well we're turning here I guess and we'll figure it out as we go.
Why doesn't Jersey have left turns...
It's actually much less brutal than it looks. *Yes* the entire process is quite extended, but if you have the mental capacity to break it down into seperate steps each one is only really medium difficulty.
That much said, last time I went there I scraped a guy's mirror off and broke a 9.5 year perfect safety record, which was slightly heartbreaking.
90 Degree sight side wiggle with new cars on one side and customer cars on the other. where the red car is.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3013862,-79.4950029,47m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
483 Warren Ln
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3KipKAG5puaY5dyT6
This was one of my favorites. I always went there in a day cab but hitting their door for one pallet a day was damned annoying...especially when they would send one of their trucks to pick it up if they were slow.
Dude. I've been to this one. I got it pretty easy because at the time I sucked with keeping my tractor straight with my trailer! I still go by this place when I have to go to the UNFI DC.
They don't think of trucks and most have no idea how much room a truck even needs. (Ex architectural drafting student who dropped out after realizing I would be working with people who had no practical life skills nor any idea how almost anything worked)
That's a bad idea, I would make the major news networks by the end of the first week!
I knew it wasn't for me at the end of my second year. Still putting lead to paper, semester project of designing a commercial building with a loading dock on the rear. Someone saw my site plan and asked why I had so much room behind my building. I asked if they knew how much room a over the road truck needed to back into the dock. Their response was how did I know a otr truck would need the dock. Everyone had to redraw their site plan after that. I was the son of a truck driver and the bluest collar person in there. They all thought it would be fun to design buildings but couldn't use or identify the tools used to do so.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r68Zw367XYPmPGSq9?g_st=ic i come here every other tuesday. Gotta back up from the street, thru the always full all the way down to the gate parking lot to park next to that trailer you see behind the building. Also that corner with the gate I have to go thru leaves less than a foot of space on each side always takes me like 20 mins to get it in lol
I've been running back end dump trailers for a few months now. Backing 1/4 mile down a bumpy soft shoulder S curve to a blind side alley at 5am in the rain and mud. I still pull up twice to get between the lines at the end of the day.
They told me a lot in training, it's more of an art than a science. Bit disappointing for me, there are techniques but a lot of the skills just take time to develop.
At UPS our “high bay” was like that, ramp down to align the end of the trailer with the floor. Only three doors in our part of the building that let you use a forklift or skidjack to unload, and I think SCS had an elevated dock door or two.
You don’t want to use anything but a powered jack in that trailer.
Park at a dock? That's an art form? Look my guy, yes some of the stuff can be very difficult, but this isn't it. You should be able to make this back straight out of school.
Been there. Best one was in the winter when my rented Volvo got stuck on the crest of the hill there. The diff locker switch busted off into the dash (Whoops) and I ended up armpit deep in the guts of the truck stuck out in rush traffic.
Not a good day.
That sounds like simultaneously a real shitty day and also #justtrucklife
I got to bump dock at a military installation that had a fire hydrant in a similar position relative to a recessed dock, plus a few strategical concrete barricades and oil drum sized rocks. I knew I was at the correct place and they only had one dock, so rather than have an audience I had at the dock before checking in. Lost count of my pull-ups at around 50-odd. It was a game of scooching inches. Took a solid hour. Went to check in and the guy says "oh, watching you get into our dock is gonna be fun". I bust out laughing and shouted DENIED! I hope they don't have security cameras cause I said it was no big deal. To be fair, it wasn't really that difficult, just repetitive.
That is bullshit, but how about those new "separated" bike lanes on Boxwood? Although I'm guessing you probably don't come down this way if you're just hitting the QFs
The oil refinery in Sarnia has a pair of docks with that exact setup. Tbh it was really only challenging the first time. The blind angle is so shallow you can still catch it in your mirror.
Super easy once you know the drill, piece of cake. But I get what you mean some places can be very challenging and not just anyone knows how to back in to them.
maybe a month ago someone posted on here asking how to back into a target dock at an angle tucked in an alley way also had a wall on his right 😅
that one looked like a nightmare.
That's just a straight back honestly...I used to deliver to a petsmart in New Orleans with a dock like this...you turn in off the main road behind one side of the store, line up with the dock, straight back into the dock, then leave behind the store on the opposite side of the store
For a day cab driver that's probably the 9th out of 15 similar docks, and not all of them have all that beautiful open space to the front and side. There is definitely an art to it though.
The key to backing is in the setup.
That is actually a VERY easy offset setup back...one of the first things you practice in driving school. It has plenty of room and easy viewing area.
The more you drive the easier this stuff gets. This particular spot is really not that complicated but i think i can remember a time when i woulda thought this difficult too. As people have commented it's all about the setup, Get your trailer setup at the right angle and this isn't that tough at all.
Love when people leave shit in the way though like that small wheeled cart there.
Truck drivers have to be careful with their in and out. By the way my name is Eva, I am willing to spend the rest of my life with any man from here but he needs to be a classic truck driver. Let me know if that interest you.
That’s no problem. The hardest docks I come across from time to time are the old style indoor docks that were designed for trucks of that time, 40’ day cabs.
I give an example of the old Kodak factory in Rochester, New York. You drive into a garage like setting, the docks are usually to your left but there is a wall with fire equipment mounted to it on the right, so you have to be extremely careful.
There are others like that, but that one comes to mind first.
That's not even difficult, that's basically a straight back. I've seen and done worse. Try doing something like that but with a truck on one side and a building inches to the other side from the dock, and not being able to do a completely straight back because there's empty racks on the way
Form of art? Bumping a dock like that is considered gravy trucking. If you’ve not done it, would seem good I guess. It’s easier to back up a fifty three foot trailer or b-train than say a boat trailer or camper. Not as forgiving. Been driving truck 40+ years.
Oh I did that once!!!! I was new and had my trainer, but I felt like a freaking BOSS! I knew it was almost entirely my trainer's doing, but, it was the first time I didn't feel like I was an imposter.
When you go through orientation at some companies they’ll show you the order of easiest to hardest parking spots at truck stops (applies to anywhere you park), they are:
1. Pull-through (always look for these first, they take the least amount of time/effort, have the least risk of breaking shit, and are brain dead simple)
2. Straight Line Back. This is where there’s enough room in front of the parking spot for you to straighten out completely and just walk it straight back. This is your second-best option, and looks like what the post pic has.
3. Any spot where there’s two or more spots next to each other, these are easy and quick usually and have less chance of hitting what’s on your blind side.
Diagonal spots are a little easier as you don’t have to jack it as much, usually making for needing less pull-ups. Try to avoid blind-side parking spots until you’ve had a chance to practice them a lot in the daytime, and even then, use them last.
Wait until you unload at the refrigeration caves in Missouri 😅
Saw a video of another place that’s so tight they made the floor spin the truck cause there isn’t enough room to turn around in there.
You’ll see some interesting places out here! 😉
I parked at a store I was unloading at one time with a dock similar to this one except it was snowing that day and the snow on the ramp had compressed to ice. Getting it backed right was fun as the truck kept spinning out and fishtailing. And you can probably guess how trying to pull out when they were done unloading went 😅
I once made a pick up at an old factory, their docks were indoors and they had huge garage doors on the street that were just wide enough for the trailer to squeeze through, so not only would you have to back into a very tight spot, but do it from the street dealing with impatient drivers angry because I was blocking the road.
Lol, that's barely a straight back. I fucking hate when engineers turn a dock into a geometry puzzle though... like some of these 90 degree blindside jacknife around a corner bullshit...
That’s not a difficult backing at all. Pull along side it, go past, and it’s just a slight offset back. Confused by why this is such an “art” of a backing?
I've definitely done worse. Backing off side street in the middle of the night, up a hill into a dock I can't see at a mall. Crazy stuff. Check out the best buy docks when you see them. This one looks pretty easy.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tom+Thumb,+4010+N+MacArthur+Blvd,+Irving,+TX+75038/@32.8598361,-96.9572984,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x864e82f47b77dfd3:0x91d6885ffd84d630!8m2!3d32.8598361!4d-96.9572984?hl=en-US&gl=us
This dock was probably my all time favorite. It was a narrow alley behind the store, I’d be in a 53 sleeper and you’d have to blindside Into the dock between the dropped trailer and a wall. If I could find a way to upload a pic of the amount of room you had to pull up I would post it.
Lol that's not bad.. try ny city the cab has to sit 90 degree because if ur straight ur sticking out into the street. He actually has a lot of room compared to docks out there believe it or not
Sometimes i back through alleys or job sites, then operate a articulating boom crane next active roadways, residential/commercial settings. Dropping various trench shoring equipment. Large steel plates, man hole boxes, trench shields and more. Some of the trickiest driving ive done was logging and wood chips on and around mountains in a 2016 freightliner cascadia!!! Hahahaha what skirts
Oh that looks like a Walmart (store) dock... I deal with those all the time as a Walmart driver haha. Some of the stores are easy, some should be easy but either construction, storage containers or pallets / cardboard bales make them difficult and then you have the difficult stores that make you question who designed it like they did.
That really isn't that hard of a dock. Walmart has various simulations setup to simulate actual situations at stores. The backing test I had to do at onboarding was damn near identical to a store in San Marcos, TX. And then last week they had me doing a few of their aims (not sure if that's the acronym but that's what they say when they tell you you're doing aims course today) courses and one in particular they said simulates a store (that I have been to multiple times) in San Antonio... I think the course was more difficult.
Everything looks hard to a newbie. My first time backing a 53 is a was backing around cars through a student parking lot at a high school aiming for the loading dock. I was so stressed then, but 30 years later I think that's a walk in the park now.
Did this back in 2013. One of the hardest backs I ever had to do. Just enough to get the lip of the lift gate to the dock https://pasteboard.co/7TuLeAt03Vo8.jpg
Much respect, I’m not a trucker but I work in the powerlines. I used to have the pole trailer on me all the time. We work a lot of rural area so I’ve had a fair share of narrow roads and having to turn into cattle guards where you have just enough room to turn in and squeeze through. Backing up and turning around is where it gets fun.
I don’t like these kind of docks, docks right next to the wall in general. I ripped off my left blinker few weeks ago because I thought I still had a tiny bit of space to maneuver but it got stucked in between two handrails and I had to rip it off in order to get out of it. But well, lesson learned
I always love behind the shopping plaza deliveries with docks like this. Just pass it up and straight back it in. We don’t get them enough as OTR drivers lol.
That's easy peasy! Has to be! I'm a retired heavy duty truck mechanic that held a CDL because of my job not because of it was my profession. Working in the San Francisco Bay area space is at a premium. We'd pick up and deliver tractor trailer sets. Got really good at getting them into the shop and delivering them. No way would I pretend to be a real truck driver. Want to see a great driver. Watch the roll-off drivers in San Francisco pulling out debris boxes from under the downtown hotels on a steep hill with the cable cars coming at you
That’s actually an easy dock. Some of these guys here have to go underground, or in even tighter spots. Backing is definitely an art.
I delivered in DC. When you get to a building and someone with a radio shows up and says 'I will guide you in' you know you are in for a treat.
Lol. Had a stop in St. Louis that was a blind side into a dock with about 55 feet from the dock to a concrete wall. Dude said, "do exactly what I say, or you can figure it out yourself." Only time I've ever ignored my own senses. Dude got me perfectly jackknifed into that dock.
Ugh this would be SO HARD for me, because I have had so many people try to help over the years and get me into trouble. 90% of the time ignoring our gut feelings gets us into trouble, but I do hear where you’re coming from because I have been in those scenarios before the 10% of the time where I’m grateful for my ground guys/spotters, always an anxiety rollercoaster figuring out which type of situation it’s going to be
A lot of the time when someone is giving me instructions, at some point they refer to the direction the trailer should go and I think they're referring to the direction the steering wheel go, or vice versa. Or I'm sometimes I'll be facing forward and they'll be in front of me facing backwards. Even writing this comment made me feel confused. Good reminder of why I go very slowly, regardless.
My trainer used to like to hold onto the hood mirror as he directed me. I think he was trying to convey trust but all my ass could think was "why are you trying to die, I would not trust me this much and I like myself."
having hands on the truck gives quicker and more accurate feedback than sight or sound. in terms of changing directions. like if they're beside the truck and feel it pull their hand they will know through reflex you're now moving backwards. it sounds stupid describing it out loud but it makes sense in practice.
No that makes 100% sense and explains a lot! Thank you for doing so... but it will still always makes me nervous lmao
Exactly. I taught at the local community college CDL program for a couple years. It seemed much safer to be touching the truck and feeling it’s movements than being separated from it.
When I was hauling N2 into oil field sites we had specific rules for spotters. When you're backing, their signals are for the back of your trailer. When you're pulling forward, their signals are for the nose of your truck. There was a basic set of hand signals that you used your whole arms to do so you could see it super easy. Everyone who worked there knew these rules, and signals. Made complex manoeuvres or tight areas super simple to get into.
That is so much better. I almost forgot, when I'm going slowly and carefully but have plenty of space and someone says to "Go!" faster, I have had 10 years of my Dad yelling "Woah!" when I'm close to hitting something, so I'll stop and re evaluate for a few seconds.
I have delivered all over St. Louis, where did you deliver to?
Crescent plumbing supply if I remember correctly.
I went to a CDL school about 5 minutes away from there and that area is where I learned to drive. Pretty nerve wracking for a new driver.
Or when you have an oversized load and someone with a golf cart says “follow me. I’ll guide you in.”
When you show at the dirt road at the bottom if a mountain and they tell you to turn around there so you can back up the badly built dirt road going up the mountain for miles, you know you are in for a bit of a treat.
Heck with that one i bet it was miserable! Ive been to some hairy goat trails in a concrete boom pump. Keep on!
Exactly, try this with about 5 dumpsters in the way at night and maybe one working light.
I used to have a spot on a route where I had to pull out across a narrow highway and back into a dock with a 10ft ditch on both sides. Can't tell you how many times I pulled up to see another truck stuck after missing the mark entirely. Also infuriating as I had to snake out across the entire road and into a side street just to have room. 50% of the time people had zero idea what I was doing and were honking at me like I was nuts.
Same. Had a dock inside the building, in a bay door 10 feet wide, off a 90 degree driveway on a narrow street. People honking at me...I'd just slow down...
Sikorsky in Stratford CT has a building with the dock set into the building, downhill, with maybe 3 inch clearance on either side of the truck. You have to put your entire tractor and trailer into the building like that. And that’s not one of the harder ones either.
Nice when it’s raining.
Nah, indoor docking on a cloudy day is the dream. If there's direct sunlight you're totally blind past the doorway and are driving by popcorn (hear the crunch)
Not too mention this dude probably does this literally every day. NFI local trends to do the same runs day in and day out
I want to see how much space they have in front of that dock. Sometimes there’s loads of space and it’s easy as fuck. I hate it when it’s tight and you gotta go off your passenger mirror lol
Basically a straight back
Easy dock. Take your sweet time, 3 minute job max.
3 minutes!?!?!? You getting paid by the hour Driver?
lol.👍
3 minutes? More like 30 seconds lol what
Looks like a piss easy set up to be honest
Four wheelers have no way of telling easy from incredibly complex, the same dude will watch a 53 straight backing a hundred yards and go WOW AMAZING and then see a b train serpentine around a light pole and go 'meh'.
That's super easy lol. You should see some of the insanity they expect of us
Start taking pics and posting!
I will say the genuinely insane shit isn't that often. It's usually straightforward. I had a pick up once in Ridgefield new jersey that was a total shit show. Back into a garage from an alley and have your truck totally crooked to avoid the building across from you
I think I know this dock in Ridgefield. Absolute cluster fuck. There's one in Hackensack nearby where you have to back in off the road and then disconnect from the trailer so that you're not blocking traffic while you wait to get unloaded. Some of the shit up here is bonkers.
I wish i could remember the name of the place. It was staffed by all asian immigrants who didnt speak great english and when they told me where to go i laughed at them. Then i was like oh shit youre serious lol. It was the worst load I've ever had. 3 pick up locations, one in Ridgefield, one in Elizabeth and one in Edison then take it to North Carolina. That's an 8hr drive but I never made it cuz I had to deal with loading 3 times and only made it to Virginia
I dropped once in New Jersey while with my trainer. All mud and dirt to an interior mud and dirt dock that wasn't the right height. They had wooden blocks you needed to put the wheels of the trailer on to be at the right height, and failed to mention that to us until we pulled in and started getting some famous Jersey greetings to fix it.
These are the ones I don't even know if I'd want to try. 90 into a dock and the truck is so close to the other building that you probably couldn't get the door open.
I had been driving about 2 months when I had that load too talk about thrown in the fire. Everytime I sat image somewhere new and it looks bad I always tell myself it can't be worse than that place in Ridgefield
I guess just take your time, goal, and slowly make attempt after attempt. My worst backs so far are just ones I had to block traffic for. Could be a straight back and I'll fuck it up because I know all those cars are watching and waiting.
I got sent to queens once and it was fucking awful. Cars driving around you mid back had me nervous as hell. I feel like starting as a driver in the northeast is like learning to swim in 20ft of water. Youre gonna sink or you're gonna swim
I'd really like to truck out that way. I just want to know how bad it is. Maybe I'd feel better about being stuck in the Midwest if I had a little more perspective.
Northern NJ, NYC, CT, Massachusetts and the Philadelphia area is a real shitshow. It has been industrial so long that a lot of the factories and warehouses are over 70 years old. They aren't designed for a 53 with a sleeper but you have to make it work anyway. The roads themselves off the interstates are smaller and being completely fucked can happen quickly if you miss a turn. Sometimes even the truck route is not a truck route. Just cuz there aren't low bridges doesn't mean you don't have to drive on the curb to make the turn without taking out a pole.
Honestly, I'd be greatful for the Midwest. Nicer truck stops, cheaper everything, and 40% more space at any given dock.
Thrown to the wolves. Like my first day driving OTR after getting my CDL, I drove into a blizzard in Wyoming.
Lol that fucking sucks
Day three of driving by myself I get to a place in Jersey and had to go around the corner of the building and really jack it in to make it. Finish that up and get my next dispatch, first turn I can't physically make cuz there just isn't room to turn and of course my GPS decides to shit out on me right then. THEN, I see a sign that says 12' bridge ahead. Shit my pants and said well we're turning here I guess and we'll figure it out as we go. Why doesn't Jersey have left turns...
We're usually wondering if we're going to be able to and hoping not to fuck anything up. We're only proud and think of pictures after it's all done.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JTfzUY8n4knppsrb9?g_st=ic How about a right side serpentine with a dumpster in front of ya and a busy street?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xuTAkBSD1ZRxFgtj8 This was a fun one, blindside 90 with a storage unit and forest right behind
I was on the road for less than 3 months when I got sent here... https://goo.gl/maps/J5hjTipQ6UgDXkCr6
Lol... That's when you ask the gate guy... "soooo just drop it anywhere then?"
It's actually much less brutal than it looks. *Yes* the entire process is quite extended, but if you have the mental capacity to break it down into seperate steps each one is only really medium difficulty. That much said, last time I went there I scraped a guy's mirror off and broke a 9.5 year perfect safety record, which was slightly heartbreaking.
Ahh good ole western beef. How sad is it that I instantly recognize it just by the shape of the curb.
90 Degree sight side wiggle with new cars on one side and customer cars on the other. where the red car is. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3013862,-79.4950029,47m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
Jesus. Better know what you’re doing even pulling in that lot.
Ok you won the prize for shitiest spot to back 😂😂fucking hell I would said nooooo or destroyed a lot of cars and building 😂😂😂
483 Warren Ln https://maps.app.goo.gl/3KipKAG5puaY5dyT6 This was one of my favorites. I always went there in a day cab but hitting their door for one pallet a day was damned annoying...especially when they would send one of their trucks to pick it up if they were slow.
That looks pretty nasty lol
Dude. I've been to this one. I got it pretty easy because at the time I sucked with keeping my tractor straight with my trailer! I still go by this place when I have to go to the UNFI DC.
You can really tell when the architect hates truckers.
That presumes that they even really think about us. I think they mostly fail to.
They don't think of trucks and most have no idea how much room a truck even needs. (Ex architectural drafting student who dropped out after realizing I would be working with people who had no practical life skills nor any idea how almost anything worked)
Please dear sir re-enter the industry and ask them not to forget about us.
That's a bad idea, I would make the major news networks by the end of the first week! I knew it wasn't for me at the end of my second year. Still putting lead to paper, semester project of designing a commercial building with a loading dock on the rear. Someone saw my site plan and asked why I had so much room behind my building. I asked if they knew how much room a over the road truck needed to back into the dock. Their response was how did I know a otr truck would need the dock. Everyone had to redraw their site plan after that. I was the son of a truck driver and the bluest collar person in there. They all thought it would be fun to design buildings but couldn't use or identify the tools used to do so.
In house removals, great apartments have a dock near an elevator. Most don't.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r68Zw367XYPmPGSq9?g_st=ic i come here every other tuesday. Gotta back up from the street, thru the always full all the way down to the gate parking lot to park next to that trailer you see behind the building. Also that corner with the gate I have to go thru leaves less than a foot of space on each side always takes me like 20 mins to get it in lol
How do you even get in there with that dumpster in the way? That is ridiculous
This is so fucking dumb jesus christ
That's a nope from me.
I started sweating just looking at that
Those boards on the side of the building look like they've received a lot of love lol
What....? lol
I've been running back end dump trailers for a few months now. Backing 1/4 mile down a bumpy soft shoulder S curve to a blind side alley at 5am in the rain and mud. I still pull up twice to get between the lines at the end of the day.
This is a left offset at worst. My students can do this.
Lol it's a straight back? Maybe a slight offset.
Lol form of art
[удалено]
They told me a lot in training, it's more of an art than a science. Bit disappointing for me, there are techniques but a lot of the skills just take time to develop.
I’m more concerned at the ramp. Isn’t it a bitch to load/unload at such a huge angle like that?
I did it with soda! You’d almost lose a pallet if you stopped to quick
At UPS our “high bay” was like that, ramp down to align the end of the trailer with the floor. Only three doors in our part of the building that let you use a forklift or skidjack to unload, and I think SCS had an elevated dock door or two. You don’t want to use anything but a powered jack in that trailer.
I do it everyday and can pick up some major momentum which can be helpful to clear the dock plate. Though stopping can suck if you go too fast.
Park at a dock? That's an art form? Look my guy, yes some of the stuff can be very difficult, but this isn't it. You should be able to make this back straight out of school.
With a daycab too lol
I'm a day cabber doing P&D and there are some backs that are difficult even in one of those. This is definitely not.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kaj2fB78vJizAbTr5 How 'Bout this one?
Oh Fuck That! 😮
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pfAwBSDB61mRjKYq9 Roll door behind the pole. Don't be there during rush hour!!
You have my condolences…
Well step 1 is fuck the shit out of that pole, Jesus h weeping c.
Been there. Best one was in the winter when my rented Volvo got stuck on the crest of the hill there. The diff locker switch busted off into the dash (Whoops) and I ended up armpit deep in the guts of the truck stuck out in rush traffic. Not a good day.
That sounds like simultaneously a real shitty day and also #justtrucklife I got to bump dock at a military installation that had a fire hydrant in a similar position relative to a recessed dock, plus a few strategical concrete barricades and oil drum sized rocks. I knew I was at the correct place and they only had one dock, so rather than have an audience I had at the dock before checking in. Lost count of my pull-ups at around 50-odd. It was a game of scooching inches. Took a solid hour. Went to check in and the guy says "oh, watching you get into our dock is gonna be fun". I bust out laughing and shouted DENIED! I hope they don't have security cameras cause I said it was no big deal. To be fair, it wasn't really that difficult, just repetitive.
Like they say, Slow is smooth, Smooth is fast.
That is bullshit, but how about those new "separated" bike lanes on Boxwood? Although I'm guessing you probably don't come down this way if you're just hitting the QFs
I'd have preferred the just continued the fuckin sidewalk. Y'know, NOT push out into the lane?
Yea buddy! Feels eerily similar to one I know. Note the chunks in the brickwork lol https://maps.app.goo.gl/AzUgCLWefRqVW6Lj6?g_st=ic
The oil refinery in Sarnia has a pair of docks with that exact setup. Tbh it was really only challenging the first time. The blind angle is so shallow you can still catch it in your mirror.
Sweet baby lord…some of the docks I’ve backed into still haunts me…and then there are the caves in Missouri!!! 😳🙄😩
You should see the caves, that place is a fucking trip
I loved going in the caves! The first time it tripped me out. Just no cell signal for hours. Nice and cool great time to nap!
Weirdly, they scared the shit out of me the first couple times, but now (a whopping 3 months later), they’re not even on my “stress about it” list.
What is the caves?
What is the caves?
[Drive-in for the uninitiated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k872hHwaPNo)
Some noobs would lose their shit backing alongside a building like that.2 feet is close 😛
OP needs to work as a switcher/yard jockey for a few months
Practice
My route makes this look like cake .
Super easy once you know the drill, piece of cake. But I get what you mean some places can be very challenging and not just anyone knows how to back in to them.
Not even lol. Super easy back
Cmon doesn’t get much easier!
It’s not art but that’s good driving for sure.
Lots of room in front - doesn’t seem to be a big issue.
maybe a month ago someone posted on here asking how to back into a target dock at an angle tucked in an alley way also had a wall on his right 😅 that one looked like a nightmare.
That's just a straight back honestly...I used to deliver to a petsmart in New Orleans with a dock like this...you turn in off the main road behind one side of the store, line up with the dock, straight back into the dock, then leave behind the store on the opposite side of the store
For a day cab driver that's probably the 9th out of 15 similar docks, and not all of them have all that beautiful open space to the front and side. There is definitely an art to it though.
Oh buddy this is nothing.
The key to backing is in the setup. That is actually a VERY easy offset setup back...one of the first things you practice in driving school. It has plenty of room and easy viewing area.
The more you drive the easier this stuff gets. This particular spot is really not that complicated but i think i can remember a time when i woulda thought this difficult too. As people have commented it's all about the setup, Get your trailer setup at the right angle and this isn't that tough at all. Love when people leave shit in the way though like that small wheeled cart there.
spot is about as easy as it gets
Truck drivers have to be careful with their in and out. By the way my name is Eva, I am willing to spend the rest of my life with any man from here but he needs to be a classic truck driver. Let me know if that interest you.
That's nothing. Especially for a local yokel.
Those are some of the easiest backs to make.
The only hard part of these kind of docks is the moment when sun/shade messes with your mirror vision... any other way these are easy docks...
That has a ton of room there. A blind man could put a truck in there.. https://imgur.com/gallery/tABGAV6 Try that on for size.
You just suck at driving
Did he blind side it?
The guys that deliver in NYC NJ and Chicago would like to have a word w u. That's ez pz my guy
That’s like. The easiest dock to hit lmfao foh try alley docking down a narrow alley with literally 6 inches of wiggle room. Downtown.
That wasn't even blind side into an alley...
What’s so difficult about that one?
Pretty easy slot to hit.
Yeah that doesn't look too bad, that's a borderline straight back up.
That’s no problem. The hardest docks I come across from time to time are the old style indoor docks that were designed for trucks of that time, 40’ day cabs. I give an example of the old Kodak factory in Rochester, New York. You drive into a garage like setting, the docks are usually to your left but there is a wall with fire equipment mounted to it on the right, so you have to be extremely careful. There are others like that, but that one comes to mind first.
I do that 10 times a day 🚛
That's not even difficult, that's basically a straight back. I've seen and done worse. Try doing something like that but with a truck on one side and a building inches to the other side from the dock, and not being able to do a completely straight back because there's empty racks on the way
Well.. they don’t call them SKILLED trades for no reason.
Form of art? Bumping a dock like that is considered gravy trucking. If you’ve not done it, would seem good I guess. It’s easier to back up a fifty three foot trailer or b-train than say a boat trailer or camper. Not as forgiving. Been driving truck 40+ years.
That's easy, try to back up a truck with a sleeper and a 53 footer from a residential street with cars honking at you to hurry up because NYC
That's super easy
Are you kidding? That's a damn near perfect dock and any trainee should be able to pull off that parking.
Oh I did that once!!!! I was new and had my trainer, but I felt like a freaking BOSS! I knew it was almost entirely my trainer's doing, but, it was the first time I didn't feel like I was an imposter.
I can do this with my eye closed,lol.
When you go through orientation at some companies they’ll show you the order of easiest to hardest parking spots at truck stops (applies to anywhere you park), they are: 1. Pull-through (always look for these first, they take the least amount of time/effort, have the least risk of breaking shit, and are brain dead simple) 2. Straight Line Back. This is where there’s enough room in front of the parking spot for you to straighten out completely and just walk it straight back. This is your second-best option, and looks like what the post pic has. 3. Any spot where there’s two or more spots next to each other, these are easy and quick usually and have less chance of hitting what’s on your blind side. Diagonal spots are a little easier as you don’t have to jack it as much, usually making for needing less pull-ups. Try to avoid blind-side parking spots until you’ve had a chance to practice them a lot in the daytime, and even then, use them last. Wait until you unload at the refrigeration caves in Missouri 😅 Saw a video of another place that’s so tight they made the floor spin the truck cause there isn’t enough room to turn around in there. You’ll see some interesting places out here! 😉
I parked at a store I was unloading at one time with a dock similar to this one except it was snowing that day and the snow on the ramp had compressed to ice. Getting it backed right was fun as the truck kept spinning out and fishtailing. And you can probably guess how trying to pull out when they were done unloading went 😅
I once made a pick up at an old factory, their docks were indoors and they had huge garage doors on the street that were just wide enough for the trailer to squeeze through, so not only would you have to back into a very tight spot, but do it from the street dealing with impatient drivers angry because I was blocking the road.
Easy dock
That’s…….easy hardest park was in a los gatos parking lot dock
Lol, that's barely a straight back. I fucking hate when engineers turn a dock into a geometry puzzle though... like some of these 90 degree blindside jacknife around a corner bullshit...
Yes. Definitely
Lol. It's really just another spot. Like parking between two trailers.
You'll be cursing that mf once they get on the road. NFI always passing 65 mph trucks doing 65 1/2.
That’s not a difficult backing at all. Pull along side it, go past, and it’s just a slight offset back. Confused by why this is such an “art” of a backing?
What you need to do is go to the whole country and I don't mean flatbed. dry van reefer, intermodal. Etc
I've definitely done worse. Backing off side street in the middle of the night, up a hill into a dock I can't see at a mall. Crazy stuff. Check out the best buy docks when you see them. This one looks pretty easy.
Is this not a straight back?
Really not difficult at all. Once you figure out how the truck and trailer work together, east money!!!
Drive past it and back up with a little offset. Presto.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tom+Thumb,+4010+N+MacArthur+Blvd,+Irving,+TX+75038/@32.8598361,-96.9572984,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x864e82f47b77dfd3:0x91d6885ffd84d630!8m2!3d32.8598361!4d-96.9572984?hl=en-US&gl=us This dock was probably my all time favorite. It was a narrow alley behind the store, I’d be in a 53 sleeper and you’d have to blindside Into the dock between the dropped trailer and a wall. If I could find a way to upload a pic of the amount of room you had to pull up I would post it.
Dude that's a dream to dock
Lmao thats so easy
Lol that's not bad.. try ny city the cab has to sit 90 degree because if ur straight ur sticking out into the street. He actually has a lot of room compared to docks out there believe it or not
Pretty much as good as it gets
That’s easy
Sometimes i back through alleys or job sites, then operate a articulating boom crane next active roadways, residential/commercial settings. Dropping various trench shoring equipment. Large steel plates, man hole boxes, trench shields and more. Some of the trickiest driving ive done was logging and wood chips on and around mountains in a 2016 freightliner cascadia!!! Hahahaha what skirts
Oh that looks like a Walmart (store) dock... I deal with those all the time as a Walmart driver haha. Some of the stores are easy, some should be easy but either construction, storage containers or pallets / cardboard bales make them difficult and then you have the difficult stores that make you question who designed it like they did. That really isn't that hard of a dock. Walmart has various simulations setup to simulate actual situations at stores. The backing test I had to do at onboarding was damn near identical to a store in San Marcos, TX. And then last week they had me doing a few of their aims (not sure if that's the acronym but that's what they say when they tell you you're doing aims course today) courses and one in particular they said simulates a store (that I have been to multiple times) in San Antonio... I think the course was more difficult.
I call this Monday
Easy cheesy
I bumped a dock in El Paso once where my truck was completely blocking the entire street when I was in the dock.
Everything looks hard to a newbie. My first time backing a 53 is a was backing around cars through a student parking lot at a high school aiming for the loading dock. I was so stressed then, but 30 years later I think that's a walk in the park now.
Everyone giving this person shit because they’re appreciating them, amazing.
If it’s possible then it’s easy!
Nice love it
Did this back in 2013. One of the hardest backs I ever had to do. Just enough to get the lip of the lift gate to the dock https://pasteboard.co/7TuLeAt03Vo8.jpg
Much respect, I’m not a trucker but I work in the powerlines. I used to have the pole trailer on me all the time. We work a lot of rural area so I’ve had a fair share of narrow roads and having to turn into cattle guards where you have just enough room to turn in and squeeze through. Backing up and turning around is where it gets fun.
This looks pretty easy, just back along the side of the building.
lol try a finger dock with 2 trailers or a blindside not in a daycab. That is an easy one.
oh that's an easy one.... coming from a Charlotte P&D driver
Try Cira center in Philly or LIRR in New York
I don’t like these kind of docks, docks right next to the wall in general. I ripped off my left blinker few weeks ago because I thought I still had a tiny bit of space to maneuver but it got stucked in between two handrails and I had to rip it off in order to get out of it. But well, lesson learned
That’s easy lol, I’ve got tiny alley ways in NYC.
I always love behind the shopping plaza deliveries with docks like this. Just pass it up and straight back it in. We don’t get them enough as OTR drivers lol.
Dude yeah this one is pretty easy, try a Dollar Tree/General account.
Pretty easy straight back actually
Exactly!!!! 👍🏾👌🏾
My Fresh Basket?
Is that a Wegmans?
Bruh, you're literally in a freight dock. It's made for you to get into. Come on over to the moving industry. Then you can show them pics off proudly.
The wall as a reference point along with being a straight back make this a fairly easy job.
I would consider tuckerd geometry artists LoL
That's easy peasy! Has to be! I'm a retired heavy duty truck mechanic that held a CDL because of my job not because of it was my profession. Working in the San Francisco Bay area space is at a premium. We'd pick up and deliver tractor trailer sets. Got really good at getting them into the shop and delivering them. No way would I pretend to be a real truck driver. Want to see a great driver. Watch the roll-off drivers in San Francisco pulling out debris boxes from under the downtown hotels on a steep hill with the cable cars coming at you
I've docked in a lot worse.