What is actually the best way to mysupport trailer issues that will actually get them resolved. I mysupport almost every trailer I receive for a few main reasons
1) no load bar
2) load bar used but the way it's placed makes it essentially useless
3) unsafe stacking - usually team lifts above waist level or stupid pallet stacking
4) pallets loaded on whatever side of the trailer they feel like loading them on - to my understanding they're all supposed to be loaded on either the right or the left to minimize time spent moving around the rollers store side while unloading. Correct me if I'm wrong
5) bottle of laundry detergent/fabric softener loaded upside down at the bottom of a wall of freight - this specific issue has caused a huge mess in like 5 trailers in the past 2 months (and I only run unload once a week) and a lot of damaged freight. Literally the busted laundry detergent will be coating a quarter of the boxes in the trailer when this happens.
Never see anything improve other than a "oh we've contacted the DC and are working on a resolution".
1. This issue has to do with loadbars being impossible to come by. We simply do not have any.
2. This answer also affects part 1, but Target new trailers are a few inches wider than the old ones and many of the load bars we do have will not properly extended making them worthless. Chances are they tried their best but the load bar slid in transit because it isnt long enough to tension properly.
3. Team lift above wait is not an issue in of itself. Unsafe stacking is too broad to give a real answer. Just keep in mind with the pandemic Target HQ took over hiring and so the DC has no say in who gets hired. Many people in OB have zero experience and put no effort into the job and yet the DCs are told not to fire anybody for skill reasons because what if another wave of covid hits.
4. This is not a thing anymore. It went away with pallet grouping.
I think they're supposed to be loaded all to the front or back rather than to one side (loading them all on one side is dangerous for the driver since it makes the trailer unbalanced), but they don't do that either.
This is correct but incomplete. The ideal is to only load at the nose and tail of a trailer. But we have limited space and so pipo may be loading intermittently in the middle of the trailer as well. Technically the theeshold is supposed to be 6, there should only be pipo in the middle if it is a group of 6 or more pallets.
Some other reasons pipo will be loaded mid trailer is if it is water, for weight reasons. Water pipo is to be loaded 2 in the nose, 2 in the tail, and 4 in the middle of the trailer. If you come across a water pipo or two in the middle of the trailer this is done intentionally and is correct.
Another point to note here is that pallet=/=pipo. Dog food and non-conbeyable boxes are loading on a pallet as soon as the pallet is full. We actually tried holding off on the dog food pallets but ended up forced to load them in walls because stores complained they would fall apart in-transit.
Of course now we get complaints dog food pallets are loaded in walls instead. No winning.
Lastly it is worth mentioning trailer loading is a live and dynamic process. Plenty of times a trailer is supposed to close early but then after the pipo is loaded dispatch communicates your store has cancelled the force close (usually because the store has a trailer they werent able to unload already), or the trailer is still so empty they decide to hold off on closing it for a few hours and so we have to make due the best we can continuing to load it. Among other similar potential cases like this.
5. Issues like these are real issues and provided the store sends information properly (we need the carton ID of the box and a picture) feedback is given to the TM who did it.
But then, if that TM really gives a shit would they have made that mistake in the first place? Probably not. Right back to the issue with TMs not really being able to be fired for being bad & lazy workers.
