Just a warning to those ordering heavy equipment... My Grizzly bandsaw arrived this week. Before shipping Grizzly sent an email asking me to agree to shipping terms which included a statement that the driver would not assist in unloading the package from the truck. I figured that it was just BS and agreed. Not only would the driver not assist, they wanted $50 to operate the lift!!! Fortunately there were 2 boxes (dividing the load) and a friend and I were able to muscle the boxes off the truck. Sure enough on the FedEx receipt was information detailing extra charges for lift use. Geez for the price I paid to ship the thing I would think lift use would be included. What a rip/scam!
Standard operating procedure. If you don't have a loading dock and a forklift then make sure that it's absolutely clear how the load will be gotten off the truck _in_ _advance_.
Better mail order houses will explicitly state at time of order that the truck driver will not unload, and lift gate or straight truck service may cost more.
The beef is with the machine dealer, not the trucking company.
The original post stated, "Before shipping Grizzly sent an email asking me to agree to shipping terms which included a statement that the driver would not assist in unloading the package from the truck. I figured that it was just BS and agreed."
I see no grounds for a beef with the machine dealer.
That is BS. It would only take the driver a few minutes and get him a tip. I have to wonder if you were maybe a little feisty when you learned the driver would not help so he decided to be a prick about the lift gate. If you specify lift gate delivery there is often a charge for it as they have to send a trailer that is equipped. Never had a driver with one that was equipped hesitate to use it though.
Hello, Edwin! You wrote on Fri, 8 Aug 2008 23:53:14 -0400:
EP> Well that was dumb.
I guess that I have just been spoiled by other deliveries where the same BS was stated yet the driver was happy to not only help unload but also help move to yard or garage location. Costco deliveries come to mind.
EP> That is BS. It would only take the driver a few minutes EP> and get him EP> a tip. EP> I have to wonder if you were maybe a little EP> feisty when you learned EP> the EP> driver would not help so he decided EP> to be a prick about the lift EP> gate. If EP> you specify lift gate EP> delivery there is often a charge for it as EP> they have EP> to send a EP> trailer that is equipped. Never had a driver with one EP> that was EP>
EP> equipped hesitate to use it though.
Actually we were joking around especially after I had to walk down the street to prevent him from delivering my saw to a neighbor at the end of the street - he didn't check the street address (urban area - number painted on curb) just thought that because there were a couple of contruction trucks parked down the street, that must be where the saw goes. He was very pleasant, just made it very clear that no help unloading was to be offered.
Agree - I've had a number of purchases from Grizzly and the truckers were always good guys and helpful. Of course, as Edwin points out, I'm polite to them.
As John Clarke notes that's SOP. I'm a little surprised at the refusal to use the lift gate, though. Never had that happen. There is usually an extra charge for sending the gear out on a liftgate equipped truck, not for using the damfool gate after arrival at the delivery point. Stupid of FedEx, IMO.
In the good, old days, I used to get gear delivered at the top of my drive (couple tight turns that a semi can't negotiate decently), onto my pick-up. The driver, except for one with a bad back, always helped. That brought him 10 bucks. I built my shop so that a full-sized pick- up could back right up to the sliding doors and drop the load, which means that for anything 500 pounds and down, I could usually at least walk it off. For 500 and up, I called a friend. Usually, anyway. Some machines walk more easily than others, and I equipped the shop with an engine crane (best $150 I EVER spent) and a variety of come-alongs to move the larger iron. I think the worst was a Grizz 24" bandsaw at something like a very tall 750 pounds.
That said, there is NO requirement that a driver touch the material on his truck for most companies. That's a big draw when companies are short of drivers and hiring. No load handling.
Today's driver is usually in a fancy uniform, while these guys were in ratty old khakis or jeans, so maybe that's the real difference.
Oddly enough, all three big tools I've mail ordered were AIR FREIGHTED to Bradley Airport, and delivered by EGL, complete with straight truck, pallet jack, and lift gate. The air freight thing always makes me wonder...
I also have experience with other trucking companies, not with power tools, sending 53' trailers for residential delivery.
I can understand the guy not helping lift the packages. He is not allowed to as he can get injured and may even have a bad back already. What amazes me is that he could stand there and watch you struggle and demand $50 to use the lift. He may have been laughing with you on the outside, but inside he was being a real prick.
Drivers are like any cross section of society. Most are nice people but there are always a few jerks.
When FedEx delivered my Griz bandsaw (about 5 yr ago), the driver was a cute young woman. She took it off the truck onto a hand truck and refused any help. She took it across the yard and INTO the shop. What a girl!
I have had my lathes delivered to the local home-owned lumber yard saving me the extra $50 for home delivery. The lumber yard owner (a friend) took his fork lift and set the lathe on my trailer and refused any pay. I took his wife my first bowl from the lathe.
A few years ago I bought my wife one of those Endless Pools. It comes as a kit and weights about 1500 lbs. There was an optional charge of $50 to have the parts off loaded and placed where I wanted them, which was in the basement. I also requested the delivery be made using a straight truck as I lived at the end of a residential street. Well, the delivery was made using a full size single axle semi. There were two men on the truck and they worked their a's off. I backed my utility trailer down the drive (100') and they loaded the parts on it then unloaded it and took the parts down the basement. Best $50 I ever spent. Of course this was on the back end of a $20,000 swimming pool. Also the best money I ever spent. Nothing like going down stairs, stripping off and jumping in for a swim each night.
Dave Nagel
If any of you guys buy one of these Endless Pools give them my name so I can get the $200 finder's fee. HI HI...
Well, this is certainly one of the stranger whines I have seen here lately. Here's what I read:
" I knowing entered into a written contract after reading it and understanding its contents. My confirmation of understanding its terms and conditions is verified by my signature agreeing to them.
Well... those sorry bastards not only did what they said they would do, but stuck straight to the contract.
They didn't give me anything extra, nor did they operate outside the terms of the signed agreement.
What bunch of sorry asses."
Nitwits like that are the reason people need detailed contracts. To steal from Mark Twain, "folks seem to 'disremeber' the things they want to pretty easy".
Believe it or not, I have a client like that about once a year. For example: "Well Robert, I know you said you and your guys specifically wouldn't do the electrical work and that you would call a licensed electrician if I decided to change the plugs, but how hard is it to change out and those kitchen plugs and convert them to the GFE things you are talking about?"
Using the bizarre logic of the OP, the remind me of how much they are spending with me (on a job I had to use a sharp pencil to get!), and yet want even more free.
Yet as with the last guy that approached me with that, he was stumped at my analogy. He was an accountant. So I said, "If I came in one day and paid off my account as per our agreement for your services, how would you respond if I told you that you should give me two free hours of accounting/tax time simply because I paid my bill?"
I could see the gear grinding, but alas, no answer. Worse, he was now embarrassed so he acted like a prick for a few days.
Sometimes with the old farts I get the old "well, in my day we used to do electrical work with a set of broken pliers, a chipped screwdriver and some bailing wire, and we never burned anything down." I hand them a pair of pliers and s screwdriver; "there's always another chance for you, sir".
I have a friend that has been shuffling freight for many years in the business. He told YEARS ago that simply because there is a gate on the truck, the driver may not be authorized or qualified to use it. And like the poster above that got a tiny package in a huge truck, they have to send the truck at hand or the one that makes the most sense when they are fulfilling their contractual obligations. It is not the responsibility of the company to make sure it makes sense to the guy that gets the package.
Further, the OP shows his ignorance of the business world by never having had the pleasure of being sued. If the driver does something that the company was not contracted to do and there is a problem, who pays? Who pays if the items falls off the lift, the lift malfunctions, etc.?
If the driver doesn't have to push, heave, lift, pry, strain or anything else, chances of injury are small. So no back injuries likely. Shipping is less as less coverage is needed, and only one guy is needed for the delivery.
About four years ago, this same guy bought an entire Jet shop from Amazon. I sat and listened while he organized the delivery. "Who do you guys use? Do they have lifts, are they available? What is box floor height? Can I switch freighters?"
He had all his stuff sent to the DSL distribution point, and sent a "hot shot" moving company out there to retrieve all of it for him. Amazon shipping: free. Burly guys that thought picking up
delivery of same to the driveway next to the garage (shop) door: $175 for his tablesaw, 15" planer, monster dust collector, and 16" bandaw.
I guess none of that matters, though. I am still shaking my head...
...they told me in writing they were going to do something and they did it...
It's also a Health and Safety thing. The last thin the delivery company wnats is to pay out Workman's Comp for back injuries. I bet they instruct their drivers NOT to help.
machines was a piece of cake with their pallet jack,
Reminds me of a boss I had maybe five or six years ago. She asked me to talk another writer out of a deal she'd made with him, because, "it wasn't a contract, just a letter." Ah, the blessings of having leaders with MBAs!
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