Though conditions at loading docks have improved, drivers still face long waiting times, unfair receiver policies and occasional conflicts with lumpers.

In the 43 years trucker Jim Nodine spent on the road, nothing was as frustrating as showing up on time to deliver a load and being told to cool his heels – often for 10 or even 12 hours.

“The worst situation is arriving on time and then waiting,” says the recently retired driver. “Sitting around all day trying to get loaded and finally around 7 or 8 p.m. they get you loaded and tell you that you have a 5 a.m. appointment some 600 miles up the road.

“Shippers or consignees don’t seem to pay any attention to the fact that drivers operate under federal regulations. I walked into a shipping office, after sitting there for several hours, and asked, ‘When are you going to get me loaded? I got 1,200 miles to run, and my appointment is 18 hours from now.’ The answer, ‘That’s your problem, driver.’”

Eleven-year trucking veteran Russ Rand also knows a thing or two about waiting. Some warehouses he visits will unload or load him within two hours, but others will string him along for most of the day even if he shows up at the appointed time. “They give you an appointment, and if you are more than an hour late, they will turn you away and reschedule you for the next day,” he says. “Yet when you make your appointment, they can ignore you all day if they want with very little repercussion.”

Nodine and Rand are talking about one of the oldest and most persistent problems in the industry: how to get shippers and receivers to unload and load trucks in a manner that improves productivity and doesn’t tie up drivers for hours unnecessarily. Despite favorable operating conditions for carriers, stricter hours for drivers, lumping laws and vast improvements over the rough-and-tumble days of regulation, problems persist at docks even as efforts to improve them continue.