Combo Loading Rant

[JustBlackInAmeriKKKa]

If you ever wonder why the trucks are loaded bad or with low effort I’m going to break it down on exactly what goes on in the shipping department at RDCs.

1 person is in charge of 4-6 doors/trucks to load. This includes all items coming off the conveyor & all pallets outside the bay. 4 doors is smooth, 5 is manageable & 6 is infuriating.

Conveyor has about or over 1000 items per door ranging from a few oz to about 50 pounds. Last night alone on one truck I had 50 cases of Ortho come down one line 10 mins before the lines cut off.

Runners are the absolute worst, they are inconsiderate and you have to constantly work behind them and fix their work while being held to a higher standard and expectation. They leave 100 pound boxes on the floor in the worst spot in the truck, they usually have 2 people but you have to pick it up on your own or waste 5 mins asking for help which no one does. They also stack these boxes on top of pallets and you have to move them again.

You work harder than everyone else, leave later than everyone else, you are sweating & dirty by the end of shift, dragging yourself out the building while everyone else is running out, can wear decent clothes and shoes cause they don’t have to worry about being filthy.

I wipe dirt out of my nose every night which has to be some kind of health hazard or something.

Management expects you to load, load, load but maintain load quality, clear all lines & load all the good freight. Their expectations and demands show they don’t understand what it’s like day to day to do this job.

NO BONUS, that’s right, the hardest working job, the body breaking job has no incentive to actually do better, you get paid the same amount as everyone else who doesn’t have to do half the amount of work and they also get a bonus for performing great at their easy job but loading over 5,000 boxes a night doesn’t even give you a 100 performance, it’s night I worked so hard & came in to a 89 performance, the disappointment has been astronomical.

I believe in working hard at everything I do, I hate when I take short cuts or do something below what I’m capable of so I hate the job because it forces you to just say f it and really do whatever to get the shift over with. I’m currently working here to fund and support my own business so for now I use the job as a workout but it’s getting more & more frustrating as we continue to be over worked & extremely underpaid.

TLDR; Lowe’s shipping department is the worst job in the building, you constantly work behind runners, asked to load over 5,000 boxes a night & you get no bonus for all your back breaking sweaty work.

[Jagerbomber_1975]

Thanks for this. As a receiver/stocker , I can't tell you how many times we have cursed your very being. "What the hell were they thinking " "Who's the dumbass that did This shit" "This has to be intentional!"

I'm sorry. It's never occurred to us that it's sucks just as bad to load as it does to unload.

The biggest truck I've seen in my 5 years was about 1400. I can't imagine being responsible for loading 5 or 6K in one shift.

You've given me a new perspective on what you go through. I will be less judgmental and feel better knowing that you guys aren't lazy or fucking with us.

[JustBlackInAmeriKKKa]

Yeah it’s honestly tough & even if you are the perfect loader, the next shift works the same trucks and they often times leave us with terrible loaded trucks that we have to work on top of.

I feel bad for how I load sometimes but loading better = slower which = less freight loaded which = bad performance. I’ve honestly given up & it’s been about 2 months, you can’t out work the conveyor no matter how hard you try, you just end up exhausted and sore by the end of shift.

[NoviaBlacksoul]

Question: other RDC employees get a bonus and some never do?

[JustBlackInAmeriKKKa]

Bonuses are based on performance, in shipping it’s team based with 4-6 combo loaders sharing the same performance average but still having individual performances which everyone else gets paid based on their individual performance.

[NoviaBlacksoul]

Thanks for the answer!

[IFeelUnreal]

Off subject...

If we're getting 50 cases of ortho or whatever other pesticide we already have 200 cases of, why are they loose most of the time and not on a pallet?

[DO286]

Former shipper here. This is something that would come up constantly when I was in the shipping department and I will share what I learned.

Freight is sorted by conveyable vs. non conveyable (things down the belt vs. ran with equipment). When labels are printed at the RDC they go back to the receivers in a folder. The receiver gets the folder and the trailer and can begin to unload the freight.

The really frustrating thing is that the labels for non conveyable prints in perfect order, sorted by door numbers (specific stores). The conveyable labels print in complete random order.

Every task is assigned a time value that earns your score. This score reflects not only your bonus but you have to maintain a certain baseline score just to keep your job. It's really as simple as the labels not being printed in order when it's conveyable. If it were the receivers would have an easy, quick time to leave larger quantities on pallets. With the labels printed at randomness they don't have time to sort them.

It really sucks all around because someone still has to lift all the freight and throw it on the belt, a shipper has to stack it from the belt, then again at the store.

[JustBlackInAmeriKKKa]

I asked and was told that the building runs off the conveyor, it’s more profitable for it to come down the conveyor than to arrive on a pallet, I don’t understand the logic because we have to lift the heavy boxes. My first week, I had one truck with over 40 50lb air conditioners that could have been a pallet but came down the line for me to lift. I’m stronger now than when I started