Why did that trucker get fired that day?

by Betsy
(Birmingham, AL, USA)

Hi! I'm Betsy, a little old lady with a question that puzzles me still today.

I worked at a park whose entrance had a plastic, LED-lit archway.
Our park had a gift shop.
So one day an 18-wheeler came in with a huge trailer full of stuff for us.
His delivery went smoothly until he departed.

He took out the archway upon exiting.
The very same archway under which he'd passed easily upon entering.

None of us understood how it possibly could have happened. He followed his same tire tracks under the archway when he left!

Turned out that his height changed after he unloaded all the gift shop items. So on exiting, he was too tall for the archway.

Found out that trucker was fired for that error.

It took all of us park workers (non-truckers) scratching our heads together to figure out that
it was the weight of his load, inbound vs outbound, that caused the incident.

We all thought that trucker got a raw deal by getting fired over something that would never dawn on anyone.

So, does a trucker have to measure his height before and after a delivery? That dude shouldn't've been fired, I don't think.
Was his error completely boneheaded?

It was just a bunch of stuffed animals and toys! Who'd think?

Comments for Why did that trucker get fired that day?

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Feb 19, 2024
Rating

High trailer ?
by: Jimmy

I doubt his load was that heavy, as you described. So the trailer would not have gained height after unloading. As Hervy said, it's an archway which is shaped like a horseshoe, higher in the center.

My argument as a driver would have been, you the consignee are inviting trucks to enter your property to unload etc. I once did something very similar. There was a restaurant with "truck parking" signs displayed, so I entered their lot and took down an electrical lead in and they lost power.

Not my fault, I said, since they "invited" me on to their property. The cop agreed with me. Jimmy

Jan 24, 2024
Rating

Trucker was fired for a dumb reason...Maybe
by: Hervy

If it's true that is the reason they fired him, it was his fault on a technicality.

He is responsible for recognizing but like you said, who would think the trailer would rise like that. But you said archway and an archway usually is high in the middle and closer to the ground on the edges. If that's the case, it was preventable. (I realize you said he followed the same tracks out... but if there's a difference in height..... Maybe he wasn't int he same tracks for tractor and trailer. That would easily explain the incident)

Maybe he had a malfunctioning leveling valve which controls the suspension and the trailer rose. I don't know.

Likely the reason he got fired is simply due to insurance claim. If your company filed a claim then insurance might have said the rate would be high if the driver remained.

Especially if it happened to be just one of several incidents. If he already had a bad record and that just added to it, then they would have the choice of paying a lot more for insurance or letting the driver go.

And of course, they as a business the bottom line will be considered on a sliding scale of profits vs fairness.

Most companies will take a hit for a 1st time small mistake. You can justify that for a great reliable, positive attitude driver.

Contrast that with the opposite....

A driver who's not reliable, bad attitude, several incidents, complaints, etc. Well they are just looking for a good reason to let that driver go.

So we don't know the back story of the trucker, I hope everything works out for him.

And I really appreciate you and your coworkers concern and curiosity about the matter.

Yall are good people!

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Ask a Professional Truck Driver..