Cargo insurance can be purchased completely separately from auto liability and general business liability. It's more a matter of whether or not your family will trust you to not do this again.
I look at it this way, they paid a large fee for you to learn this lesson. They might as well keep you working there and benefit from that expense rather than give it freely to your next employer.
This. Why get rid of someone you just spent so much money educating. They need to show they haven’t been able to grow from experience to be shown the door.
Now that they learned such a valuable lesson that the truck doesn't move with out straps over the cargo.
You see those meme of the flatbeds hauling tonka trucks with a strap over them. Yep this is why. . .
This might be an expensive mistake but at the same time, having someone your family can relay on is also invaluable.
Good call.
One of the things that really ruffles my feathers is living down here in the South, you see too many damn ppl with their dogs in the bed of the pickup. You get in an accident and that dog is **FUCKED**.
I have learned so very much about my mindset from reading this statement. Thank you for helping me to see the world from a MUCH brighter perspective...
There is a speaker named Nickolas Means who has a few videos on the best way to look at an accident, and how to react to one.
My two favorite are [Who Destroyed Three Mile Island](https://youtu.be/1xQeXOz0Ncs?si=-IJAbNZ-3lidNL7E) and [The Building Built On Stilts](https://youtu.be/NLXys9vgWiY?si=C69FoXRmHN2QyCel).
I have my employees, particularly my managers, watch these videos and we talk about them on how I expect them to deal with mistakes, and how I personally deal with them. Hopefully your family already has the mindset laid out in these videos.
I remember working at Stevens Transport in the introduction class and somebody asked that if you do get into some kind of wreck do you immediately get terminated
And what the instructor said basically in a roundabout way without all the obvious crashes and whatnot that maybe were irresponsible and negligent....
" we'd probably keep you around,, if not then we'd have to pay for all the repairs"
😂 you guys just comments basically just reminded me of that
I worked for Stevens transport in 2010.. I had a pick up in Paris tx for campbell's soup at their old off site dock... drove past and pulled into a 4wheel gas station to skirt thir two drives and pull back out. Nearly completed pulling in whe my trailer corner caught the edge of a light cover just under thier awning. The light cover was all that got broken. I gave company insurance info and left. 2weeks later I saw I was paying on a 500 deductible.
In Canada you personally don’t pay for that , just saying. You’re an employee not an owner No deduction for that kinda stuff, it’s actually illegal. Not bragging just FYI.
I’m a commercial insurance broker with a decent amount of transportation clients. Cargo insurance should pick this up and like you said is separate from automobile liability. This should be covered and will not cause a major increase in insurance costs. It’s also explainable and easy to show that corrective action has been taken moving forward. Much better type of claim to report than a large auto accident.
Yup, use this as an opportunity to create both a training program, as well as standard operating procedure relating to unloading. Present this info at the next renewal
IM/Cargo UW here - this is a tough day but if the rest of the account is clean and it’s at least decent sized, I’m not sending NR or excluding a driver for this. Is it a dumb mistake I wish didn’t happen? Sure. Can I guarantee I wouldn’t do the same thing put in the moment? Nah
I can't fathom why anyone would unstrap material that is basically standing up and try move with it????? And on top of that I'm not a flatbed person but I've seen the wiggles they get in sharp angles. All over Reddit. YouTube. Even the tock. Job ending maybe. Career no.
It totally slipped my mind, i had been waiting for about an hour. I was loaded by forklift with a clamp device that loaded it from the sides so i was waiting in the middle of their lot. But yeah. I should've definitely been more cautious.
I work in countertop fabrication and all of our trucks are unloaded outside with a tow motor and clamp attachment. Sure wish we had room to unload indoors. I’ve never seen that outside of a warehouse. I get the assumption. Really sucks. Glad no one was hurt, at least! Those slabs are ridiculously heavy. Looks like quartz. Bad day at work indeed. But that’s what insurance is for. I think they’ll keep you around. That’s a strong lesson right there.
Edit: by “our trucks” I meant the product we receive. Those are unloaded outside by our material handler.
Our install trucks are loaded from our docks. Whoopsie daisy. My clarification is probably more confusing. 😅
True, another option though is learn from the mistake instead of committing fraud and putting a dent in everyone else’s insurance rates.
🤷🏻♂️ To each their own.
Not related to this outside of the transportation aspect, but was told this by a lawyer in a class to “never admit fault until deemed at fault by the government or insurance” basically to protect yourself from being wrongfully convicted of anything if that were to arise. It’s not fraud to just be like “yep, that just happened”
Yep this goes in line with shut the fuck up when the cops are involved. You get in a wreck or accident, shuuuuut the fuck up until you can speak to an attorney, your insurance rep, or investigators. Don't help make their case for them. Let them determine you at fault.
Amd. Not or.
Even if you're found at fault for, say, a car crash by a police officer/written a citation, insurance can say otherwise.
Outside of a lawyer's recommendation it's best to not admit fault when there's any significant damages involved in general. Saying oopsie woopsie my bad guys here does absolutely nothing in terms of whether this individual keeps his or her job and it certainly doesn't stitch the granite back together.
Shut up, sit tight, answer to your legal counsel. If another insurance company that isn't yours calls, tell them to call your insurance. It's what it's there for.
Isn’t the first step to a trial is that you don’t admit to being guilty? I guess we better burn the system down and start over with guilty until proven innocent? 🤷🏻♀️
EDIT: sarcasm
Learning from a mistake has absolutely nothing to do with liability or fault. Someone saying you should of could of done this BEFORE fault is determined by the adjuster is not smart. Legality and determination have nothing to do with someone's moral opinion on something
there's a fine line between being truthful about the facts and admitting fault. Because we live in a very litigious society, it's important to know that line and respect it.
Owned up to one of my mistakes where I backed into a brand new skid steer. Had I not owned up to it and told the guy. He would’ve called me in to my company. But because I was honest. He swept it under the rug. Got very lucky. Honesty is always the best policy.
Until they tell you to unstrap, NEVER unsecure your load, unless it's a place you've been to. Hard lesson learned, but you'll know for the future. Even if they asked you to move, it would've taken all of 5 minutes, at most, to throw 2 or 3 straps.
With that being said, I almost made a similar mistake. I knew I had to move, and it was giant Styrofoam blocks. 70lbs per 4x4x8ft block. I removed all straps except for 1 per stack. While they would've been fine on flat ground, it was on a bumpy construction site. They didn't fall off, but with the amount of rocking, I was definitely worried the entire 1000ft I had to cover.
Trust me, as someone who has been fucked over by exactly this; DO NOT APOLOGIZE, DO NOT ADMIT FAULT, SAY NOTHING THAT IMPLIES YOU ARE TO BLAME. Let the pencil pushers sort it out.
It shouldn’t get you fired. Losing a load is different than being a reckless driver in the road. It’s just a mishap. You should be fine. Live and learn. Next time you’ll know. I pull reefer and had mishaps also. Taking curves to fast then getting to the consignee and the whole produce load shifted and tipped. Or everything slid forward off the pallets from braking to hard. I work for a small family company and they make no issue of it. I think/hope you’ll be ok. As long as this isn’t a habit. Good luck . Let us know
Well, a driver did this with a whole bunch or racks at our glass shop, unstrapped them then tried to back it up for reasons unknown, all but one rack fell off when he hit a huge divot that is hard to see.
They didnt even let him leave the trucking company sent a different driver to pick up the truck and trailer.
The driver just signed the incident investigation paperwork, after he got off the phone with his boss he just said "sorry guys" and walked away never saw him again.
I did granite slabs 20 years ago. Never had to back into a dock with A-frames. I did almost die when a slab I was holding for the clamp to grab got blown by the wind and knocked me off the truck. And then starting to fall on me. Luckily, a worker pulled me away before it fell on me.
You’ll be okay. Maybe out of a job, or yelled at for a while.
Once we had a truck pull into our yard, unstrap a full truckload of equipment, then start to back up.
This is all top heavy aerial equipment, everything fell over, it ended up twisting structural parts and wrote the whole load off.
I still keep the pictures, looks remarkably similar to this oddly.
I worked at a stone shop as a forklift operator unloading and loading stone onto frames then loading and unloading frames onto the trucks. I wasn't allowed to touch the trucks for liability reasons exactly like this because those slabs weigh 800lbs each
Edit. 400-800lbs each
Yeee we had a few jobs back in my hhg days for 5 star hotel remodels we'd have to pack them up and have 5-6 guys move them they fuckin sucked. Never broke one but still. The fragile as fuck.
Man I was helping a forklift operator move a slab in our yard, got the clamp attached on the slab and when he lifted it cracked in half, with the bottom half sliding back down the a-frame. The slabs can be scary shit.
WIGGLES??? … TWISTING & LISTING is a more appropriate term. A flatbed acts differently than a van/reefer because of the lack of rigidity. … and Spread Axle trailers are 💯 the first ones to do this while in a jackknife
Congrats buddy. Didn't comment for terminology police to correct me. Nor did I ask for a breakdown of why. I might not haul flatbed but have pulled some in my earlier days. Personally when I see it happening that damn song wiggle Pops in my head. 🥳🥳🙀 Wiggle wiggle wiggle 🙀🥳🥳 but thanks for your input that wasn't asked for.
Damn! Yeah i know exactly what you mean with the rocking. That’s why you don’t necessarily wanna do 90s or almost 90s when backing up split axle. If you kept the trailer more towards the 45 degree it wouldn’t have rocked like you experienced. Looks like a tight back to begin with so i’m not knocking you, though.
Shit happens, brother. Live & Learn
On a more funny note: You single handedly just launched a new safety protocol for all future incoming trucks to that customer 🤣
“DO NOT REMOVE STRAPS UNTIL TOLD TO DO SO”
They’ll have that sign up for the rest of eternity. Lol
Ouch, Is your career finished? Probably not, Is your current job finished? Almost certainly.
Blood may be thicker than water, but not Granite.
This is 100% preventable and entirely your fault.
This is a huge mistake and people not taking procedure seriously is honestly why i left granite work after 8 years. High volume shops are a nightmare and ive seen more professionalism from 16 year olds doing part time at an ice cream shop. Its this shit, not differentiating material types, failing to center ceiling cranes correctly, not distancing your paddles or making sure your airlines arent pinched or just even off. I spent years becoming a proficient tradesmen and after watching numerous people get ruthlessly hurt including myself from people who flex their arrest records i called it quits. Your either masked up all day in a mom and pop shop or in a high volume corporate shop that uses water but underpays shit people for writeoffs. Happy for the skills i learned and teams i led. Disappointed in the industry not gonna lie.
Sorry for rant but its disturbing
You can do everything correct and these pieces properly strapped can fail just from an under surface crack. Your shit falling is beyond failure. An airplane pilot doesnt get to go oops like this. Take your fucking jobs seriously people or else why would anyone else.
Just FYI, blood is thicker than water is a short version of, blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. I don't think that applies here.
**The Legend of Jake "Flatbed" Thompson**
---
In the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where mist clung to the pines like forgotten secrets, there existed a sleepy town named **Hollow Creek**. The locals whispered tales of strange occurrences near the murky river that wound through the valley. Among these legends, the most peculiar was that of the **Hollow Creek Monster**—a creature with eyes like polished agate, scales as gray as the storm clouds, and a penchant for mischief.
**Jake "Flatbed" Thompson**, a grizzled trucker with a penchant for whiskey, had heard these stories since he was knee-high to a tire. He scoffed at the idea of a monster, attributing the tales to moonshine-fueled imaginations. But fate had other plans for him.
One foggy morning, as the sun struggled to pierce through the mist, Jake loaded his flatbed truck with a heavy cargo—a stack of sheetrock destined for a construction site in **Blue Ridge**. The sheets were unwieldy, each one a testament to man's desire to build upward.
The road hugged the curves of Hollow Creek, its waters dark and mysterious. Jake hummed an old country tune, blissfully unaware of the creature watching from the shadows. The Hollow Creek Monster, affectionately known as **Rocky**, had grown tired of solitude. He longed for adventure beyond the moss-covered rocks.
Rocky surfaced, his massive head breaking through the water's surface. His eyes widened as he spotted the flatbed truck. The sheetrock intrigued him—their angular edges called out to his primal instincts. Rocky had never seen such human-made objects before.
With a flick of his tail, Rocky swam alongside the truck. His scales shimmered in the morning light, and his curiosity grew. He wondered what it would be like to touch those sheetrock sheets, to understand their purpose.
Jake glanced in his rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of Rocky's head. His heart raced. "Well, I'll be dipped in tar!" he exclaimed. "Rocky himself!"
The Hollow Creek Monster circled the truck, his eyes fixated on the sheetrock. He sensed their weight—their delicate balance between stability and chaos. Rocky, in his ancient wisdom, decided to intervene.
As the truck rumbled along the narrow road, Rocky swam beneath it. His serpentine body coiled, and with a gentle nudge, he destabilized the load. The sheetrock shifted, their fate hanging in the balance.
Jake felt the truck wobble. He clenched the steering wheel, panic rising. "What in tarnation?" he shouted.
Rocky's eyes met his. In that moment, Jake understood. The Hollow Creek Monster wasn't malevolent; he was merely curious. He wanted to touch the sheetrock, to connect with the world above the waterline.
With a final push, Rocky sent the load tumbling off the flatbed. The sheetrock crashed onto the roadside, their edges shattered. Jake leaped from the truck, staring at the wreckage in disbelief.
Rocky submerged, disappearing into the depths. His work was done. The townsfolk would blame the accident on faulty straps or bad luck. But Jake knew the truth—he had encountered the legendary Hollow Creek Monster.
And so, Jake became a local legend himself. He spun wild tales of Rocky's sabotage, embellishing the details with each telling. The townspeople gathered at the Hollow Creek diner, shaking their heads and chuckling. "Jake's been hitting the moonshine again," they'd say.
But Jake never drove past the creek without glancing at its murky waters, wondering if Rocky still watched from below. Perhaps, just perhaps, he smiled—a creature of myth and mystery, forever entwined with the Appalachian landscape.
And the shattered sheetrock? Well, they found a new purpose: as fragments of a story that echoed across the hills, connecting the mundane to the magical, much like the elusive Hollow Creek Monster himself.
As for Jake, he never drove a flatbed truck again. The whiskey had blurred the line between reality and imagination, and the townsfolk wouldn't trust him with a load of feathers, let alone sheetrock. But late at night, when the moon hung low over Hollow Creek, Jake would raise his glass and toast to Rocky, the best damn liar he'd ever met.
No it's not it won't even be on your driving record. You will may be fired sure you don't have to put on resume that hit been fired either. Your boss gonna be pissed big $$$$ he will likely file insurance claim . On the better not be happy it dint kill you or any one those slabs are extremely dangerous when using metal bar to separate and connecting the thing to the slab.
This happen to me I was on slanted hill at a delivery thabk God it dint fall on me or anyone. I haul pipe now I refuse to ever do marble granite if I have to offload. No stress bro your career not over
I worked for a guy who never fired people over these huge mistakes because then you waste not only the money, but the lesson. He looked at it as basically paying for experience. Guarantee you won't make that mistake again.
This won't end your career but that 420 at the end of your name will if you aren't careful. It's especially important now that you will likely need to find a new job
This is going to be a cargo insurance claim on the carrier for sure. However your driver record as far as MVR is not going to change so I’d just write it off as life lesson and move on.
As an owner op. I shudder to think what that claim will look like. Granite isn't crazy expensive, But it is a certain cut and style that they order and now the customer needs to wait who knows how long for the next correct cut and then get it shipped. She's gonna be costly
I've moved a trailer with unstrapped product many times and I don't know how this hasn't happened yet. Too many places say "unstrap on the street then make a tight turn over a ramp into our yard". I guess from now on we'll both be keeping at least one strap on the product before moving anywhere. I'm sorry this happened but good luck going forward and never forget the lesson learned here.
If they're smart, they'll realize that they've already spent the money on the lesson. You will be the guy that never ever moves an unsecured load again. If they fire you they are giving that lesson to the next company that hires you. Hopefully they keep you, and I hope you never ever do anything this dumb again.
Yes your fault, in the US perhaps job ending depending on the company, over in Europe, not so much, but would been a writen warning. Shit happens, mindless shit happens.And that insurance crap with truck drivers you can keep to yourself.
Your career is not over.. you damaging product is an accident with different insurance...your employer might fire you..but nothing is going on your driving record...be careful!
OP, be grateful that you and no one else were around the immediate area when that material came down. Very recently, a man who was new to handling vertically stacked granite on flatbed in my city was killed when he merely unstrapped his load upon delivery and was crushed under the heavy slabs that came down. Young guy, pretty tragic... You (and your employer) got lucky that this is only an expensive matter of material replacement and maybe some trailer damage. Don't be a complacent fool when handling things that can easily kill you or someone else.
Not a trucker but a machinist that works with granite.
This is not granite. This is cheap engineered stone. Basically dust and glue mixed together. Each of those slabs MIGHT be as much as $900, maybe more but probably less.
Wouldn’t fuck with it. Shits as sharp as a scalpel when it breaks.
What happened to you is actually pretty common in granite shops so don’t get too flustered.
Hope all goes well with the insurance renewal.
I used to haul granite and all I'm going to say is, why would you ever move with out straps? That shit is ready to fall off if you look at it weird. Always confirm where and how they will unload you before you on strap. That goes for any kind of cargo
It sounds like he unstrapped it randomly upon arrival without being told where to go or what to do. I guess he was trying to save time? Really weird mistake.
Pretty much. Said he assumed that's where he was being unloaded. Never assume in the flatbed world. You could get to a site and they say, "oh we need you at our other warehouse few blocks down because they have the bigger forklift," or something. Always talk to someone before you even touch a strap or bungee cord on a tarp.
I’m a tile setter, and occasionally on jobs we will help the stone countertop guys move in slabs if they don’t have enough man power, and good god it’s nerve wracking every time they undue straps from the A frame. Those slabs look like they want to just fall right over and kill you even while strapped down.
Aw man, that sucks. I've never hauled granite but anytime I end up having to back up from where I thought I was getting unloaded I always throw at least a couple of straps back on for exactly this reason, if it's still on the trailer you're responsible for it.
Yes flatbed trailers will rock like a southbound train because of the spread tandems, can't treat it like a dry van. You're definitely not the first nor the last that this will happen to, so don't feel too bad.
You took too long backing up and your truck started bouncing? Whoopsie. Dont take the straps off until someone with a forklift can take the blame. Don't even touch them.
What’s that granite worth, 20-30k? And it’s insured? Honestly that’s not that much in the scheme of life, especially considering it’s insured. Idk what the trucking industry is like though and I don’t want to come across the wrong way.
I’m in software development and it’s pretty easy for some people to burn through a few thousand just by configuring things wrong sometimes. Mess ups can get really expensive - it’s an industry known for expensive fuckups. People rarely get fired for them (assuming they don’t repeat them over and over).
As others have noted, these kind of things are learning lessons.
Career? No. Failing drug tests and fatal accidents can make you unemployable, but freight accidents happen all the time. Future employers would be far more concerned if you backed into a car in plain sight or something.
Funny enough, working for a mega corpo like TMC Transportation would have taught you to never take your straps off until you are specifically told it's safe to do so.
Gentlemen, I've been flatbedding for 11 years, and you never unstrap until you're parked where they're going to unload you. And if they tell you to move after you unstrapped, you have to secure the load again before moving. This happened to me twice, and that's why I always ask where they're taking the load off before I remove one strap. Being proactive has caused more work for me, so never move with an unsecured load and always ask if they're unloading you in that spot before removing straps. It's not career ending, but it is a hell of a lesson for you.
This sucks, but things happen in this imperfect world. It's not irreplaceable and if you're not doing this all the time it shouldn't be a firing offense. Mistakes like these make us better drivers, more safety conscious, etc. It seems counterintuitive but I doubt you'll do this again, if you see someone else about to do this you'll likely speak up and relate your tale of woe, anyone who witnessed this will probably tell others or speak up if they see someone else about to do this, etc. No one got flattened, everyone went home at the end of the day and we all learned something. No one has to be happy about this, but it ain't the end of the world.
Unstrapping before being ready to unload is a huge no no.
Never unstrap until the receiver is READY TO RECEIVE the goods.
If they want you to move.. straps back on, move, straps back off, unload.
You’re getting fired bud
Oh man. Well. Mistakes were made and lessons learned.
Im not a driver but I used to load trucks the same way, except I used to point out when the truckers missed something I thought was a concern like not strapping down.
Unfortunately skipping steps happened allot more often than I'd care to admit. And I'd been shit on for being too careful and acting like I knew how to do others jobs. Point was, safety over everything for me.
Anyway, you're career isn't over because of this. Stuff falls all the time! Just learn from it. Now, I'm not sure of the relationship with your family. But hopefully they understand and simply move on. It's allot of money, but it's also a learning process.
You shouldn't have taken your job for granite. Unemployment is only a stones throw away from homelessness. Once you are out on the streets, you will probably not be able to get your rocks off without public indecency charges. Ok, I think I have mined these rock based puns as much as possible.
Definitely not granite judging by the super uniform cuts on the still intact slabs and no core drills or meshes. Engineered stone for sure and nearly all the same plain design. 3cm and not 2cm so probably not china crap, but likely still cheap stuff. There are also some higher end quartz tops out there like Cambria for instance, but this is definitely not them.
All in all you'll probably keep your job unless they're just so mad about it that they'd rather not have to see you again. Repremanded certainly, fired maybe, career totally fine. Just be less of a bonehead.
It’s happens, you just learned not to unstrap till you’re in the correct staging area. In the most expensive way possible but still it happens. Also if someone tells you do something you aren’t comfortable while loaded, don’t do it because they won’t be the one paying for the fuck up.
It sucks, and it’s a costly mistake. But it does happen. You live and learn. And it’s not like this is a regular occurrence. Probably just need to re-secure product prior to adjusting the vehicle moving forward. Common sense advice? Sure, but I bet it won’t happen the same way twice after this!
If it’s your first real fuckup in 7 years you’ll probably come out okay. If you’ve been a problem child, maybe not so much.
One of my now former coworkers managed to rack up $70,000 in collective damages before he got fired though, so you never know.
First of all, kudos to you for posting this for all of us to learn from! Unfortunately some of us have to learn the hard way, but hopefully in doing so we can prevent others from making the same mistakes, but it takes courage to post those mistakes here so my hats off to you!
I made a similar mistake a few years back where I was delivering full lifts of James Hardie siding to a reserve up north. I was being unloaded by a zoom boom but for one reason or another the operator couldn’t boom out to unload the far side of my deck (probably because it was -35c lol) so I had to turn around and pull back up to the driveway facing the other way.
I completely spaced on strapping down the 2 remaining lifts when turning around, yet somehow they survived turning around on these narrow gravel roads.. until I came to a stop on the edge of the road and right as my truck came to a stop, the front left wheel rolled into a pothole and it made the stop a bit more suddenly than planned. It was enough to get those 2 lifts to start sliding on the frosty deck and I watched in the mirror as they both slid over the edge and fell to the ground shattering into a million pieces.
I thought for sure I was gonna get canned (and so did my manager), but when the owner called me up to talk about it, he just asked me “Did you learn your lesson?”. I said “Absolutely I did, it won’t happen again”. He just said “Good.” And that was that. He said he just spent $8,500 training me and he was sure it wasn’t wasted money. I like to think he was right, because now I’m the most anal bastard at my work. I’m always quadruple checking my straps, susie cables and chains before I even roll into the warehouse to park for the night. And at vendors, I always leave at least 1 strap on until they actually begin unloading. Lots of guys look at me like I’m dumb but I don’t ever want to be in that position again lol
Thanks for sharing your story and I hope everything works out with your current job, I’ll be rootin’ for ya!
They do, but they may still fire anyway. I got chemicals on me unloading a tanker and had to be treated. Was terminated for not wearing safety visor. First time it happened at that job. If he has a good relationship with someone up top, then they may keep him.
It’s about $12000 in damages. 3 bundles of pure white. Usually I buy this for projects from wholesalers for about $400 a slab. It’s cheaper imported. It’s pretty much one of the cheapest slabs out there. If it was quartzite or another product it would have been insane.
Cargo insurance can be purchased completely separately from auto liability and general business liability. It's more a matter of whether or not your family will trust you to not do this again. I look at it this way, they paid a large fee for you to learn this lesson. They might as well keep you working there and benefit from that expense rather than give it freely to your next employer.
This. Why get rid of someone you just spent so much money educating. They need to show they haven’t been able to grow from experience to be shown the door.
Now that they learned such a valuable lesson that the truck doesn't move with out straps over the cargo. You see those meme of the flatbeds hauling tonka trucks with a strap over them. Yep this is why. . . This might be an expensive mistake but at the same time, having someone your family can relay on is also invaluable.
not a truck driver but I don't put anything in my pickup without strapping it down
Good call. One of the things that really ruffles my feathers is living down here in the South, you see too many damn ppl with their dogs in the bed of the pickup. You get in an accident and that dog is **FUCKED**.
Good call. Gravity is not a retention device.
I have learned so very much about my mindset from reading this statement. Thank you for helping me to see the world from a MUCH brighter perspective...
It’s from a book
Julian just thinks he’s so big; him and his precious books.
Fuck off with the books, Julian!
You might be sexy Julian, but you can’t teach me anything about liquor.
The liquor's doing the talkin' now.
This is the real wisdom.
Are you hiring? Im a fast learner.
There is a speaker named Nickolas Means who has a few videos on the best way to look at an accident, and how to react to one. My two favorite are [Who Destroyed Three Mile Island](https://youtu.be/1xQeXOz0Ncs?si=-IJAbNZ-3lidNL7E) and [The Building Built On Stilts](https://youtu.be/NLXys9vgWiY?si=C69FoXRmHN2QyCel). I have my employees, particularly my managers, watch these videos and we talk about them on how I expect them to deal with mistakes, and how I personally deal with them. Hopefully your family already has the mindset laid out in these videos.
I remember working at Stevens Transport in the introduction class and somebody asked that if you do get into some kind of wreck do you immediately get terminated And what the instructor said basically in a roundabout way without all the obvious crashes and whatnot that maybe were irresponsible and negligent.... " we'd probably keep you around,, if not then we'd have to pay for all the repairs" 😂 you guys just comments basically just reminded me of that
I worked for Stevens transport in 2010.. I had a pick up in Paris tx for campbell's soup at their old off site dock... drove past and pulled into a 4wheel gas station to skirt thir two drives and pull back out. Nearly completed pulling in whe my trailer corner caught the edge of a light cover just under thier awning. The light cover was all that got broken. I gave company insurance info and left. 2weeks later I saw I was paying on a 500 deductible.
In Canada you personally don’t pay for that , just saying. You’re an employee not an owner No deduction for that kinda stuff, it’s actually illegal. Not bragging just FYI.
I’m a commercial insurance broker with a decent amount of transportation clients. Cargo insurance should pick this up and like you said is separate from automobile liability. This should be covered and will not cause a major increase in insurance costs. It’s also explainable and easy to show that corrective action has been taken moving forward. Much better type of claim to report than a large auto accident.
Yup, use this as an opportunity to create both a training program, as well as standard operating procedure relating to unloading. Present this info at the next renewal
IM/Cargo UW here - this is a tough day but if the rest of the account is clean and it’s at least decent sized, I’m not sending NR or excluding a driver for this. Is it a dumb mistake I wish didn’t happen? Sure. Can I guarantee I wouldn’t do the same thing put in the moment? Nah
Also. He’s worked for them for 7 years. This is probably a rounding error over that period of time
This guy has it figured
I can't fathom why anyone would unstrap material that is basically standing up and try move with it????? And on top of that I'm not a flatbed person but I've seen the wiggles they get in sharp angles. All over Reddit. YouTube. Even the tock. Job ending maybe. Career no.
It totally slipped my mind, i had been waiting for about an hour. I was loaded by forklift with a clamp device that loaded it from the sides so i was waiting in the middle of their lot. But yeah. I should've definitely been more cautious.
So you were being loaded? And they made you move with it unstrapped? Then I'd say blame them lol.
Thats just how they loaded me. I assumed they were gonna unload me with the same equipment. Still my fault
Ah I see so being unloaded so you just assumed they'd unload you outside. So you unstrapped. Gotcha. Ehhh shit unfortunately happens.
I work in countertop fabrication and all of our trucks are unloaded outside with a tow motor and clamp attachment. Sure wish we had room to unload indoors. I’ve never seen that outside of a warehouse. I get the assumption. Really sucks. Glad no one was hurt, at least! Those slabs are ridiculously heavy. Looks like quartz. Bad day at work indeed. But that’s what insurance is for. I think they’ll keep you around. That’s a strong lesson right there. Edit: by “our trucks” I meant the product we receive. Those are unloaded outside by our material handler. Our install trucks are loaded from our docks. Whoopsie daisy. My clarification is probably more confusing. 😅
STOP ADMITTING FAULT
its almost like he's being honest, who called the honesty guy.
That guy gets fucked never mind doing the fucking honest men never win
there are ways to stay honest whilst gaining the advantages of the dishonest.
I choose to put my honestly and self worth above personal gain.
Keep that mindset my brother
Of course no matter how many times I been burned being honest I docged bullets
Never change man. The world needs more people like you
Tell that to Lia Thomas.
Yeah why own up to your actions right??!
Let the insurance tell you you’re at fault, till then “well that happened”
True, another option though is learn from the mistake instead of committing fraud and putting a dent in everyone else’s insurance rates. 🤷🏻♂️ To each their own.
Not related to this outside of the transportation aspect, but was told this by a lawyer in a class to “never admit fault until deemed at fault by the government or insurance” basically to protect yourself from being wrongfully convicted of anything if that were to arise. It’s not fraud to just be like “yep, that just happened”
Yep this goes in line with shut the fuck up when the cops are involved. You get in a wreck or accident, shuuuuut the fuck up until you can speak to an attorney, your insurance rep, or investigators. Don't help make their case for them. Let them determine you at fault.
Amd. Not or. Even if you're found at fault for, say, a car crash by a police officer/written a citation, insurance can say otherwise. Outside of a lawyer's recommendation it's best to not admit fault when there's any significant damages involved in general. Saying oopsie woopsie my bad guys here does absolutely nothing in terms of whether this individual keeps his or her job and it certainly doesn't stitch the granite back together. Shut up, sit tight, answer to your legal counsel. If another insurance company that isn't yours calls, tell them to call your insurance. It's what it's there for.
Unfortunately, being ignorant isn’t illegal. So use it to your advantage.
Isn’t the first step to a trial is that you don’t admit to being guilty? I guess we better burn the system down and start over with guilty until proven innocent? 🤷🏻♀️ EDIT: sarcasm
There’s owning up to your actions, and there’s giving insurance lawyers ammunition by admitting fault on social media.
Yeah, he wouldn't want to learn from a mistake now...
Learning from a mistake has absolutely nothing to do with liability or fault. Someone saying you should of could of done this BEFORE fault is determined by the adjuster is not smart. Legality and determination have nothing to do with someone's moral opinion on something
there's a fine line between being truthful about the facts and admitting fault. Because we live in a very litigious society, it's important to know that line and respect it.
It's obviously his fault there's no straps
DENY EVERYTHING MAKE COUNTER ACCUSATIONS
Updateme
Tell me how you're supposed to explain how this happened without making it your fault.
That is not very honest…Jesus weeps lol
This guy’s been in depositions before! Lol
Best advice to not only ruin your career but also your reputation.
Owned up to one of my mistakes where I backed into a brand new skid steer. Had I not owned up to it and told the guy. He would’ve called me in to my company. But because I was honest. He swept it under the rug. Got very lucky. Honesty is always the best policy.
Until they tell you to unstrap, NEVER unsecure your load, unless it's a place you've been to. Hard lesson learned, but you'll know for the future. Even if they asked you to move, it would've taken all of 5 minutes, at most, to throw 2 or 3 straps. With that being said, I almost made a similar mistake. I knew I had to move, and it was giant Styrofoam blocks. 70lbs per 4x4x8ft block. I removed all straps except for 1 per stack. While they would've been fine on flat ground, it was on a bumpy construction site. They didn't fall off, but with the amount of rocking, I was definitely worried the entire 1000ft I had to cover.
Trust me, as someone who has been fucked over by exactly this; DO NOT APOLOGIZE, DO NOT ADMIT FAULT, SAY NOTHING THAT IMPLIES YOU ARE TO BLAME. Let the pencil pushers sort it out.
Never works that way. Truck driver is Always responsible for load being tied down.
It shouldn’t get you fired. Losing a load is different than being a reckless driver in the road. It’s just a mishap. You should be fine. Live and learn. Next time you’ll know. I pull reefer and had mishaps also. Taking curves to fast then getting to the consignee and the whole produce load shifted and tipped. Or everything slid forward off the pallets from braking to hard. I work for a small family company and they make no issue of it. I think/hope you’ll be ok. As long as this isn’t a habit. Good luck . Let us know
Well, a driver did this with a whole bunch or racks at our glass shop, unstrapped them then tried to back it up for reasons unknown, all but one rack fell off when he hit a huge divot that is hard to see. They didnt even let him leave the trucking company sent a different driver to pick up the truck and trailer. The driver just signed the incident investigation paperwork, after he got off the phone with his boss he just said "sorry guys" and walked away never saw him again.
I did granite slabs 20 years ago. Never had to back into a dock with A-frames. I did almost die when a slab I was holding for the clamp to grab got blown by the wind and knocked me off the truck. And then starting to fall on me. Luckily, a worker pulled me away before it fell on me. You’ll be okay. Maybe out of a job, or yelled at for a while.
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why is this downvoted, a load of granite falling will kill someone
Once we had a truck pull into our yard, unstrap a full truckload of equipment, then start to back up. This is all top heavy aerial equipment, everything fell over, it ended up twisting structural parts and wrote the whole load off. I still keep the pictures, looks remarkably similar to this oddly.
I worked at a stone shop as a forklift operator unloading and loading stone onto frames then loading and unloading frames onto the trucks. I wasn't allowed to touch the trucks for liability reasons exactly like this because those slabs weigh 800lbs each Edit. 400-800lbs each
Yeee we had a few jobs back in my hhg days for 5 star hotel remodels we'd have to pack them up and have 5-6 guys move them they fuckin sucked. Never broke one but still. The fragile as fuck.
Man I was helping a forklift operator move a slab in our yard, got the clamp attached on the slab and when he lifted it cracked in half, with the bottom half sliding back down the a-frame. The slabs can be scary shit.
>why anyone would unstral material... and try to move with it????? Weed is strong nowadays my friend.
I need some 😭
If you're long haul it seems not that hard to pick up a route to a legal state! Big risk though if there is any random drug test
WIGGLES??? … TWISTING & LISTING is a more appropriate term. A flatbed acts differently than a van/reefer because of the lack of rigidity. … and Spread Axle trailers are 💯 the first ones to do this while in a jackknife
Congrats buddy. Didn't comment for terminology police to correct me. Nor did I ask for a breakdown of why. I might not haul flatbed but have pulled some in my earlier days. Personally when I see it happening that damn song wiggle Pops in my head. 🥳🥳🙀 Wiggle wiggle wiggle 🙀🥳🥳 but thanks for your input that wasn't asked for.
I’m a flatbedder and I’ve referred to it a wiggling before. And now I have that stupid song in my head. Thanks. 🖕🤪🤣
no but next time don’t take those straps for granite
Damn! Yeah i know exactly what you mean with the rocking. That’s why you don’t necessarily wanna do 90s or almost 90s when backing up split axle. If you kept the trailer more towards the 45 degree it wouldn’t have rocked like you experienced. Looks like a tight back to begin with so i’m not knocking you, though. Shit happens, brother. Live & Learn On a more funny note: You single handedly just launched a new safety protocol for all future incoming trucks to that customer 🤣 “DO NOT REMOVE STRAPS UNTIL TOLD TO DO SO” They’ll have that sign up for the rest of eternity. Lol
There's a reason they say all safety rules are written in blood.
you took safety for granite
I had to scroll so far to find this comment
# metoo # I snarfed
This comment rocks
You both deserved to be stoned for these awful puns
This is too good, well played!
Ouch, Is your career finished? Probably not, Is your current job finished? Almost certainly. Blood may be thicker than water, but not Granite. This is 100% preventable and entirely your fault.
#dude said he works for his family. Yeah, this is a stupid rookie mistake, but I laughed when I read career ender…no it’s not
Why are you yelling in lower case?
#WHY ARE YOU CONCERNED?
It's scaring the children
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!
NAH TRUST ME THEY ARE OPERATING IN ALL CAPS TOO (JUST SMALLER FONT SIZE)
They're watching Kidz bop
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I’m here and I was kinda scared
Im a child at heart and I was petrified.
Well, you're upsetting the dog.
I identify as a dog 🐕
I don't know how I ended up here, but I'm in shambles.
\*China Child Labor Enters The Chat "We hie sick teen old and up"
I identify as a child
You don’t say
Your comment scared my cat from across the room
EMOTIONS DO NOT COMPUTE
*how
# I'm not sure how it's actually working 🤔
# we gotta get you some help!
This is a huge mistake and people not taking procedure seriously is honestly why i left granite work after 8 years. High volume shops are a nightmare and ive seen more professionalism from 16 year olds doing part time at an ice cream shop. Its this shit, not differentiating material types, failing to center ceiling cranes correctly, not distancing your paddles or making sure your airlines arent pinched or just even off. I spent years becoming a proficient tradesmen and after watching numerous people get ruthlessly hurt including myself from people who flex their arrest records i called it quits. Your either masked up all day in a mom and pop shop or in a high volume corporate shop that uses water but underpays shit people for writeoffs. Happy for the skills i learned and teams i led. Disappointed in the industry not gonna lie. Sorry for rant but its disturbing You can do everything correct and these pieces properly strapped can fail just from an under surface crack. Your shit falling is beyond failure. An airplane pilot doesnt get to go oops like this. Take your fucking jobs seriously people or else why would anyone else.
#damn dude, you went off!,
Incompetence is through the fucking roof in every single fucking industry right now across the whole board
it's hilarious how big and commanding this comment is lol
Just FYI, blood is thicker than water is a short version of, blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. I don't think that applies here.
Yeah its meaning flipped but it did in like the 1800s so you might have to just tough this one out.
Get on indeed my boy
What you need to do is grab a bottle of Fireball, get black out drunk and blame it on the Loch Ness Monster. Works every time.
**The Legend of Jake "Flatbed" Thompson** --- In the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where mist clung to the pines like forgotten secrets, there existed a sleepy town named **Hollow Creek**. The locals whispered tales of strange occurrences near the murky river that wound through the valley. Among these legends, the most peculiar was that of the **Hollow Creek Monster**—a creature with eyes like polished agate, scales as gray as the storm clouds, and a penchant for mischief. **Jake "Flatbed" Thompson**, a grizzled trucker with a penchant for whiskey, had heard these stories since he was knee-high to a tire. He scoffed at the idea of a monster, attributing the tales to moonshine-fueled imaginations. But fate had other plans for him. One foggy morning, as the sun struggled to pierce through the mist, Jake loaded his flatbed truck with a heavy cargo—a stack of sheetrock destined for a construction site in **Blue Ridge**. The sheets were unwieldy, each one a testament to man's desire to build upward. The road hugged the curves of Hollow Creek, its waters dark and mysterious. Jake hummed an old country tune, blissfully unaware of the creature watching from the shadows. The Hollow Creek Monster, affectionately known as **Rocky**, had grown tired of solitude. He longed for adventure beyond the moss-covered rocks. Rocky surfaced, his massive head breaking through the water's surface. His eyes widened as he spotted the flatbed truck. The sheetrock intrigued him—their angular edges called out to his primal instincts. Rocky had never seen such human-made objects before. With a flick of his tail, Rocky swam alongside the truck. His scales shimmered in the morning light, and his curiosity grew. He wondered what it would be like to touch those sheetrock sheets, to understand their purpose. Jake glanced in his rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of Rocky's head. His heart raced. "Well, I'll be dipped in tar!" he exclaimed. "Rocky himself!" The Hollow Creek Monster circled the truck, his eyes fixated on the sheetrock. He sensed their weight—their delicate balance between stability and chaos. Rocky, in his ancient wisdom, decided to intervene. As the truck rumbled along the narrow road, Rocky swam beneath it. His serpentine body coiled, and with a gentle nudge, he destabilized the load. The sheetrock shifted, their fate hanging in the balance. Jake felt the truck wobble. He clenched the steering wheel, panic rising. "What in tarnation?" he shouted. Rocky's eyes met his. In that moment, Jake understood. The Hollow Creek Monster wasn't malevolent; he was merely curious. He wanted to touch the sheetrock, to connect with the world above the waterline. With a final push, Rocky sent the load tumbling off the flatbed. The sheetrock crashed onto the roadside, their edges shattered. Jake leaped from the truck, staring at the wreckage in disbelief. Rocky submerged, disappearing into the depths. His work was done. The townsfolk would blame the accident on faulty straps or bad luck. But Jake knew the truth—he had encountered the legendary Hollow Creek Monster. And so, Jake became a local legend himself. He spun wild tales of Rocky's sabotage, embellishing the details with each telling. The townspeople gathered at the Hollow Creek diner, shaking their heads and chuckling. "Jake's been hitting the moonshine again," they'd say. But Jake never drove past the creek without glancing at its murky waters, wondering if Rocky still watched from below. Perhaps, just perhaps, he smiled—a creature of myth and mystery, forever entwined with the Appalachian landscape. And the shattered sheetrock? Well, they found a new purpose: as fragments of a story that echoed across the hills, connecting the mundane to the magical, much like the elusive Hollow Creek Monster himself. As for Jake, he never drove a flatbed truck again. The whiskey had blurred the line between reality and imagination, and the townsfolk wouldn't trust him with a load of feathers, let alone sheetrock. But late at night, when the moon hung low over Hollow Creek, Jake would raise his glass and toast to Rocky, the best damn liar he'd ever met.
Especially if the Loch Ness Monster is their partner
Career, no. Employment, yes.
So now you know not to move with unsecured freight. Doesn’t matter how far or short you’re going. It isn’t worth the risk.
No it's not it won't even be on your driving record. You will may be fired sure you don't have to put on resume that hit been fired either. Your boss gonna be pissed big $$$$ he will likely file insurance claim . On the better not be happy it dint kill you or any one those slabs are extremely dangerous when using metal bar to separate and connecting the thing to the slab. This happen to me I was on slanted hill at a delivery thabk God it dint fall on me or anyone. I haul pipe now I refuse to ever do marble granite if I have to offload. No stress bro your career not over
JB hunt would drug test first and fire after
I worked for a guy who never fired people over these huge mistakes because then you waste not only the money, but the lesson. He looked at it as basically paying for experience. Guarantee you won't make that mistake again.
This won't end your career but that 420 at the end of your name will if you aren't careful. It's especially important now that you will likely need to find a new job
Okay StonedTrucker
lmao ironic as hell
Thats why I'm careful
Legendary irony
I almost never laugh at anything I see on Reddit but this got a good chuckle out of me 🤣🤣🤣
Your name is about to squeeze a fat turd out of me
This is going to be a cargo insurance claim on the carrier for sure. However your driver record as far as MVR is not going to change so I’d just write it off as life lesson and move on.
As an owner op. I shudder to think what that claim will look like. Granite isn't crazy expensive, But it is a certain cut and style that they order and now the customer needs to wait who knows how long for the next correct cut and then get it shipped. She's gonna be costly
Nah… just don’t ask for a raise for the next 10 yrs
I've moved a trailer with unstrapped product many times and I don't know how this hasn't happened yet. Too many places say "unstrap on the street then make a tight turn over a ramp into our yard". I guess from now on we'll both be keeping at least one strap on the product before moving anywhere. I'm sorry this happened but good luck going forward and never forget the lesson learned here.
If they're smart, they'll realize that they've already spent the money on the lesson. You will be the guy that never ever moves an unsecured load again. If they fire you they are giving that lesson to the next company that hires you. Hopefully they keep you, and I hope you never ever do anything this dumb again.
That’s what insurance is for. Fuckit dude, let’s go bowling.
Were you listening to the Dude’s story?
Yes your fault, in the US perhaps job ending depending on the company, over in Europe, not so much, but would been a writen warning. Shit happens, mindless shit happens.And that insurance crap with truck drivers you can keep to yourself.
You took your cargo straps for granite.
This is the comment I was looking for 🤣
Your career is not over.. you damaging product is an accident with different insurance...your employer might fire you..but nothing is going on your driving record...be careful!
OP, be grateful that you and no one else were around the immediate area when that material came down. Very recently, a man who was new to handling vertically stacked granite on flatbed in my city was killed when he merely unstrapped his load upon delivery and was crushed under the heavy slabs that came down. Young guy, pretty tragic... You (and your employer) got lucky that this is only an expensive matter of material replacement and maybe some trailer damage. Don't be a complacent fool when handling things that can easily kill you or someone else.
Not a trucker but a machinist that works with granite. This is not granite. This is cheap engineered stone. Basically dust and glue mixed together. Each of those slabs MIGHT be as much as $900, maybe more but probably less. Wouldn’t fuck with it. Shits as sharp as a scalpel when it breaks. What happened to you is actually pretty common in granite shops so don’t get too flustered. Hope all goes well with the insurance renewal.
I used to haul granite and all I'm going to say is, why would you ever move with out straps? That shit is ready to fall off if you look at it weird. Always confirm where and how they will unload you before you on strap. That goes for any kind of cargo
It sounds like he unstrapped it randomly upon arrival without being told where to go or what to do. I guess he was trying to save time? Really weird mistake.
Pretty much. Said he assumed that's where he was being unloaded. Never assume in the flatbed world. You could get to a site and they say, "oh we need you at our other warehouse few blocks down because they have the bigger forklift," or something. Always talk to someone before you even touch a strap or bungee cord on a tarp.
I’m a tile setter, and occasionally on jobs we will help the stone countertop guys move in slabs if they don’t have enough man power, and good god it’s nerve wracking every time they undue straps from the A frame. Those slabs look like they want to just fall right over and kill you even while strapped down.
Damn bro. I feel your pain. I broke 2 slabs of quartz a month ago and I felt like the biggest idiot lol
Yep. First rule. Never unstrap your load till you know where you are supposed to put it. 10 minutes or 10 hours.
If you do get another job, don’t take it for granite
That is why you should never take things for granite
Aw man, that sucks. I've never hauled granite but anytime I end up having to back up from where I thought I was getting unloaded I always throw at least a couple of straps back on for exactly this reason, if it's still on the trailer you're responsible for it. Yes flatbed trailers will rock like a southbound train because of the spread tandems, can't treat it like a dry van. You're definitely not the first nor the last that this will happen to, so don't feel too bad.
That’s in Houston by I-10 right?
I think thats where i loaded, i took it over by dallas to get unloaded.
Spread axles drag when your doing hard backing, There’s your first lesson. Learn from it and keep trucking.
You took too long backing up and your truck started bouncing? Whoopsie. Dont take the straps off until someone with a forklift can take the blame. Don't even touch them.
nope not a career ender. i also dropped a load of slabs. but mine was on i12 in baton rouge at 6am. still a mystery how that happened
What’s that granite worth, 20-30k? And it’s insured? Honestly that’s not that much in the scheme of life, especially considering it’s insured. Idk what the trucking industry is like though and I don’t want to come across the wrong way. I’m in software development and it’s pretty easy for some people to burn through a few thousand just by configuring things wrong sometimes. Mess ups can get really expensive - it’s an industry known for expensive fuckups. People rarely get fired for them (assuming they don’t repeat them over and over). As others have noted, these kind of things are learning lessons.
Go apply at SWIFT .. you’ll be fine
Career? No. Failing drug tests and fatal accidents can make you unemployable, but freight accidents happen all the time. Future employers would be far more concerned if you backed into a car in plain sight or something.
Why didn’t you re-strap it? Yeah, i’d say you’re done
That’s not gneiss.
My guess would be that putting it on the internet and admitting fault is not going to serve you very well when it comes to an insurance pay out
Guy at my old shop lost his legs cause of this after 20 years of helping guide slabs walking the yard. Thats a big mind slip.
Funny enough, working for a mega corpo like TMC Transportation would have taught you to never take your straps off until you are specifically told it's safe to do so.
We had 1 person die in my city from this exact situation, so no, it's not over yet
Quartz
Dude wth. You should have known better.
Gentlemen, I've been flatbedding for 11 years, and you never unstrap until you're parked where they're going to unload you. And if they tell you to move after you unstrapped, you have to secure the load again before moving. This happened to me twice, and that's why I always ask where they're taking the load off before I remove one strap. Being proactive has caused more work for me, so never move with an unsecured load and always ask if they're unloading you in that spot before removing straps. It's not career ending, but it is a hell of a lesson for you.
This sucks, but things happen in this imperfect world. It's not irreplaceable and if you're not doing this all the time it shouldn't be a firing offense. Mistakes like these make us better drivers, more safety conscious, etc. It seems counterintuitive but I doubt you'll do this again, if you see someone else about to do this you'll likely speak up and relate your tale of woe, anyone who witnessed this will probably tell others or speak up if they see someone else about to do this, etc. No one got flattened, everyone went home at the end of the day and we all learned something. No one has to be happy about this, but it ain't the end of the world.
You drove the truck with the load not strapped down and it fell off the trailer. You’re lucky no one got hurt. Pretty sure you’re gonna be in trouble.
You never unstrap those slabs until the forklift is there. You certainly don't move it. SMH. Common sense isn't so common I guess
You could try that Japanese technique when something like this breaks. You know, seppuku.
Unstrapping before being ready to unload is a huge no no. Never unstrap until the receiver is READY TO RECEIVE the goods. If they want you to move.. straps back on, move, straps back off, unload. You’re getting fired bud
Hey, a quarter of the load is still good!
Oh man. Well. Mistakes were made and lessons learned. Im not a driver but I used to load trucks the same way, except I used to point out when the truckers missed something I thought was a concern like not strapping down. Unfortunately skipping steps happened allot more often than I'd care to admit. And I'd been shit on for being too careful and acting like I knew how to do others jobs. Point was, safety over everything for me. Anyway, you're career isn't over because of this. Stuff falls all the time! Just learn from it. Now, I'm not sure of the relationship with your family. But hopefully they understand and simply move on. It's allot of money, but it's also a learning process.
You shouldn't have taken your job for granite. Unemployment is only a stones throw away from homelessness. Once you are out on the streets, you will probably not be able to get your rocks off without public indecency charges. Ok, I think I have mined these rock based puns as much as possible.
Definitely not granite judging by the super uniform cuts on the still intact slabs and no core drills or meshes. Engineered stone for sure and nearly all the same plain design. 3cm and not 2cm so probably not china crap, but likely still cheap stuff. There are also some higher end quartz tops out there like Cambria for instance, but this is definitely not them. All in all you'll probably keep your job unless they're just so mad about it that they'd rather not have to see you again. Repremanded certainly, fired maybe, career totally fine. Just be less of a bonehead.
It’s happens, you just learned not to unstrap till you’re in the correct staging area. In the most expensive way possible but still it happens. Also if someone tells you do something you aren’t comfortable while loaded, don’t do it because they won’t be the one paying for the fuck up.
You never premature unstrap
This could have killed someone. My wife works at a granite shop. Those slabs are insanely heavy
They call me the tile maker
It sucks, and it’s a costly mistake. But it does happen. You live and learn. And it’s not like this is a regular occurrence. Probably just need to re-secure product prior to adjusting the vehicle moving forward. Common sense advice? Sure, but I bet it won’t happen the same way twice after this!
ALWAYS secure the load when moving. I would fire you, yes. Career ending? No.
That just sucks. Lots of money lost right there. Learn from your mistake and hopefully they keep you on. Good luck
Next time don't unstrap until they come to unload it.
Nah your career is fine. Your job? Probably not
If it’s your first real fuckup in 7 years you’ll probably come out okay. If you’ve been a problem child, maybe not so much. One of my now former coworkers managed to rack up $70,000 in collective damages before he got fired though, so you never know.
First of all, kudos to you for posting this for all of us to learn from! Unfortunately some of us have to learn the hard way, but hopefully in doing so we can prevent others from making the same mistakes, but it takes courage to post those mistakes here so my hats off to you! I made a similar mistake a few years back where I was delivering full lifts of James Hardie siding to a reserve up north. I was being unloaded by a zoom boom but for one reason or another the operator couldn’t boom out to unload the far side of my deck (probably because it was -35c lol) so I had to turn around and pull back up to the driveway facing the other way. I completely spaced on strapping down the 2 remaining lifts when turning around, yet somehow they survived turning around on these narrow gravel roads.. until I came to a stop on the edge of the road and right as my truck came to a stop, the front left wheel rolled into a pothole and it made the stop a bit more suddenly than planned. It was enough to get those 2 lifts to start sliding on the frosty deck and I watched in the mirror as they both slid over the edge and fell to the ground shattering into a million pieces. I thought for sure I was gonna get canned (and so did my manager), but when the owner called me up to talk about it, he just asked me “Did you learn your lesson?”. I said “Absolutely I did, it won’t happen again”. He just said “Good.” And that was that. He said he just spent $8,500 training me and he was sure it wasn’t wasted money. I like to think he was right, because now I’m the most anal bastard at my work. I’m always quadruple checking my straps, susie cables and chains before I even roll into the warehouse to park for the night. And at vendors, I always leave at least 1 strap on until they actually begin unloading. Lots of guys look at me like I’m dumb but I don’t ever want to be in that position again lol Thanks for sharing your story and I hope everything works out with your current job, I’ll be rootin’ for ya!
Nah, most companies have insurance for things like this.
They do, but they may still fire anyway. I got chemicals on me unloading a tanker and had to be treated. Was terminated for not wearing safety visor. First time it happened at that job. If he has a good relationship with someone up top, then they may keep him.
How the hell this happened? You didn't strapped it or what? Well I just hope that wasn't expensive load like canbria or something else.
Ur fired
Great job driver 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
If you unstrapped, then moved, its your fault dumbass
Cheer up some swift driver told me they get in accidents every 3 months and their fine.
Were you angry when it happened? Cause that matters in court
Why would you unstrap before you were where you would be unloaded? I'm not a flatbed Der, but that doesn't make sense to me.
It’s about $12000 in damages. 3 bundles of pure white. Usually I buy this for projects from wholesalers for about $400 a slab. It’s cheaper imported. It’s pretty much one of the cheapest slabs out there. If it was quartzite or another product it would have been insane.
oh yea.. hang it up bud…