Whats the strangest thing you have hauled?

jimlookup

Seasoned Expediter
I didn't haul this but when I was a dock foreman, about 40 years ago, I air freighted a million dollars worth of designer dresses from the Apparel Center in Chicago to Paris France. A guy from France watched as me and the air freight driver inspected and loaded each carton, about 20 in all. When I handed the guy from France the signed paperwork he handed me a $200 dollar tip. Best I can recall, a bottle of beer cost about 50 cents back then. Why do people hate France?
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
I didn't haul this but when I was a dock foreman, about 40 years ago, I air freighted a million dollars worth of designer dresses from the Apparel Center in Chicago to Paris France. A guy from France watched as me and the air freight driver inspected and loaded each carton, about 20 in all. When I handed the guy from France the signed paperwork he handed me a $200 dollar tip. Best I can recall, a bottle of beer cost about 50 cents back then. Why do people hate France?

He was tipping you a beer, plus applicable French taxes.
 

jimlookup

Seasoned Expediter
Yeah, they use their beer taxes to subsidize their fruity designer dress industry, thus the $200 tip. They don't know beer is much more important than designer dresses.
 

BigRed32771

Expert Expediter
600# of chicken eggs, fertilized and incubated to a specified (can't remember now) number of days. It went to a manufacturing plant in Canada. Pretty weird, but it made sense when the consignee explained it at delivery.
 

BigRed32771

Expert Expediter
Not too strange but different: A life-size statue of Tom Hanks dressed as the Conductor for a Polar Express themed Christmas display, going to a mall in Texas.

Had some weird "art," too, including an "assemblage" piece that on delivery had to be protected by the museum staff so that the janitorial staff wouldn't throw it away (even set up it looked like a pile of refuse from the dump, so you can imagine what it looked like just piled up on the dock area waiting to be 'assembled.')
 

geo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Navy
when i was still fedexcc del a engine to richard petty in his shop
 

purgoose10

Veteran Expediter
Not weird but a little stupid. Picked up an Brown manila envelope with Name tags in it for the same day delivery 100 miles away. Paid $400 back in 2003.
 

Dabus1952

Seasoned Expediter
Not weird or strange .When I was with Robert's express Would get a load of Paint from PPG industry's in Oak Creek Wi to Wixon Mi. 6 gallon's on a straight truck D Unit. got this load at least a dozen time's. Once had a package with 8 bolt's and nut's in it on the straight unit for a factory in Ohio. Also carried propeller's for a helicopter once.
 

FlyingVan

Moderator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Crash test dummy, or it could have been an inflatable doll, who knows?
A cooler of some kind of cheese to a restaurant.
5 bolts and washers in a small envelope.
 

BobWolf

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Five skids 10,000# Pulverized raw chocolate powder, Yep, I had a sugar rush from just standing next to the truck.
Six blocks of foam. Filled the entire truck Said it looked like it would work for making gun cases.
I was told thats the end product.
My first load from western NY to J.F.K., an empty insulated air transport container unfortunately used to transport a fallen soldier home. that reminded me that fredom is far from free.

Bob Wolf
 

Kristi

Active Expediter
A Dead Dog.

One of my first jobs on my first day as a courier.

The vet apologized that they had run out of boxes, would I be OK with it in a garbage bag.

A cold, stiff, dead, doggy, in a garbage bag.

Had to carry it to the Car,
had to drive it across town,
had to carry it into the autopsy room of the Veterinary Dept of the University.

A dead dog!!!!

I've taken a many of those boxes to the county health dept for rabies testing.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using EO Forums
 

Falligator

Expert Expediter
I also hauled a speaker to a John Legend concert. I got to the Superdome and unloaded it on the 50 yard line...go backstage while he was rehearsing. Picked up the load in Orlando, FL.
 

CharlesD

Expert Expediter
Not weird or strange .When I was with Robert's express Would get a load of Paint from PPG industry's in Oak Creek Wi to Wixon Mi. 6 gallon's on a straight truck D Unit. got this load at least a dozen time's. Once had a package with 8 bolt's and nut's in it on the straight unit for a factory in Ohio. Also carried propeller's for a helicopter once.

I hauled a lot of helicopter parts to Sikorskey in CT.
 

billg27

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I just took an empty car fuel tank from Detroit area to a Ford dealer just north of Calgary AB. Declared value of $138 and they paid me over $1,900 to take it there! Sometimes I just don't understand their thinking, but I still like doing these weird runs.
 

BobWolf

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
There was the time I hauled Beer flavoring from Eddison N.J. to Rochester N.Y. 5 gallon bottles dont recall how many, but all floor loaded.
 

hdxpedx

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
Picked up Aerosmith's mic stand with all the ribbons going to the Verizon Amphitheater in Charlotte concert. Got thru the backstage gate and ended up parked beside 13 big trucks looking thru the backstage. They were glad to see that create BIGTIME! Park over there.
 

zorry

Veteran Expediter
We had a driver haul a sleeping postal worker to relay point in central,In.
They make a wall of mail bags and take a nap in front of them,out of site.
Nobody woke him up before they closed up the trailer.
 

Dreamer

Administrator Emeritus
Charter Member
The wierdest to me was a skid of ink pens...yup...had to be at a large store for the back to school sale.

Most important...... I delivered a breathing machine for the Neo Natal Intensive care unit at a large hospital. Emergency load, called out at about 1am to get it. After delivery, I sat in the parking lot emotionally shot when they told me what department it was for. My grand daughters were born 2 months early, and were on one of those for weeks. The tech who met me told me it literally could be a matter of life and death to get it in there. For one night, I really understood my job might have made a difference in somebody's life.

Dale
 
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