"Could you move your truck so I can park?"

[BEARTRUCKER]

This has happened to us at least twice:
#1 Parked in a legal spot on the end of a row (yes, I know we ran the chance of getting clipped, but was only spot available). A guy pulls up nest to us in the multi-yellowed-lined area, gets out and asks us to move/switch so he could park in our space. We politely said NO, he gets huffy and drives off. Later walks past us to the C-store, giving us "looks".

#2 Again parked legally (in the middle of a row), empty spot on the left, multiple empty spots a few spaces down on the right - doubles even). Team in a TT decides they want the spot next to us after ignoring the EASY spots further on the right. He tries x3, she gets out and "directs" him in. I say "directs" because it is all verbal, no hand signals. He tries x3 again, 4th time he is aiming for our left steer/fender. She is cluless as she is standing in the middle of the barn doors, yelling. I give a blast of the air horn, she jumps and starts swearing at me because I scared her. She then asks me to move out of their way. I have the laptop on the wheel, front sheild up from the sun, I say no, her husband gets into the act and accused me of being a fat head...plus some other terms...I ask why they need us to moce, if he can't park it he should be driving...that sets them both off, I just roll the windo up and put the headphones on. I take note of their company name and truck number, place a call o the company and inform their safety dept of whay happened. He takes all the info...

What would have happened if we weren't in the teruck? An hit and run!
What woud you have done?

Have you ever asked another trucker to move so you could park?

 

[Streakn1]

This has happened to us at least twice:
#1 Parked in a legal spot on the end of a row (yes, I know we ran the chance of getting clipped, but was only spot available). A guy pulls up nest to us in the multi-yellowed-lined area, gets out and asks us to move/switch so he could park in our space. We politely said NO, he gets huffy and drives off. Later walks past us to the C-store, giving us "looks".

Team in a TT decides they want the spot next to us after ignoring the EASY spots further on the right. He tries x3, she gets out and "directs" him in. I say "directs" because it is all verbal, no hand signals. He tries x3 again, 4th time he is aiming for our left steer/fender.

What would have happened if we weren't in the teruck? An hit and run!
What woud you have done?

Have you ever asked another trucker to move so you could park?

As a T/T driver with over 25 years of experience, I for one will say that YOU did ALL of the RIGHT things in handling both situations!

I am appalled at the number of T/T drivers out here today that CAN"T back a T/T safely into a parking space. I'm also appaulled at the number of T/T drivers that will hit another driver's truck and then drive off. It happens everyday! Most likely you would have returned to your truck to find it damaged and not a soul around taking ownership of the accident.

If I as a T/T driver come into the truckstop looking for a space and you are in the last "legal" space with your straight truck, I'm not going to ask you to move to an "illegal" space. Yes, yellow crosshatched areas are NOT legal parking spaces! Remember, we drove a DR-unit for four years so I've been on both sides of that fence.

The proper way for a team T/T to back into a hard space is for the co-driver to get out of the cab with a radio in hand, go to the rear of the trailer yet stay in sight of the driver, and instruct the driver step by step as to what is needed to safely park the truck in the space. That is how we do it to this day, regardless of mine or hers years of T/T driving experience!

 

[BEARTRUCKER]

Thats how we do it at the shipper/consignee. (Unless its a no-brainer) Hand held radios, always in the line of sight of the driver. Open barn doors on the truck and a dock with those metal extensions make for a bad combo.
When parking we look for the easiest one to get - always pray for a pull-through, ya might get lucky!
And its not just the TT drivers who are "bad" at backing, we've seen ST drivers who haven't a clue.
Yes, there are times when after a long run and I am wasted, that I will ask my partner to back it in, just because I'm tired of doing 4 pull-ups to line mself up "just right".

 

[Angil82]

My fiance and I were parked in idle air. We were nosed in, and had a fellow expeditor next to us. Now, my fiance and I were out of the truck. We had a small conversion van pulled up to our back bumper. He had bbq, I was hungry, etc.

So, anyway, the woman in the straight truck next to us gets out of her truck, walks over to us, and says "How long are you going to be here? We are trying to back up."

My response was "Oh, that is frightening"

What would have happened if a 53 footer parked next to them?

This spot was a straight back, nothing crazy, in a large enough parking lot. I just don't know.

 

[60MPH]

Me being in a little ol' van have never been asked by a 6 wheeler or t/t in a truckstop to move. But!!!!!! I have on more than 1 occasion been asked by a RV to move so he could park and take up 6-10 spaces you no. What do I say to that!!! No way in hell parking up here is already limited and you want to take up way to many. As they grumble and walk away I always have to throw a smart comment out like Go to a campground that is what they are for, or go find a walmart they will let you park there and not bother you unlike us where many times we will be asked to move on. They usually go inside and complain and when I see the manager come out I just lye in my bunk and do not answer when they start knocking on the door. I will say I have had the most problems with RV's at the carlisle J.

 

[BEARTRUCKER]

LOL, was not done reading and was wondering IF you where at the Carlisle J!!
Yes, we've seen the mass migration of the RV's in their lot. Seems they show up at dusk, park every where but right, and then expand their sides and hog more space!.
I wonder just what management would have said to you.

 

[greg334]

This is a pet peeve with me, I have been hit twice and now I don't care what I tell them when I am asked.

So far in my short career, I have been asked to move my truck about a dozen times and only move it when I can see there is no other choice. I have been awakened a few times to move out of my spot and even to move my truck a few feet in order for a driver to get into another spot, he could have repositioned himself to get into the spot. I have been 'asked' by another FedEx truck to move, he was WG.

I too have used my horn to warn people who were close (VERY CLOSE) to hitting my truck, once just like it was described I had some co-driver bi*tch at me because I scared her, I told her simply that it is better than going to court - she didn't get it until I explained I could sue her for my deductible and lost time.

I am tired of the idiots who can't back into a spot with a trailer, an open spot - it shows their lack of training. This evening as I finished a long hard tiring day, I watched as my expediting competition could not back a trailer into a spot but had to have someone else do it for them.

I have watched people at the docks have a lot of problems backing up, straight trucks too. I feel lucky I have a small truck because I have gotten into places that others can't but it is still frustrating to watch people who can't drive.

What takes the cake with badly trained drivers is sitting in dock 47 that I am assigned and having a US express driver walk up to me and ask me to move so she can get into the dock - it was the easiest dock to get into at the complex. When I told her I was assigned the dock, she called me a liar then called me all kinds of nice names and kicked my tire like that mattered to me. There is a big 6 foot sign at the entrance of the place next to the guard shack "Drivers DO NOT pull into a dock until you go to the shipping office - all docks are assigned" and the guard repeats that message and points to the sign then asks "do you understand what that means?". So I went into the place to get loaded after she huffed away and told the dock manager what happened, he said that it happens more often then people would think and why they now assign docks to the trucks is because of the fights that happened. We both watched as she pulled into another dock, it only took her 20 minutes (the spaces around the dock are big enough that I can open my doors with two feet on each side). When she came in, the girl in the shipping office told her that she is assigned Dock 93 on the other side of the building which is hard to get into. You could hear the driver scream and cuss the girl out from across the place. We watched her pull out, then pull into the other dock, it took her another 30 minutes to get it in there and when she came back, they went on break for 30 minutes. I had to wait for my paper work to get finished and she just sat there and b*tched about every thing from how the shipper sucked to how I am an idiot to how US Express is screwing her.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

What would have happened if we weren't in the teruck? An hit and run!
What woud you have done?

Have you ever asked another trucker to move so you could park?

And this is why we almost never park in a truckstop to wait for a load or to stay overnight. There are way too many Wally worlds,Loews,Home Depots,and Sam's clubs out there to park in and not have to worry if your going to have front end removed forcefully.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

she just sat there and b*tched about every thing from how the shipper sucked to how I am an idiot to how US Express is screwing her.

Well with an attitude like that,I would imagine that is the ONLY screwing she is getting.....Oh wait,can I say that.

 

[termite289]

i parked at the petro in west Memphis. in a t/t, and had my mirror hit 3 time in 15 minuets. the first two drove away, but i got the third. the mirror was not damaged, but my opinion of other drivers sure was. the sad part was that the empty spot thet all three were trying so desperately for, was a pull through from the row behind me. incompetent boobs with keys. now i take photos of poorly parked trucks from time to time, and have been looking for a place to post some of them. maybe i should create a slide show, and post it on you tube.

 

[Crazynuff]

Well with an attitude like that,I would imagine that is the ONLY screwing she is getting.....Oh wait,can I say that.

You might as well say it . We're all thinking it.

 

[Crazynuff]

The TT drivers you see are only going to get worse . The bottom feeder carriers have lowered starting rates to as low as $.22 a mile . You get what you pay for . But with miles down and many drivers geting less than 1500 miles a week , many don't last long when they get the calculator out and realize someone slightly exaggerated when telling them about potential annual earnings .

 

[pjjjjj]

Reminds me of some old guy I used to know who carried a pile of biz cards in his vehicle, and he'd place one on the windshield on cars around him that were parked crooked.. the cards said, 'I hope you don't f*ck like you park, you'd never get it in'!

 

[BEARTRUCKER]

Reminds me of some old guy I used to know who carried a pile of biz cards in his vehicle, and he'd place one on the windshield on cars around him that were parked crooked.. the cards said, 'I hope you don't f*ck like you park, you'd never get it in'!

One could make some 1"x3" address labels on printer they have in their truck and stick them on the offending truck's mirror - right below where most trucks have G.O.A.L embossed.

 

[BEARTRUCKER]

And this is why we almost never park in a truckstop to wait for a load or to stay overnight. There are way too many Wally worlds,Loews,Home Depots,and Sam's clubs out there to park in and not have to worry if your going to have front end removed forcefully.

We park at those also. And most Wally's are open 24 hrs, but The others aren't, therefore the availability of a bathroom is limited.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

We park at those also. And most Wally's are open 24 hrs, but The others aren't, therefore the availability of a bathroom is limited.

Porta-potty, don't leave home without it.

 

[springrivergroup]

and most wallys sell them

 

[guido4475]

The portable crapper is the one thing I will miss the most going from a s/t to a van.But then I guess I could just drive closer to the entrance door now, also.

 

[Turtle]

I've been hit once out here. I was sound asleep when it hit, and I was sure that I'd been run over by a snow plow or something. Newp, just yer average Walmart shopping cart, flying from one side of the parking lot to another, uphill, aided by 50 MPH winds off a frozen Georgian Bay in Midland, ON. Haven't been real fond of Walmart ever since.

 

[layoutshooter]

We pulled into a dock this morning, we were told to pull into "Dock 5" so we did. About 10 minutes later a T/T came in and tried several times to get into Dock 6. He kept trying to come in from the wrong angle. I suggested that he turn the truck around and back into the dock from the other way. He said "Why don't you just pull out of Dock 5 and pull into Dock 6!!" I kindly explained that I was told to be in this dock and would stay there. He got mad, but told his co-driver to turn the truck around. He got into 6 then. Only took 5 more trys. These were two older guys, late 50's, radios etc. It was almost funny watching them almost hit every other truck in the lot several times. The goober that asked me to move also took the time to "relieve" his blader on the parking lot.