Freight industry needs overhaul

By MICHAEL THOMASON

PALESTINE — Receiving freight these days reminds me of the box of chocolates quote from Forrest Gump: “You never know what you’re going to get.”

I have no idea what has gone wrong with the business of transferring goods from point A to point B, but something has. My little company receives shipments of air conditioner and heater systems on a regular basis and it seems every other consignment has something dented, dinged, damaged or missing.

I vented some of my frustration on a delivery driver recently:

“Your company didn’t have to invent anything. They didn’t have to build anything. They don’t have to know how to install any of those things invented or built. They certainly are not required to repair anything, be it stereo receivers or televisions, or air conditioners, or whatever. All a shipping company has to do is pick up items somebody else invented or built or wrapped and take them somewhere else and put them in the hands of somebody on the other end and have said items arrive in the same general condition and dimensions they were sent. This isn’t rocket science or higher math, or even grade school grammar. A Labrador retriever knows what it takes to go fetch something and bring it back without dropping or eating it. Surely a company as large as yours, after decades of practice, training, study, reports and experience could somehow manage the timely and non-destructive art of moving material to and fro and accomplish the task better than or at least as well as the lowly dog; Surely.”

The driver stood patiently waiting as I continued my tirade. A gas furnace sat squat and fat between us, six inches shorter than it should have been, looking like a compressed loaf of bread. “What do you all do at the terminal?” I asked, pointing at the furnace. “Do you drop boxes off roofs to see how high they bounce? Do you play bumper cars with loaded forklifts? What is your goal, to destroy each and every item you ship?

The man smiled cheerfully and replied: “I’m just the driver. You can holler all you want; I’m not going to let you make me feel bad. Say what you will, I’m not bothered.”

“I know it’s not your fault,” I said in exasperation. “But you are the only representative of your company I have any contact with.” I kicked the furnace in the side. It fell over and wheezed like an accordion. “Looks better than when it arrived,” I said in frustration and stomped off. We refused the shipment. The driver told me to have a nice day and left with the damaged goods. He got paid either way. I however, was faced with calling a customer to apologize and reschedule.

Nobody is ever at fault when it comes to damages. The driver only drives the truck. Everything was fine when it left the factory. Everything was lovely while it was on the truck. How things get dented or dropped is as big a mystery to them as eternity is to a frog. It seems today the goal of the shipper is no longer the timely and damage free delivery of goods; it is to get you to accept responsibility for the merchandise and to remove it from themselves. If we don’t unpack and examine every square inch of the shipment before signing off, we become liable.

Sometimes, a wholesaler will ship us goods with slight, what they call ‘cosmetic’ damage and hope by some miracle we accept it. It may be slight to them, but not to me; no different than being ‘slightly’ pregnant. Oddly, we almost never see damage when goods come directly from the manufacturer to us, on their trucks with their drivers. The reason is simple; they care about their product. We care, they care, and all is well. But when you put someone in between who apparently doesn’t, damage comes a calling.

Freight companies don’t have to care about the sender, the receiver, or the product sent, but they should surely care about the delivery. That is their only mission. That is in fact, their selling point, their specialty, what is written on their calling cards, their very reason for existence. Why is this so hard a task?

Maybe costs (labor and fuel for instance) have forced freight companies to cut corners. Maybe they have trouble finding enough qualified people to handle their freight because some folks think pushing boxes is beneath their dignity. Who knows? I would suggest a long look at how they conduct business. The whole industry is ripe for an overhaul. An enterprising soul will come along one day and take all their business, and all he or she will have to do is, quite simply, sanely, and safely -- deliver the goods.

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Guest columnist Michael Thomason is owner of Ranger Air & Heat of Palestine.