Archived Truck unload question with PIPO

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jtd

Former DC
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Feb 28, 2012
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Hey all, I work at a distribution center in outbound, and have been for almost a year now. My question is in regards to when you guys are unloading PIPO off the truck and into your store.

Now, if you have never seen or been in a distribution center, there is a big conveyor the stretches about a football field from where items drop to the end (where we pick them off and toss them in the truck). The conveyor extends and contracts as needed for room as we are building walls. There are times at night when the flow of good picks up, and we can easily incorporate the PIPO accordingly to the store preferred side.

There is about room for 4-5 pallets next to each other when staged in our lanes (which means they are dropped off and ready to put in. Some stores are obviously slower than others, and all stores get different amount of goods at a time. So, there have been nights where my slower stores are not getting a lot of boxes, but about 7 pallets of double stacked PIPO is dropped off in about an hour. I have no time to put one pallet it, and take the time to build completely around it. In situations like this, I will load side by side. Especially with paper tower.

Is it REALLY this big of an ordeal when PIPO is not on the store preferred side? Especially when it is paper towel, and the pallets can be broken down to unload.
 
I see those pallets usually in the front side of the trailer. Boxes, repacks, & bulk like bikes or patio are behind it.
 
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Hey all, I work at a distribution center in outbound, and have been for almost a year now. My question is in regards to when you guys are unloading PIPO off the truck and into your store.

Now, if you have never seen or been in a distribution center, there is a big conveyor the stretches about a football field from where items drop to the end (where we pick them off and toss them in the truck). The conveyor extends and contracts as needed for room as we are building walls. There are times at night when the flow of good picks up, and we can easily incorporate the PIPO accordingly to the store preferred side.

There is about room for 4-5 pallets next to each other when staged in our lanes (which means they are dropped off and ready to put in. Some stores are obviously slower than others, and all stores get different amount of goods at a time. So, there have been nights where my slower stores are not getting a lot of boxes, but about 7 pallets of double stacked PIPO is dropped off in about an hour. I have no time to put one pallet it, and take the time to build completely around it. In situations like this, I will load side by side. Especially with paper tower.

Is it REALLY this big of an ordeal when PIPO is not on the store preferred side? Especially when it is paper towel, and the pallets can be broken down to unload.

The reason they prefer a certain side of the trailer is because someone comes in with a pallet jack jack and pulls out that pallet and takes it straight to the salesfloor out of the way of our unload... There are rollers that extend into the trailer for us to unload and if you have the pallet on the wrong side it will be tough (if not impossible) to get it out on the correct side! They will have to probably pull it out on the opposite end, which means it will be stuck on the other side of our line and will have to wait to be worked until we are 100% done unloading... Is it going to ruin the night? Nope, but it will be an annoyance when some stores only have 2 hours to work the truck in the first place!
 
Is it REALLY this big of an ordeal when PIPO is not on the store preferred side? Especially when it is paper towel, and the pallets can be broken down to unload.

It makes it easier if it is on the preferred side because the trailer unloaders can pull the pallet straight out and stage it. When the pallet is on the other side of the trailer they have to move the skates over to pull it out making more work for them to do. Breaking down a paper pallet inside the trailer is a waste of time because they are going to have to re-stack it once unloaded. Since everything is timed it makes it easier and faster to have it on the preferred side.
 
it doesnt matter to me what side the pallets are on because you can move the line over to whatever side you want... the only problem i have actually is when the pallets are double stacked and they are too tall to fit back through the door... so it takes extra time to get the power jack in there to take one off ect. ect... :p
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I minimize loading pallets on the wrong side as much as possible, believe me.

it doesnt matter to me what side the pallets are on because you can move the line over to whatever side you want... the only problem i have actually is when the pallets are double stacked and they are too tall to fit back through the door... so it takes extra time to get the power jack in there to take one off ect. ect... :p

For example, something like Bounty paper towel? I hate loading this stuff as well. Sometimes it comes double stacked already (if warehousing drops off 2 at a time it is double stacked already). Other times, I will have to double stack it because it is the only two items I have. I have found a trick to getting one of these pallets in and out of the trailer (this will not work for heavier items). When I'm rolling the pallet up to the door, I stop just short so the paper towel is just touching the door. I drop the pallet jack down, pull it half way out, raise the back end of the pallet so it is tilting forward. This way the front side slips under the door and I can move forward. Once the pallet has cleared the door half way, I drop the pallet again. I then return the pallet jack all the way into the pallet and carry on like normal.

Also, I had another question. What is the process when you unload a pallet of Non-con? Is it pulled out by pallet jack, or do you put the items down the rollers individually?
 
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Thanks for the replies everyone. I minimize loading pallets on the wrong side as much as possible, believe me.



For example, something like Bounty paper towel? I hate loading this stuff as well. Sometimes it comes double stacked already (if warehousing drops off 2 at a time it is double stacked already). Other times, I will have to double stack it because it is the only two items I have. I have found a trick to getting one of these pallets in and out of the trailer (this will not work for heavier items). When I'm rolling the pallet up to the door, I stop just short so the paper towel is just touching the door. I drop the pallet jack down, pull it half way out, raise the back end of the pallet so it is tilting forward. This way the front side slips under the door and I can move forward. Once the pallet has cleared the door half way, I drop the pallet again. I then return the pallet jack all the way into the pallet and carry on like normal.

Also, I had another question. What is the process when you unload a pallet of Non-con? Is it pulled out by pallet jack, or do you put the items down the rollers individually?

the problem with that trick is that you cant tilt it up will pulling it out because your pulling it from the outside with the crown... lol... so thats easy for you to say!!! haha.. jp..

as far as non-con goes... most of the time i pull it out with a pallet jack.. some times some of the items make it on the line...
 
Double stacked is more of a problem than side my side. Especially when the heavy objects are on top of paper towels, it is not the safest thing to say the least.

Also, when pallets are loaded side ways. That could be a *****.
 
Nearly every truck we have heavy furniture stacked on top of paper towels, so when you move it the entire pallet will collapse and ruin your paper PIPO. The sides of the truck doesn't really matter to me, considering Flow doesn't even unload to push our PIPO anymore (lazy).
 
Thanks, we never call it that!We use TLC (too large to convey) or one guys favorite; tender loving care stuff (as he tosses a tv.)
 
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