The Crux of the Matter
When we agreed to do deliveries for Home Depot there were rules and guidelines for what we could do and what we were supposed to do. What happened is THD employees asked for services to be performed outside of the guidelines. Repeatedly. Also they repeatedly refused to fill out basic paperwork that at the time was necessary for us to complete our job in a timely and efficient manner. We were forced to find information and spend time doing work that was supposed to be completed.
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They (THD management) were repeatedly notified of this and it still continued. As I had no proper guidelines for pricing for this service, I had no way to bill for it at that time. It was never my intention to provide these services for free. When we followed proper THD procedures and arrived at a location to pick up freight time and time again, we had to wait (at our expense) for paperwork such as correct phone numbers, correct addresses, correct directions (this was not isolated, it was a pattern that happened at all locations). If we did not wait or try to locate the information ourselves, it was counted against us by supervisors who were not trained on correct procedures themselves.
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THD employees in Upstate SC nd Western NC were trained to believe they were allowed 30 minutes of our time for free.
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We were required to load full truckloads of merchandise and find directions and information within 30 minutes at their location or they ( THD management) would complain about our service. Not all locations followed the same pattern and not all locations violated the rules the same way. That left us accommodating different procedures everywhere(more delay costs). The labor issue involves several parts and all stores misinterpreting the courier rule as “driver loads their own truck”. The original agreement was for 1 man deliveries that take up no more than 4’ x 8’ space ( this is directly from the Official HD paperwork). The original agreement was for cargo vans or pick up trucks (a significantly lower expense than the 24’ box trucks we were later demanded to use by THD management). At no time did anyone offer to compensate for these additional expenses. However I did continually notify THD that my expenses were far more than projected andI requested compliance and cooperation between stores to coordinate these expenses.
I was dismissed on several occasions (documented) in these requests. One issue was a difficult delivery classification to cover the time expense at jobsites on very large orders. This was to cover 1 hour times at delivery site with large orders or unusual requests. No payment ever covered the labor at THD locations if it was under 30 minutes, and if we asked it was refused vigorously with the statement “we are allowed 30 minutes”. At some point a morally, legally, and ethically minded person will realize the error in that statement and make a proper restitution.
A simple comparison test to prove the issue.
Lawnmower
- Courier A arrives atTHD to pick up a lawn mower (it is on a pallet ). The store employee loads lawnmower on his truck for him provides paperwork and he makes delivery.
- Courier B arrives at THDto pick up a lawnmower (it is loose). The driver loads the lawnmower himself. And is given the paperwork and he makes delivery.
Courier B charges ½ the cost of Carrier A.
Truckload of windows
- Courier A arrives at THD to pick up windows (palletized). The store employee loads windows on truck with a forklift. The driver makes delivery by sitting the palletized windows on ground with a forklift.
- Courier B arrives at THD to pick up windows (loose). The driver ( and helper now) load windows by hand (sometimes with THD help, sometimes alone). Spend time checking the order and then leave to make delivery. There the driver unloads truck by hand (sometimes they have help and sometimes they do not).
- Courier B charges
Other Considerations
- Courier A uses an all-terrain forklift, delivers by pallet only, and does not carry material by hand, needs no helper
- Courier B has hands, and must unload almost all orders loose. On large items must have helper. Also, they must always carry it a distance from where the truck is parked.
- The letter of the agreement for Courier B covered 1 man small deliveries in small trucks, not the large 2 man deliveries that were required every day.
"Everyone should always do the right thing and if you don’t know the answer ask someone"
THD HDT1540(Ethics Code reference whole book)/ HDT3263(reference whole guide) HDT Participant guide class#1358 reference pg.19