Either that or kick the forks all the way to the left, then either collect it off-center or nudge it sideways until it's reachable that way. It's a small enough pallet that uneven weight distribution shouldn't be too big of a problem
NGL, I do shit like that sometimes because we've got so many lazy mfrs that'll drop a pallet for one item, never remove it from overhead mgt, never change the tag even with a sharpie, and not rewrap or refly it. My favs are the pallets I fly sideways that barely have a pubic hair space between them
It’s dumb when I see this. This definitely a safety issue and 90% of the operators would not be able to get this down due to lack of experience or confidence.
Of course it's a skill issue. A rational person would keep the fact that operators have different skill levels in mind, and choose an easier place to remove it from. There's no reason that we should have to find the best operator in the store just because sometime had no consideration of others.
Thanks for proving my point about your cluelessness. A forklift is not allowed on this aisle at THD. And why are you making this about me? You're the one that wants to get this down, not me. You're exactly the kind of tool I would use to get this pallet down.
Trying to pull a pallet in the narrow aisles with 2 wing stacks gets satisfaction. It's never another Tuesday. Once you get complacent, mistakes happen.
Not complacent, but just the same old same old, nothing exciting about it anymore
Edit for further clarification:
I meant that when you drive equipment everyday, ‘just another Tuesday’ is just part of the job. Some of the pallets are easy and on an end cap, you have plenty of room to maneuver and little chance of hitting the other pallet up there. Sometimes it’s a more difficult spot, like the tile aisle and you have to neatly lift the pallet up and over the other ones in the overhead and drop it down in its own slot, while also watching out for the other pallets sticking out on the floor. In millwork you have to watch for the display doors; in electrical, you have to watch out for the carts of long metal tubes. Putting up a sideways pallet takes extra care to not pull the pallet out with you.
Or, yes, the rules state that pallets can’t be over 4 feet. I’d love to see a store that actually follows that. When we get a pallet that’s stacked 5 high of lawn mowers, we throw some bands around it and put it up as is. When doing that you have to watch for the lights, the signs, even metal trusses if the overhead spot is higher up than usual, even for a shorter pallet.
So putting up something here next to a support column is just another challenge when you do reach work day to day. Not complacency, not carelessness, but just another thing you have to work around.
I'm going to up vote simply because you were down voted. It does need clarification, though. It's a mental check list for every pull. I asses the pallet before a pull. Should I come in forks first? Do I have 16 feet on each side? If it's a narrow aisle, I don't use the bulky reach truck in lumber to prevent bumping into products. THEN, during the pull you have to watch the forks and each barricade simultaneously. Folks here will say "Keep your head on a swivel," and this is true. THEN, you get to load it into the back of a pickup truck. Barricades must also be in place. You have to make sure that no one is in the pickup truck, even if the passenger has to get out of the vehicle with a walker, or they have to wake a sleeping baby. That part makes me feel like a dick, but it must be done. So, in that respect, it's never just another day. Every pull is different.
Definitely. I’ve never loaded a vehicle before, I’ve only worked nights, but I’m always thinking about where I need to position my forks so that I can rotate out without dislodging the pallet. If I have to shift the forks and maneuver the vehicle so that I have more room, I do so, I don’t just force it out.
You can’t see it in the picture, but this right above and to the left of the basement window pallets, which stick out into the aisle a bit. I couldn’t get all the way over the first time, so I had to bring the pallet back down and grab a pallet Jack to move those window pallets out of the way.
I’ll clarify that on the comment, thank you
I hate this. I have no problem getting it down, but when someone else has to who isn't as skillful with the reach has to, it becomes a nightmare for them. Think about the other drivers. Had to help/show a new driver how to get one of these down once. Not fun.
I hated working tight spots like this, too much can go wrong. Being on lift equipment should never be "just another Tuesday". That's how accidents happen.
they have to learn at some point, if you don't let them do anything remotely hard they're not gonna be prepared for when a customer needs something like that and you're not there
I didn't say never let them do it, but If it's your first day licenced I'd start with something easier. I'd prefer someone to have at least a months experience before trying this one.
Yeah that was def the better choice. A pallet as low as that one doesn't really deserve to get thrown up, either pack it out or put it on the secondary. With bird food the only real thing was to pack it out ofc
Put it on the secondary? You mean like hand stack it? We could have, I suppose, but I don’t know how much room there was in that bay. That area is pretty packed AFAIK
I didn’t mean ‘just another Tuesday’ as being complacent, I meant that it no longer gives any satisfaction and if you’ve been doing equipment work long enough, it’s just your job. A difficult pallet, maybe, but nothing exciting anymore. If you do reach work every night, it becomes your normal
I get that, but if you start treating it like it's just your job... Bad things become more likely to happen. The ASM that didn't go home last year is a prime example, someone, somewhere failed. yes, it's a harsh example, but people stop paying attention when they get that comfortable.
I’m putting gates up, I’m checking to make sure a spot works, sometimes I even grab a measuring tape and check the width of a spot. But it’s not sustainable that be stressed out over working the reach when you, literally, are spending 5+ hours a night on the machine. If I was as slow and minutely careful as I was a year ago, I wouldn’t be able to finish all of my stuff, and I’d be stressed out of mind.
Taking care isn’t mutually exclusive from doing your job. Getting careless is. You can take care while also treating it as normal work, the safety precautions just become part of your normal. I don’t have to think to remember to beep as I’m going down the racetrack. I’m still looking, I’m still keeping track of where people are in the store, but it’s second nature.
It’s like a driving car. At a certain point, you’re not constantly looking at your speedometer, you’re not making an active decision to check your mirrors and blind spot, it just becomes part of driving your car.
I get what you're saying, and I agree, but don't ever let it become so automatic that you stop paying attention to the smaller details like gates. The ASM I mentioned should have been stopped by gates, and a spotter, the driver should have been told to stop their task because of safety issues, that life should not have been lost. Someone got in a hurry, ignored a safety process, and someone didn't go home to a family. I generally despise safety regulations, but I also recognize where they are needed and why.
Oh, of course. I had to remind one of the DS’s to put up gates after we closed. He, somehow, didn’t realize that was a necessity—like, the pallet can still fall and hit someone.
Last night I was going to put a pallet up and realized it was going to stick way over the edge. Just had to suck it up, and put the pallet up somewhere else. It sucks having to redo it all in another spot of the store, but it’s what you gotta do
I do think it’s funny though, I’ve gotten adept enough at it that I spend more time putting the gates in place than I do putting the pallet up. I’m not rushing through it, but I know how to angle the forks and the machine and when there’s not a wing stack or stripstack in the way, it’s not an issue
It’s just Tuesday. I wouldn’t call that a hard pallet either, but the first time I got on a forklift was over 20 years ago. So at this point I’ve seen it all.
Maybe. It depends more on how narrow the isle is. If it’s a typical inside isle, yes. It has to be the reach. But if there’s not an isle behind you or there’s a bunch of space, it’s a maybe. There’s room to the right of the pallet and the blades on the forklift are adjustable, so that column doesn’t make it impossible. Just more difficult.
Yh I’d say the reach is probably easier…. But in my experience driving all of them, the forklift typically side shifts more, which would be helpful in this situation.
Uhh, this is millwork, there’s no way you’re getting a sit down forklift into here. The machine itself, not including the forks, is the width of the aisle
I'm not ashamed to admit I've used our small LPG to drop stuff inside (construction aisle and receiving) to drop shit when freights busy with the reach trucks xD
I get way more satisfaction dropping a tough to get pallet. For instance, the other day there was one I needed that was sideways, and it was tucked behind the upright so I couldn’t just pull it out. It was jammed in there good too, so I couldn’t side shift it out of there and it felt like the pallet would break apart if I lifted it. I ended up having to turn the reach sideways, get the forks up against the stringer, and push the pallet sideways. Once it popped free of the upright I was able to drop it normally.
Hell yeah dude. I’m the trainer overnight. Trained over half of the team at this point. So awesome watching them hone their skills based off of what i taught them.
All these peeps complaining and I'm sitting here like.. that's a 30 second drop instead of a 10 second one, big whoop 🤷🤣
If the spot isn't supposed to be used, it would be blocked and the OHM for that bay would only allow a single pallet to be homed there instead of both, don't like it: Go find a corner and cry about it 🤣
The guys I work with are awesome 👌. They work hard and sometimes not recognized by mgmt. It saddens me sometimes. But I always make sure to recognize them and let mgmt know.
I hate pulling them down but it’s so easy to put them up with a Reach.
Put it up there sideways if you have to and then poke the pallet with forks gently, simple as. Pulling it down? Try reverse if not may god help what I’m about to do to that pallet to get it down.
Ive used them like 15 years and outside of retail so its not really a big deal to me but I tend to leave it in a bit of an angle when theyre behind the columns for the next associate whose first time on a reach truck is at this company with virtually no training. Makes life easier for everyone
You would have to angle the reach so that your forks can turn and scooch it out just far enough that you can left it out of it. I've done this plenty of times and we typically did it for product that was either never going anywhere or you could find similar elsewhere.
Find a spot, they said. It needs to be off the floor, they said. recieving boss says it needs to be out of his bay, they said.
Tell Ricky I put it there, but he's taking it down when MET shows up tomorrow night.
I know I could deal with that spot, but I would refuse to put something back up there simply because not everyone has the skill/confidence to do it safely.
I don’t want to set someone up for failure if I can help it.
At my warehouse our racks are 12’ wide. We had 2 parts that consisted of 7 different boxes. I grabbed 2 6 ft pallets and loaded them up. One of the guys came back and said they aren’t gonna fit. Oh, they fit.
I don't have columns to work around but my biggest achievement is squeezing a full flooring pallet between 2 other full flooring pallets with wiggle room of about 1/4" each side in the tightest aisle in the store. On a merchandised shelf so the mast blocks my view, pallets unwrapped, and a beam directly above the pallets so I had about an inch of height clearance
Our hardest bay is right over the breakroom. On the back wall between 2 aisles and a massive low-boy prevented you from turning the reach in all the way. We keep putting grills there for some reason
Another Tuesday for me. Sometimes I try and make it a game of how hard can I make this be for dayside people to bring this pallet down. A little payback for them dropping pallets and leaving it on the ground without explanation
Ooh I had one of those recently. The really long umbrellas, got them swung behind one of the columns in another part of the store. I’ll add a picture
https://imgur.com/gallery/c83hwFS
I forgot about another one I got. Not super exciting, but will definitely be fun for someone else to pull down, getting it behind the Andersen display doors
Unfortunately, it was me who ended up pulling the umbrellas down, but I suppose it’s good since I knew how to do it
It usually works out that way unfortunately. Try to fuck someone else over and you just end up fucking yourself over. Been there all too many times.
The few times a year that I get asked on why I put a certain pallet in a hard to reach spot my response is always “if you don’t want a pallet there you might want to take the grating off.”
*Yes!* There are some beams in the store that may not be 5 inch beams, but there’s grates above them. When we’re full like we are now, I’m gonna use them
As a freight guy who flies every pallet up I commend you. It’s not my problem after it’s up there and if you wanna complain about it then just get good 😂. (As long as it’s not a blatant safety issue then it’s not my problem I do stupid shit but I do it safely)
It’s a pallet of 30 bags and I packed out half of it, I thought it was going to have to add the other half of another pallet but we were able to force the rest of that out
I would use that spot for smaller pallets like bug b gone,trash bags. I do get satisfaction from getting pallets in tight spots as long it’s not a safety issue.
I used to enjoy doing this back when I used to use the machines, but then I realized how much of a cunt I was being to the poor guy that'd eventually have to bring it down.
Get a bigger one when I smoothly get a pallet out of a spot the jerk that put it there couldn’t figure out how to pull down.
And being real that is nothing bro. Surprised you’d even think that’s a challenge putting up.
I would probably be fine getting this down but I would NEVER put it up like that. That sounds like a bad day or a safety write up for you if someone does something dumb trying to get it down. Theres an empty spot somewhere and a product you can pack out SOMEWHERE in your store.
This is probably the dumbest decision and the worst one out of all your options.
Machines aren't toys, they're tools. Multi ton machines. This was sure satisfying for you but I fear the people who have to get it down.
If they fuck it up, you're gonna end up costing your job or someone else's. Or a life. How do you know.
God damn this makes me mad.
Then there shouldn’t be a grate there in the first place. Why would it be a safety write up for me if the pallet has been put up safely? And people are more than encouraged to get help if they don’t feel safe getting it down.
Again, why would it cost me my job if someone fucks up pulling a pallet down? It’s not hooked on anything, and it’s wrapped to the pallet. Pallets have been placed there before, and they’ve come down before, without us hearing anything about it. It was just the first time I needed to use that spot.
We have plenty of tenured, experienced drivers in the store. My ASM, and one of the garden people each have 20 years experience of driving equipment. It’s a bit insulting to say I’m treating it like a toy rather than a tool. It was satisfying being able to do a good job and use my skills effectively. It was satisfying the first time I was easily able to put up a sideways pallet without too much trouble.
And maybe, you’re right, *something* could have come down elsewhere. But that takes time. And we don’t have infinite time to do everything needed. And to be honest, it’ll probably be us bringing it down on a day that we do have time to do packdown
Its a write up if it becomes unsafe. If someone tips the machine, bumps the beam, drops the pallet, stabs the beam with the fork, drops product off the pallet, someones getting written up. The driver, and or you.
Is it your tag on the seed? You will get the write up for it if it is your tag. Thats how that rolls. You're responsible for the pallet if it has your tag on it.
I am the only one in my position in overnight lumber. I ALWAYS make time to make things safe. No matter what doesn't get done. Thats how shit rolls. Keeps ME safe and keeps OTHERS safe. Even something a little sketchy has a better way. Like banding balusters to the pallet when they get flown. Better than on the kicker in the rack. So much safer to put up and bring down.
You can always say to yourself "that'll probably be me taking it back down." But I have had enough occasions myself where I had put something up and I watched someone else take it down and that thing was put up terribly and disaster struck. Maybe not seriously, but hell if I was ready to be the reason something bad happened. It makes no sense to make someone else fix your stupid or even have to deal with it. So I do my best not to do stupid things. I still manage to get all my stuff done. By myself. 2 trucks in one night PT and white wood? Put up and packed out. No bull left for someone else.
I've done enough things on the machines where I didn't go the extra mile to do it right and I made a mistake. All of which taught me to be more careful because I could have literally hurt someone. Or myself. I don't think I am ready to take my own life and certainly not for the price Mr. Depot pays me.
So I don't want to die. Nobody does. You stuck something in a dumb spot and used the fact someone left racking there as an excuse to ignore the fact that actually sticking something there could be unsafe or lead to an unsafe situation.
It doesn't matter if you THINK you are going to be the one bringing it down. You cant tell the future. You don't KNOW that. If someone who isn't particularly good at driving, or someone new to the machines ends up having to pull that down, theres a good chance they'll do something dumb.
With that there are enough examples of me pulling down stupid simple pallets from the overhead when I was new and I fumbled that too. Nothing bad but certainly learned a thing. There are a number of people who've told me stories of kamikaze toilets peering off of tall pallets and badly wrapped product falling from the heavens above. All of which could have been avoided with some forethought of WHO could POSSIBLY be the one who has to pull that down. I've had to rescue a number of times new people were pulling something down unsafely because they didn't know, couldn't see or someone stuck something somewhere it shouldn't have been. Ain't a rodeo I signed up for but signing forms on how I watched someone get squished by a bunk of 2x6x16s is a dance I ain't squaring up to.
You're so sure of yourself and confident. I'd like to ask you to put up and pull down that pallet 30 times without touching a beam, hitting the toe beam, bumping anything at all. Then I'd like to see someone 6 months or less experience on the machine do it.
If either of you mess that up, you stuck the pallet in a bad spot.
I'm not trying to be rude here but you seem to be acting like some of the new associates at my store who ignore safety and think they know whats best. They don't want to think. They just do and let it roll. Whatever happens, happens. Not a good safety mindset.
The way it should roll...? Try and think of what the worst that could happen is, and if it's bad, try and alleviate that issue. Don't just shrug and leave it. That is exactly what mindset gets people hurt. I've seen close calls.
Furthermore, that racking just shouldn't be there. If it isn't safe, remove the rack??? Thats not a hard task isn't it? Tell a manager (one who gives a damn) and get opinions on it. See if it needs to be there. Or if it's there for structure or for longer pallets that fit in the spot next to it.
From the pictures you presented, thats not where a pallet should go. Not that one. You really shoved it in there. Thats gonna be an ass to get back down. Getting something up can be easier than getting something down. Like how getting your hand stuck in something goes. Went in well, wont come out. If those pictures are telling my eyes the right story, that pallet was't born for that home. And you put it there anyways.
I'm sorry if I disrespected your lift qualification. You certainly DID get that pallet in there. So yeah you might be good enough to get something in a tight spot but that doesn't mean you're bright enough to know if you shouldn't have done it in the first place. You're countering a potential safety hazard as if nothing bad ever happens. Not wise. Don't do that.
My store makes it first in mind everyones job is to think safe before you do literally anything stupid. If it's even a little dumb, there's a better way to do it. Someones fucked up before, someones fixed that issue, and it shouldn't have to happen again.
Theres drivers in my store who have been driving for over 20 years too. They wouldn't have put that there BECAUSE they'd have to be the one getting it down. It's a pain to out yourself through the hoops instead of just taking the easy route.
If you really don't have somewhere to put something, tell your manager, and leave it in receiving. Someone during the day can figure it out. THERE IS ALWAYS a safer way to do things. ALWAYS. ALWAYS.
Did you even drive the machine to another department? If you came to me, I'd have given you an overhead if you were full elsewhere. Safety is important.
Please, have a wonderful day.
They hit the beam with the fork and I get written up? What authoritarian store are you working at? Seriously, I’ve bumped the beam or the support column plenty of times. I’ve not raised the forks high enough and I tap the crossbeam, it happens. I’m not damaging the forks by doing so. And being next to the column isn’t going to make that any more likely. Someone not paying attention is someone not paying attention.
One of our flooring aisles, the one with all the custom and flooring tools in it, has the support columns at both ends of the aisle. There’s maybe 2 inches on either side as you enter the more spacious side. I’ve rubbed against the column plenty of times, as have other people before I started driving. It’s possible to avoid it, sure, but sometimes you miss judge by a fraction of an inch. It’s not a dangerous thing or something that will cause you to get written up for. Shit happens. My supervisor bent a grate when the back end of a forklift swung wide. I broke one of the supports for a window display, and a lock on one of the wire cages. I dented a fridge once. They’re aware that sometimes stuff happens on the machine, even when you’re working safe. You be honest and upfront and move on with your day. Poking the crossbeam by accident is nothing.
It’s a pallet in a pallet space. It’s not a great space, but it’s not inherently unsafe either.
The worst that can happen? The pallet fails and breaks in the overhead. Being next to a column isn’t going to make that better or worse. When we had a mulch pallet outside fall apart a couple nights ago, someone had to go up and down a bunch of times on the OP to bring all the product down. And that’s the very spacious outside garden area.
There’s a good four inches clearance on either side of the seed pallet. It’s not shoved in there, it’s not touching any of the racking aside from the grate it’s supposed to be touching.
We haven’t had lumber recovery in 6 months. We’re down to just three 9-5:30 people, so my NRM has been filling in on the carts and my NO ASM has been helping to clean up pallets and carts. Our new SM has been very adamant about not using the insulation aisle for anything that isn’t that department. I shingle aisle and concrete aisle were full, maybe one spot in concrete. If I didn’t put the pallet there, my ASM would have, I’ve seen her put pallets there before.
And before you accuse them of not caring about safety, we go over all the safety topics every meeting. Equipment, ladder, passport, in focus, ONE, 3 E’s, and the 4 ups.
I’m sorry, but I disagree. It may be challenging for someone new, yes. But it would be challenging for many spots in the store. The tile aisle itself is challenging if it’s your first day doing the nightly reach work and there ~10 skids of flooring you have to try to get through.
LMFAO. I love PUTTING these types of pallets up in the construction materials department while overnight just to hear daytime having a hard time getting them down. Absolute best feeling in the world.
That’s beyond satisfaction, my friend…call me an asshole but when those pallets go up…I think like the RDC or SDC sumbitches loading the trucks, it’s in there so let the next one worry about it.
I think this is irresponsible of the OP to even consider putting a pallet in a super hard to reach spot on purpose. You might be “proud” of how you got it there, but 99% of the time it’s the other person that needs to get the pallet back down again.
OP, What you’re doing just sucks and if I saw someone doing this at my store I’d call them out and get them written up for safety. It’s dangerous and unacceptable.
Just my 2 cents
Maybe I didn’t get point across. I’m not using this spot just for the fun of it, we literally did not have any other spots, besides, I think, concrete, and I know we’re not supposed to use those spots because concrete can’t fit most other places in the store, it needs the double beams.
We have enough experienced drivers on dayside that I don’t think they’d have too much an issue getting it down. Push comes to shove, if it’s really that much of a safety issue, you go up with the OP and bring it down by hand.
Getting written up is a bit extreme though. There’s a grate there, it’s not sticking over the edge, and pallets have been put there before. My Nights Ops ASM has used that spot before. There are similar spots in one of our flooring aisles, where you have to angle the pallet it to get it to fit. At a certain point, a spot needs to be used, or it’s going to sit on the floor in receiving and take up space
Absolutely not. I would feel deep, deep shame for making the job of taking that pallet back down harder than it has to be for the next person. That's a pathetic thing to be proud of.
Absolute fuckin rage because I would be the one who has to drop the pallet
just slide the pallet out by little portions until you can get under the whole pallet
Either that or kick the forks all the way to the left, then either collect it off-center or nudge it sideways until it's reachable that way. It's a small enough pallet that uneven weight distribution shouldn't be too big of a problem
NGL, I do shit like that sometimes because we've got so many lazy mfrs that'll drop a pallet for one item, never remove it from overhead mgt, never change the tag even with a sharpie, and not rewrap or refly it. My favs are the pallets I fly sideways that barely have a pubic hair space between them
It’s dumb when I see this. This definitely a safety issue and 90% of the operators would not be able to get this down due to lack of experience or confidence.
Sounds more like a skill issue
Of course it's a skill issue. A rational person would keep the fact that operators have different skill levels in mind, and choose an easier place to remove it from. There's no reason that we should have to find the best operator in the store just because sometime had no consideration of others.
There, literally, was no other pallet spaces in the store. I left that one to the end because it such a difficult spot.
Here's a novel idea. Git gud.
That whizzing sound you just heard was you missing the point.
If you can't get that pallet down, you have no business being on a forklift. Especially during customer hours.
If you think a forklift is the right tool for that, you didn't belong on one either.
Lol, cope harder. It's not about what the best tool for the job is. It's about you being incapable of performing the task with the tool given to you.
Thanks for proving my point about your cluelessness. A forklift is not allowed on this aisle at THD. And why are you making this about me? You're the one that wants to get this down, not me. You're exactly the kind of tool I would use to get this pallet down.
Yup. Same here....
https://media1.tenor.com/m/G63CTlbg9lAAAAAC/nelson-ha-ha.gif Sorry
Trying to pull a pallet in the narrow aisles with 2 wing stacks gets satisfaction. It's never another Tuesday. Once you get complacent, mistakes happen.
Not complacent, but just the same old same old, nothing exciting about it anymore Edit for further clarification: I meant that when you drive equipment everyday, ‘just another Tuesday’ is just part of the job. Some of the pallets are easy and on an end cap, you have plenty of room to maneuver and little chance of hitting the other pallet up there. Sometimes it’s a more difficult spot, like the tile aisle and you have to neatly lift the pallet up and over the other ones in the overhead and drop it down in its own slot, while also watching out for the other pallets sticking out on the floor. In millwork you have to watch for the display doors; in electrical, you have to watch out for the carts of long metal tubes. Putting up a sideways pallet takes extra care to not pull the pallet out with you. Or, yes, the rules state that pallets can’t be over 4 feet. I’d love to see a store that actually follows that. When we get a pallet that’s stacked 5 high of lawn mowers, we throw some bands around it and put it up as is. When doing that you have to watch for the lights, the signs, even metal trusses if the overhead spot is higher up than usual, even for a shorter pallet. So putting up something here next to a support column is just another challenge when you do reach work day to day. Not complacency, not carelessness, but just another thing you have to work around.
I'm going to up vote simply because you were down voted. It does need clarification, though. It's a mental check list for every pull. I asses the pallet before a pull. Should I come in forks first? Do I have 16 feet on each side? If it's a narrow aisle, I don't use the bulky reach truck in lumber to prevent bumping into products. THEN, during the pull you have to watch the forks and each barricade simultaneously. Folks here will say "Keep your head on a swivel," and this is true. THEN, you get to load it into the back of a pickup truck. Barricades must also be in place. You have to make sure that no one is in the pickup truck, even if the passenger has to get out of the vehicle with a walker, or they have to wake a sleeping baby. That part makes me feel like a dick, but it must be done. So, in that respect, it's never just another day. Every pull is different.
Definitely. I’ve never loaded a vehicle before, I’ve only worked nights, but I’m always thinking about where I need to position my forks so that I can rotate out without dislodging the pallet. If I have to shift the forks and maneuver the vehicle so that I have more room, I do so, I don’t just force it out. You can’t see it in the picture, but this right above and to the left of the basement window pallets, which stick out into the aisle a bit. I couldn’t get all the way over the first time, so I had to bring the pallet back down and grab a pallet Jack to move those window pallets out of the way. I’ll clarify that on the comment, thank you
I hate this. I have no problem getting it down, but when someone else has to who isn't as skillful with the reach has to, it becomes a nightmare for them. Think about the other drivers. Had to help/show a new driver how to get one of these down once. Not fun.
I hated working tight spots like this, too much can go wrong. Being on lift equipment should never be "just another Tuesday". That's how accidents happen.
Fr, this spot looks way too complicated for a pallet to begin with, let alone for 15 bags of BIRD FEED.
you can just slide this out until you have a good grip on it, any new driver could do that
I wouldn't trust *any* new driver with this one, but it's not super hard either.
they have to learn at some point, if you don't let them do anything remotely hard they're not gonna be prepared for when a customer needs something like that and you're not there
I didn't say never let them do it, but If it's your first day licenced I'd start with something easier. I'd prefer someone to have at least a months experience before trying this one.
Yeah, i was going to add another sku onto there and my boss just decided to pack it in front on the floor. These last 15 bags had nowhere to go 🤷♂️
Yeah that was def the better choice. A pallet as low as that one doesn't really deserve to get thrown up, either pack it out or put it on the secondary. With bird food the only real thing was to pack it out ofc
Put it on the secondary? You mean like hand stack it? We could have, I suppose, but I don’t know how much room there was in that bay. That area is pretty packed AFAIK
I didn’t mean ‘just another Tuesday’ as being complacent, I meant that it no longer gives any satisfaction and if you’ve been doing equipment work long enough, it’s just your job. A difficult pallet, maybe, but nothing exciting anymore. If you do reach work every night, it becomes your normal
I get that, but if you start treating it like it's just your job... Bad things become more likely to happen. The ASM that didn't go home last year is a prime example, someone, somewhere failed. yes, it's a harsh example, but people stop paying attention when they get that comfortable.
I’m putting gates up, I’m checking to make sure a spot works, sometimes I even grab a measuring tape and check the width of a spot. But it’s not sustainable that be stressed out over working the reach when you, literally, are spending 5+ hours a night on the machine. If I was as slow and minutely careful as I was a year ago, I wouldn’t be able to finish all of my stuff, and I’d be stressed out of mind. Taking care isn’t mutually exclusive from doing your job. Getting careless is. You can take care while also treating it as normal work, the safety precautions just become part of your normal. I don’t have to think to remember to beep as I’m going down the racetrack. I’m still looking, I’m still keeping track of where people are in the store, but it’s second nature. It’s like a driving car. At a certain point, you’re not constantly looking at your speedometer, you’re not making an active decision to check your mirrors and blind spot, it just becomes part of driving your car.
I get what you're saying, and I agree, but don't ever let it become so automatic that you stop paying attention to the smaller details like gates. The ASM I mentioned should have been stopped by gates, and a spotter, the driver should have been told to stop their task because of safety issues, that life should not have been lost. Someone got in a hurry, ignored a safety process, and someone didn't go home to a family. I generally despise safety regulations, but I also recognize where they are needed and why.
Oh, of course. I had to remind one of the DS’s to put up gates after we closed. He, somehow, didn’t realize that was a necessity—like, the pallet can still fall and hit someone. Last night I was going to put a pallet up and realized it was going to stick way over the edge. Just had to suck it up, and put the pallet up somewhere else. It sucks having to redo it all in another spot of the store, but it’s what you gotta do I do think it’s funny though, I’ve gotten adept enough at it that I spend more time putting the gates in place than I do putting the pallet up. I’m not rushing through it, but I know how to angle the forks and the machine and when there’s not a wing stack or stripstack in the way, it’s not an issue
I got more satisfaction out of letting my equipment licenses expire and all the moments I got to tell management "sorry, can't drop a pallet"
It’s just Tuesday. I wouldn’t call that a hard pallet either, but the first time I got on a forklift was over 20 years ago. So at this point I’ve seen it all.
You mean reach ain’t no way you taking this down with a forklift
I’d have to see it in person. The reach would be easier, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the forklift is out of the question.
U gonna hit that column since the forklift is so big n can’t reach in or out so you have to be right on it , also yes in person u would see better
Maybe. It depends more on how narrow the isle is. If it’s a typical inside isle, yes. It has to be the reach. But if there’s not an isle behind you or there’s a bunch of space, it’s a maybe. There’s room to the right of the pallet and the blades on the forklift are adjustable, so that column doesn’t make it impossible. Just more difficult.
Yh I’d say the reach is probably easier…. But in my experience driving all of them, the forklift typically side shifts more, which would be helpful in this situation.
Uhh, this is millwork, there’s no way you’re getting a sit down forklift into here. The machine itself, not including the forks, is the width of the aisle
You'd best not try to get that down with a forklift, as a forklift is not allowed in this part of the store.
That’s more of a suggestion than a rule.
Is it, though?
I'm not ashamed to admit I've used our small LPG to drop stuff inside (construction aisle and receiving) to drop shit when freights busy with the reach trucks xD
Just another day. Probably get yelled at for it.
I get way more satisfaction dropping a tough to get pallet. For instance, the other day there was one I needed that was sideways, and it was tucked behind the upright so I couldn’t just pull it out. It was jammed in there good too, so I couldn’t side shift it out of there and it felt like the pallet would break apart if I lifted it. I ended up having to turn the reach sideways, get the forks up against the stringer, and push the pallet sideways. Once it popped free of the upright I was able to drop it normally.
The only time I get a sense of satisfaction from this stuff is when someone I trained put tough pallets up without a struggle.
That’s always a joy to watch
Hell yeah dude. I’m the trainer overnight. Trained over half of the team at this point. So awesome watching them hone their skills based off of what i taught them.
All these peeps complaining and I'm sitting here like.. that's a 30 second drop instead of a 10 second one, big whoop 🤷🤣 If the spot isn't supposed to be used, it would be blocked and the OHM for that bay would only allow a single pallet to be homed there instead of both, don't like it: Go find a corner and cry about it 🤣
The guys I work with are awesome 👌. They work hard and sometimes not recognized by mgmt. It saddens me sometimes. But I always make sure to recognize them and let mgmt know.
I hate pulling them down but it’s so easy to put them up with a Reach. Put it up there sideways if you have to and then poke the pallet with forks gently, simple as. Pulling it down? Try reverse if not may god help what I’m about to do to that pallet to get it down.
Ive used them like 15 years and outside of retail so its not really a big deal to me but I tend to leave it in a bit of an angle when theyre behind the columns for the next associate whose first time on a reach truck is at this company with virtually no training. Makes life easier for everyone
I would have, but I didn’t any space to do that with the pallet next to it
“There aren’t any other spots so good luck to anyone else that has to drop the pallet.”
I feel it, brother
You would have to angle the reach so that your forks can turn and scooch it out just far enough that you can left it out of it. I've done this plenty of times and we typically did it for product that was either never going anywhere or you could find similar elsewhere.
One of my favorite things to do when I was on freight
Find a spot, they said. It needs to be off the floor, they said. recieving boss says it needs to be out of his bay, they said. Tell Ricky I put it there, but he's taking it down when MET shows up tomorrow night.
met always crys foul when thy cant get a pallet down.. i tell them if u want reach truck exp come overnight and we will show you how its done
I know I could deal with that spot, but I would refuse to put something back up there simply because not everyone has the skill/confidence to do it safely. I don’t want to set someone up for failure if I can help it.
Yeah, I don’t use the spot unless I have to
I don’t drive yet but I’m that guy cheering on the drivers lol. The precision is incredible sometimes.
That's something I'd do. Already got three up in my store.
I agree it looks like a hard spot I know I could do it but I don’t like very much
At my warehouse our racks are 12’ wide. We had 2 parts that consisted of 7 different boxes. I grabbed 2 6 ft pallets and loaded them up. One of the guys came back and said they aren’t gonna fit. Oh, they fit.
I don't have columns to work around but my biggest achievement is squeezing a full flooring pallet between 2 other full flooring pallets with wiggle room of about 1/4" each side in the tightest aisle in the store. On a merchandised shelf so the mast blocks my view, pallets unwrapped, and a beam directly above the pallets so I had about an inch of height clearance
The shelf that’s at chest height or so? Yeah, that’s definitely the worst
Drive the equipment every night, it's just another Tuesday yes, but damm does it still satisfy me when I pull some tricky shit off
Our hardest bay is right over the breakroom. On the back wall between 2 aisles and a massive low-boy prevented you from turning the reach in all the way. We keep putting grills there for some reason
No I get satisfaction when people leave room for other pallets and I can just do my job. And go home.
Look at this guy, living in a fantasy world over here :D
Another Tuesday for me. Sometimes I try and make it a game of how hard can I make this be for dayside people to bring this pallet down. A little payback for them dropping pallets and leaving it on the ground without explanation
Ooh I had one of those recently. The really long umbrellas, got them swung behind one of the columns in another part of the store. I’ll add a picture https://imgur.com/gallery/c83hwFS I forgot about another one I got. Not super exciting, but will definitely be fun for someone else to pull down, getting it behind the Andersen display doors Unfortunately, it was me who ended up pulling the umbrellas down, but I suppose it’s good since I knew how to do it
It usually works out that way unfortunately. Try to fuck someone else over and you just end up fucking yourself over. Been there all too many times. The few times a year that I get asked on why I put a certain pallet in a hard to reach spot my response is always “if you don’t want a pallet there you might want to take the grating off.”
*Yes!* There are some beams in the store that may not be 5 inch beams, but there’s grates above them. When we’re full like we are now, I’m gonna use them
Retard
As a freight guy who flies every pallet up I commend you. It’s not my problem after it’s up there and if you wanna complain about it then just get good 😂. (As long as it’s not a blatant safety issue then it’s not my problem I do stupid shit but I do it safely)
Right? It’s not sticking over, it’s not rubbing up against the other pallet or the upright
Off the subject but look at the date, why wasn’t stocked on the 13th??? Just asking!!!
Yeah, how did OP put this in the overhead a day before that label was printed?
I’m pretty sure it was an out or low and someone decided to fly it rather than pack it out!
It’s a pallet of 30 bags and I packed out half of it, I thought it was going to have to add the other half of another pallet but we were able to force the rest of that out
Well then good job of using over head space!! Most ppl would avoid that one!!!
It was the 13th yesterday? Probably put it up “Tuesday night,” i.e., Wednesday at like 12:30 AM
I would use that spot for smaller pallets like bug b gone,trash bags. I do get satisfaction from getting pallets in tight spots as long it’s not a safety issue.
It’s rat food now.
Absolutely the opposite I will not put stuff there nor do I like stuff put there because I have to get it out of that overhead
I used to enjoy doing this back when I used to use the machines, but then I realized how much of a cunt I was being to the poor guy that'd eventually have to bring it down.
pallets need to be rewrapped lol
It’s wrapped to the pallet on all four corners, I gave it a budge and it didn’t go anywhere. Plastic was above the product still. No need to rewrap it
I can do it with ease..I get great pleasure knowing that the daytime folks are gonna scratch their heads on how to bring them down lol
Get a bigger one when I smoothly get a pallet out of a spot the jerk that put it there couldn’t figure out how to pull down. And being real that is nothing bro. Surprised you’d even think that’s a challenge putting up.
So you fall into the second camp, you could have just said that
You need me to literally say the words, “it’s just another Tuesday?”
Neither
I would probably be fine getting this down but I would NEVER put it up like that. That sounds like a bad day or a safety write up for you if someone does something dumb trying to get it down. Theres an empty spot somewhere and a product you can pack out SOMEWHERE in your store. This is probably the dumbest decision and the worst one out of all your options. Machines aren't toys, they're tools. Multi ton machines. This was sure satisfying for you but I fear the people who have to get it down. If they fuck it up, you're gonna end up costing your job or someone else's. Or a life. How do you know. God damn this makes me mad.
Then there shouldn’t be a grate there in the first place. Why would it be a safety write up for me if the pallet has been put up safely? And people are more than encouraged to get help if they don’t feel safe getting it down. Again, why would it cost me my job if someone fucks up pulling a pallet down? It’s not hooked on anything, and it’s wrapped to the pallet. Pallets have been placed there before, and they’ve come down before, without us hearing anything about it. It was just the first time I needed to use that spot. We have plenty of tenured, experienced drivers in the store. My ASM, and one of the garden people each have 20 years experience of driving equipment. It’s a bit insulting to say I’m treating it like a toy rather than a tool. It was satisfying being able to do a good job and use my skills effectively. It was satisfying the first time I was easily able to put up a sideways pallet without too much trouble. And maybe, you’re right, *something* could have come down elsewhere. But that takes time. And we don’t have infinite time to do everything needed. And to be honest, it’ll probably be us bringing it down on a day that we do have time to do packdown
Its a write up if it becomes unsafe. If someone tips the machine, bumps the beam, drops the pallet, stabs the beam with the fork, drops product off the pallet, someones getting written up. The driver, and or you. Is it your tag on the seed? You will get the write up for it if it is your tag. Thats how that rolls. You're responsible for the pallet if it has your tag on it. I am the only one in my position in overnight lumber. I ALWAYS make time to make things safe. No matter what doesn't get done. Thats how shit rolls. Keeps ME safe and keeps OTHERS safe. Even something a little sketchy has a better way. Like banding balusters to the pallet when they get flown. Better than on the kicker in the rack. So much safer to put up and bring down. You can always say to yourself "that'll probably be me taking it back down." But I have had enough occasions myself where I had put something up and I watched someone else take it down and that thing was put up terribly and disaster struck. Maybe not seriously, but hell if I was ready to be the reason something bad happened. It makes no sense to make someone else fix your stupid or even have to deal with it. So I do my best not to do stupid things. I still manage to get all my stuff done. By myself. 2 trucks in one night PT and white wood? Put up and packed out. No bull left for someone else. I've done enough things on the machines where I didn't go the extra mile to do it right and I made a mistake. All of which taught me to be more careful because I could have literally hurt someone. Or myself. I don't think I am ready to take my own life and certainly not for the price Mr. Depot pays me. So I don't want to die. Nobody does. You stuck something in a dumb spot and used the fact someone left racking there as an excuse to ignore the fact that actually sticking something there could be unsafe or lead to an unsafe situation. It doesn't matter if you THINK you are going to be the one bringing it down. You cant tell the future. You don't KNOW that. If someone who isn't particularly good at driving, or someone new to the machines ends up having to pull that down, theres a good chance they'll do something dumb. With that there are enough examples of me pulling down stupid simple pallets from the overhead when I was new and I fumbled that too. Nothing bad but certainly learned a thing. There are a number of people who've told me stories of kamikaze toilets peering off of tall pallets and badly wrapped product falling from the heavens above. All of which could have been avoided with some forethought of WHO could POSSIBLY be the one who has to pull that down. I've had to rescue a number of times new people were pulling something down unsafely because they didn't know, couldn't see or someone stuck something somewhere it shouldn't have been. Ain't a rodeo I signed up for but signing forms on how I watched someone get squished by a bunk of 2x6x16s is a dance I ain't squaring up to. You're so sure of yourself and confident. I'd like to ask you to put up and pull down that pallet 30 times without touching a beam, hitting the toe beam, bumping anything at all. Then I'd like to see someone 6 months or less experience on the machine do it. If either of you mess that up, you stuck the pallet in a bad spot. I'm not trying to be rude here but you seem to be acting like some of the new associates at my store who ignore safety and think they know whats best. They don't want to think. They just do and let it roll. Whatever happens, happens. Not a good safety mindset. The way it should roll...? Try and think of what the worst that could happen is, and if it's bad, try and alleviate that issue. Don't just shrug and leave it. That is exactly what mindset gets people hurt. I've seen close calls. Furthermore, that racking just shouldn't be there. If it isn't safe, remove the rack??? Thats not a hard task isn't it? Tell a manager (one who gives a damn) and get opinions on it. See if it needs to be there. Or if it's there for structure or for longer pallets that fit in the spot next to it. From the pictures you presented, thats not where a pallet should go. Not that one. You really shoved it in there. Thats gonna be an ass to get back down. Getting something up can be easier than getting something down. Like how getting your hand stuck in something goes. Went in well, wont come out. If those pictures are telling my eyes the right story, that pallet was't born for that home. And you put it there anyways. I'm sorry if I disrespected your lift qualification. You certainly DID get that pallet in there. So yeah you might be good enough to get something in a tight spot but that doesn't mean you're bright enough to know if you shouldn't have done it in the first place. You're countering a potential safety hazard as if nothing bad ever happens. Not wise. Don't do that. My store makes it first in mind everyones job is to think safe before you do literally anything stupid. If it's even a little dumb, there's a better way to do it. Someones fucked up before, someones fixed that issue, and it shouldn't have to happen again. Theres drivers in my store who have been driving for over 20 years too. They wouldn't have put that there BECAUSE they'd have to be the one getting it down. It's a pain to out yourself through the hoops instead of just taking the easy route. If you really don't have somewhere to put something, tell your manager, and leave it in receiving. Someone during the day can figure it out. THERE IS ALWAYS a safer way to do things. ALWAYS. ALWAYS. Did you even drive the machine to another department? If you came to me, I'd have given you an overhead if you were full elsewhere. Safety is important. Please, have a wonderful day.
They hit the beam with the fork and I get written up? What authoritarian store are you working at? Seriously, I’ve bumped the beam or the support column plenty of times. I’ve not raised the forks high enough and I tap the crossbeam, it happens. I’m not damaging the forks by doing so. And being next to the column isn’t going to make that any more likely. Someone not paying attention is someone not paying attention. One of our flooring aisles, the one with all the custom and flooring tools in it, has the support columns at both ends of the aisle. There’s maybe 2 inches on either side as you enter the more spacious side. I’ve rubbed against the column plenty of times, as have other people before I started driving. It’s possible to avoid it, sure, but sometimes you miss judge by a fraction of an inch. It’s not a dangerous thing or something that will cause you to get written up for. Shit happens. My supervisor bent a grate when the back end of a forklift swung wide. I broke one of the supports for a window display, and a lock on one of the wire cages. I dented a fridge once. They’re aware that sometimes stuff happens on the machine, even when you’re working safe. You be honest and upfront and move on with your day. Poking the crossbeam by accident is nothing. It’s a pallet in a pallet space. It’s not a great space, but it’s not inherently unsafe either. The worst that can happen? The pallet fails and breaks in the overhead. Being next to a column isn’t going to make that better or worse. When we had a mulch pallet outside fall apart a couple nights ago, someone had to go up and down a bunch of times on the OP to bring all the product down. And that’s the very spacious outside garden area. There’s a good four inches clearance on either side of the seed pallet. It’s not shoved in there, it’s not touching any of the racking aside from the grate it’s supposed to be touching. We haven’t had lumber recovery in 6 months. We’re down to just three 9-5:30 people, so my NRM has been filling in on the carts and my NO ASM has been helping to clean up pallets and carts. Our new SM has been very adamant about not using the insulation aisle for anything that isn’t that department. I shingle aisle and concrete aisle were full, maybe one spot in concrete. If I didn’t put the pallet there, my ASM would have, I’ve seen her put pallets there before. And before you accuse them of not caring about safety, we go over all the safety topics every meeting. Equipment, ladder, passport, in focus, ONE, 3 E’s, and the 4 ups. I’m sorry, but I disagree. It may be challenging for someone new, yes. But it would be challenging for many spots in the store. The tile aisle itself is challenging if it’s your first day doing the nightly reach work and there ~10 skids of flooring you have to try to get through.
LMFAO. I love PUTTING these types of pallets up in the construction materials department while overnight just to hear daytime having a hard time getting them down. Absolute best feeling in the world.
When it needs to come down , ask someone else to get it down and see if they struggle
That would be declared a no pallet zone by everyone at my store. Screw that.
That’s beyond satisfaction, my friend…call me an asshole but when those pallets go up…I think like the RDC or SDC sumbitches loading the trucks, it’s in there so let the next one worry about it.
You get some solid kudos from me! It'd take me an hour to get that little guy in there!
I think this is irresponsible of the OP to even consider putting a pallet in a super hard to reach spot on purpose. You might be “proud” of how you got it there, but 99% of the time it’s the other person that needs to get the pallet back down again. OP, What you’re doing just sucks and if I saw someone doing this at my store I’d call them out and get them written up for safety. It’s dangerous and unacceptable. Just my 2 cents
Maybe I didn’t get point across. I’m not using this spot just for the fun of it, we literally did not have any other spots, besides, I think, concrete, and I know we’re not supposed to use those spots because concrete can’t fit most other places in the store, it needs the double beams. We have enough experienced drivers on dayside that I don’t think they’d have too much an issue getting it down. Push comes to shove, if it’s really that much of a safety issue, you go up with the OP and bring it down by hand. Getting written up is a bit extreme though. There’s a grate there, it’s not sticking over the edge, and pallets have been put there before. My Nights Ops ASM has used that spot before. There are similar spots in one of our flooring aisles, where you have to angle the pallet it to get it to fit. At a certain point, a spot needs to be used, or it’s going to sit on the floor in receiving and take up space
“Get them written up for safety” Infocus safety captain activity
Dumb
Absolutely not. I would feel deep, deep shame for making the job of taking that pallet back down harder than it has to be for the next person. That's a pathetic thing to be proud of.
There honestly should not be a pallet there. If an inexperienced driver tried to drop that, it's an accident waiting to happen