Tough Local Backing For A Newbie

Yard dogs... i paid lots of yards.

sometimes i dropped trailers and asked other prime drivers to put it in.

i was scared and i sucked :(

Sun City Produce in Pompano Beach, FL.

I used to sit and watch for hours, when I was in school. Seen drivers break front axles, pop tires and generally want to kill themselves trying to get into a dock. One of the busiest places in Pompano - and the worst docks I have seen.

I was thinking of buying a yard mule, and charging $20 a box, to back for people. Probably make more there, than driving OTR. They have their own yard dogs, but I've never seen one help a driver out - only moving their own boxes.

Rick

i was scared and i sucked :(

I hear ya, me too (and soaked in sweat). How much should one pay a "yard dog" these days?

Here's one I noticed today when we bid our routes. I'll look at routes that are typically around when it's my turn to pick a route and Google map any backhauls I'm not familiar with. This place is a meat market in a small town of 140 people in MN.

dock is in back alley at an angle.

it looked like itd be a little tight getting in and out of the alleyway so despite the 2 stores I'd deliver to helping unload I decided to go to sioux falls and not deal with it, more hours this way anyways

Well, should be little traffic with only 140 people.

I did a drop early this morning in York, PA that was running all over the facility, but nothing was a difficult backing problem. Check in at security, go drop your trailer in this row. After, go drive to this lot and park. Now walk to another building to get paperwork signed. Next, walk down another path to the trailer control area for an empty assignment. Get told which one to grab, so walk back to my truck a quarter mile away, drive to empty lot and locate it. Now drive out to another exit gate with all the paperwork to get released. I spent over an hour there for a "quick" evolution. Oh, plus it was in total darkness and raining, too.

This is one I picked up from today in Inwood NY, Long Island. I came from the top of the picture, with the parked cars the streets were wide enough for one vehicle, not one each way but one at a time either direction. The dock is at the bottom of the dark roofed building in the middle. Not the easier light part of the drive facing the street but the darker part of the drive past the side street. Had to turn right on the side street by riding the curb and dirt by the fence and back over to the dock leaving the tractor at a hard angle from the trailer. Blocked the road and the side street till it was done. But ehh, no biggie..lol

For some reason, a driver decided to pull into the parking lot at my wife's work and had a heck of time getting out:

Question based on a training story Rainy told me when we met:

Would closing the tandems cut down the turn radius for backing?

Sure, the closer you get the tandems to the cab, the more the trailer will swing. However, the tail hangs out a much, so during a turn, it can kick out quite a bit and potentially strike objects.

That parking lot photo you showed doesn’t look that bad, actually.

I know this is probably easy for you veterans but i had a hell of a time getting into this spot between to OTR trucks. Thats a guard rail in front of the tracks i must have gotten out a dozen times to check and see how close i was, and a dozen more times to cheeck my trailer. I had quite the backup behind me honking like savages. I could care less. Always take your time fellow newbs.

Forgot the picture! Lol

Upper Darby PA (West Philadelphia area) Up a hill, and so close to the building you can't open the truck door.

You can't tell from the picture but there is a pole a few inches from my passenger side. Where the cones are was chiseled out and a six inches deep.