It became painfully clear today why the other Prime driver decided he didn't want to make the deliveries on the nursery load Lori picked up in Salt Lake City. It seems some Home Depot garden centers require the driver to unload the trailer! That wasn't the case at the first drop in Rock Springs, where six Home Depot workers handled the task. However, when Lori got to her first Home Depot in Denver this morning, the workers put six pallets on the ground outside the back of the trailer and left Lori to slide the plants and trees to the door, jump out of the trailer, and then put the plants onto the pallets.
Three hours later, Lori called her dispatcher and explained the situation. After apologizing profusely, the dispatcher had Lori come into the Denver terminal to pickup another driver to help with the next load. That load went much smoother since the garden center manager at that Home Depot used a forklift to stack the pallets inside the back of the trailer and then would take them off as Lori and her helper got each one loaded. That delivery only took 45 minutes.
By the time that delivery was done, it was too late to make it to the Colorado Springs delivery today. So Lori returned to the terminal with one load of plants and trees left in the trailer. Fortunately, Lori has been spared the ordeal of making that last delivery since her dispatcher was able to find a local driver to handle it. We've also made a HUGE note to ourselves - don't accept any Home Depot nursery loads or any other load that says "driver to tailgate."
Lori's dispatcher had Lori spend the night in Denver to see what loads might be available in the morning. If nothing really good shows up, there is a meat load going from Dodge City, KS to California that she can take (though they'd like to avoid a 350-mile deadhead from Denver to Dodge).
Speaking of Lori's dispatcher (Cheryl), this was the first time they've met face-to-face. Cheryl works out of the Denver terminal and this is the first time Lori has been in Denver since going solo.
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Mike and Lori, My wife and I run team for Schneider out of Fontana, CA and somehow came across your blog. There are two or three we read every few days. Wanted to let you know how much we enjoy yours. Gerrit and Linda
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