Got My First Service Failure Yesterday

I think the point some people might be missing is this. The account Paul is on is a dedicated Target account. He is new on the account. He has been pulling Swing Door Trailers for a year. We all become creatures of habit. The new account uses Roll Door Trailers. So......on this new account, when making a delivery, he does not have to open the Swing Doors prior to backing to the dock. He backs to the dock, goes inside, then removes his lock and seal. The Roll doors can be opened once the trailer is in place at the dock. So..... This particular stop was a drop. He has just become accustomed to the Roll Door Trailer, had a swing door thrown in the loop, and forgot to open the doors before he backed it to the dock and dropped it. He had a Brain Fart!!! It was not a lack of pre trip or post trip or anything else. I know this is a bit long winded, and I know Paul does not need me to defend him! But........I completely understood his dilemma, because several weeks ago I ran Surge on a Walmart Dedicated account. All Roll Door Trailers. It really screwed with my routine at the Receivers! Kept wanting to swing open my doors when I was doing my GOAL. Which by the way, I do at EVERY Receiver. Walk the dock area and check for obstructions, nails, stray wheel chocks, etc. Ok my sermon is over. Bottom line.... understand the situation before posting something as stupid as" If you would have done a Pre/Post trip inspection........blah blah blah".

I agree wit TM, it's just one of those things that happens because of habit, and I doubt any type of inspection is going to completely avoid that. And like G-Town said, I bet it will never happen again. But I think everyone's just trying to be helpful with their suggestions.

I understand that TM but I'm still going to disagree with you and here's why. Assuming he picked this trailer up and dropped it off the same day, he missed the opportunity to recognize it had barn doors on 4 occasions. The first, by not doing a pre trip and making a mental or physical note as a reminder. The second was when he removed the lock and was standing right there. The third was when he opened the door to leave the bills in the trailer and the fourth was by not doing a post trip inspection. I didn't bring it up in my previous post because it was more of a simple response of live and learn and a few things he could remember so as not to repeat it but you just had to go there.

It appears that some people are thin skinned... and assume that others are assuming yada yada yada.

Yes, weve all had those face palm moments. LIVE AND LEARN.

In addition to pretripping every trailer I hook to, after sliding the tandems to the rear, before docking, I generally do another full walk around (post trip if you will) to make sure the tandem pins are all locked and open the doors if required. We have many customers which requires opening doors before docking and many who are set up to open the doors from the inside after docking. Once docked, I go check to make sure I'm docked evenly and the dock plate can be lowered properly and chock the wheels before unhooking and pulling away.

It's this little series of steps that can certainly help eliminate things like that, and that is how I was trained to do it. I guess if you need help remembering what kind of trailer you are pulling, the dry erase window notes etc. could be quite handy, just like a set procedure to make sure you never lock yourself out of your own truck.

Set routines are extremely helpful even on those stressful days that have been less than smooth.

You know, this problem could be avoided entirely if you would just pull a flatbed.

You know, this problem could be avoided entirely if you would just pull a flatbed.

Excellent idea. As a matter of fact, after the first of the year, that's exactly what I'm going back to lol.

Omg....didn't anyone just make a mistake or get distracted? I just did it today. I came to the terminal to get my permits and had several things going through my head as i dropped the trailer.,..got my lock.. Disconnected hoses and pulled the handle. Got in and thank god i always go slow...forgot to drop landing gear. But since I was still under this was an easy fix.

People make mistakes

People make mistakes

Thanks Rainy. Maybe Paul was wrong about you being so CYNICAL!

People make mistakes

Thanks Rainy. Maybe Paul was wrong about you being so CYNICAL!

We need a slapping emo here

We need a slapping emo here

Brett, Get on that would ya'