Well my fortune has changed since I last posted on here bemoaning my ■■■■■■ pallet job and ensuing lack of a life.
I’m currently working for an agency who have been decent so far and are paying me £12.50 p/h to work for a company 20 mins from my house (rather than an hour away). Best bit is that I only drive an 18t probs one in five days and am usually getting paid the above rate to drive a 7.5t. Only doing about six drops a day too but with more driving between them.
However, the one issue I’m encountering is lots of heavy pallets which need to be delivered off the smaller than usual tail lift and often to residential addresses in the middle of nowhere with uneven drives etc.
In what circumstances would you guys refuse the drop? I’ve been close with a few but generally make the effort as the location, pay, and reasonable hours suit me well.
To give some context, I had a drop earlier this week which was 900kg of wood. Upon arrival it was a town hall with a huge gravel parking lot surrounding the building and not a kerb in sight (couldn’t drop on pavement as the place was just a turning off a country lane with soft verge). I ended up pushing the pallet onto the tail lift, reversing to the right spot, and then tying the pallet to a tree so that it was pulled off the tail lift as I inched the truck forward.
Had another steep gravel drive where the guy assured me he’d been told it’d be ‘no problem’. Ended up handballing two heavy pallets of slate up his drive with help of his son.
Today’s was the worst. Two 800kg pallets of slabs with the slots for pump truck facing outwards. Had to open curtain and put pump truck in from side, holding the back wheels (which were off the edge) whilst customer pushed the front wheels in. Had to then take a run up to get over the lip onto tail lift (why do they put a lip there!) and then couldn’t stop the pallet from flying off the end! Wish I’d refused that one as customer was taking loads of photos!
I’d refuse it if I thought it was dangerous. So if the pallet was so heavy I couldn’t control it on the gradient with ease it would be staying on. A tip it to spin around and park facing downhill. If you struggle to pull it then put it back and call them.
I’d also refuse if I wasn’t comfortable standing on the taillift at the same time as lowering it. An old low capacity dodgy tail lift and a pallet of patio slabs wouldn’t be coming off.
If the company have a real problem with this then you don’t want to be working there anyway. £12.50 doesn’t go far if you end up in hospital or in court for harming someone.
Tailschwing:
To give some context, I had a drop earlier this week which was 900kg of wood. Upon arrival it was a town hall with a huge gravel parking lot surrounding the building and not a kerb in sight (couldn’t drop on pavement as the place was just a turning off a country lane with soft verge). I ended up pushing the pallet onto the tail lift, reversing to the right spot, and then tying the pallet to a tree so that it was pulled off the tail lift as I inched the truck forward.
Had another steep gravel drive where the guy assured me he’d been told it’d be ‘no problem’. Ended up handballing two heavy pallets of slate up his drive with help of his son.
Today’s was the worst. Two 800kg pallets of slabs with the slots for pump truck facing outwards. Had to open curtain and put pump truck in from side, holding the back wheels (which were off the edge) whilst customer pushed the front wheels in. Had to then take a run up to get over the lip onto tail lift (why do they put a lip there!) and then couldn’t stop the pallet from flying off the end! Wish I’d refused that one as customer was taking loads of photos!
Wouldn’t do any of that. At all.
Remember this - you are going to be blamed if it get’s nasty. And you will be held responsible in court. The company will simply wash their hands and say that you shouldn’t have done that.
Just call transport office and tell them it’s not safe. I doubt they will ask for you to not come back over that. Once they get pics from customer however…
Also as a side note - why are you letting customers near your wagon? Or letting them get involved with it. It’s a recipe for disaster.
I’d never let a customer onto the wagon or tail lift but just needed the forks aligned with the pallet - admittedly probably bad practice but the chap was a builder so not a total idiot.
The first two examples were a bit ‘beyond the call of duty’ I think but weren’t particularly dodgy. It’s the third where I wished I hadn’t tried. What actually happened was that once over the lip, I couldn’t lower the pump truck for some reason and was stood holding it against gravity for a few mins before having to let it go (back wheels were still on truck so couldn’t drop tail lift). I had been planning to drop the pallet without turning it and then bring down pump truck next to it. Don’t know why it wouldn’t lower as seemed fine afterwards and went up and down no probs (so is probs going to make my story seem unlikely).
Oh, it’s defo meant to be kerbside. The problem I had was that there were no kerbs in any of the three drops - all country houses with gravel drives. In future, I’ll probs just being them back as wasted halfhour faffing around and ended up looking worse than if I’d not tried.
Tailschwing, I get where you are coming from, but dont bust a gut over a pallet of slabs.
I get drops in oil service yards, nice concrete, but every so often the gravel driveway / muddy track.
The procedure I adopt is tell recipient unsafe to off load , if they can arrange a stable surface ie large steel sheet or 8’x4’x3/4" ply sheet for the pallet to land on, "we’ll give it a go, call the office when you are ready and I’ll come back " this has worked well so far ,as customer see you are on his side , boss is happy as you are working to a safe method ( especially my lot !) and can charge for redelivery .
