When we were brainstorming topics for upcoming blog posts, one of my team members casually mentioned the topic of “loading trucks.” As soon as she said it, I almost jumped out of my chair! If you know me you will not be surprised that this was the case! See, I love loading trucks. I love driving our trucks. I love everything about our trucks. And you don’t have to know me for very long to learn that. I’ll keep this blog focused on loading the trucks. But stay tuned, it’s only a matter of time before I write about driving trucks, polishing trucks, or even the proper way to back a truck into a loading dock…
One of the many things CLE is known for is our red road cases. Those road cases typically have 4 or more casters on them (yes those casters are NON-marking casters so that your tile floors don’t get damaged). Those cases can weigh anywhere from 25 pounds up to hundreds of pounds (the heaviest cases tend to be cabling).
Do you remember the game Tetris? It was a game that I used to play on the original Nintendo system. In the game, you had predefined shapes which you could turn in a 360 degree rotation. The goal was to complete the rows (left and right) which would disappear when you did so and would in turn keep the rows from building too high and hitting the top (if you hit the top you lost). If you are younger than me and have no idea what I’m talking about, or if you’re my age and just want a fun way to spend your afternoon, here is an online version of the classic game: http://tetris.com/play-tetris/
Loading a CLE truck is really no different. Our cases are all designed to fit in a truck (at least in one direction). A truck can be 2 different widths (inside dimension), 100” and 93”. Most trucks these days are 100”. Our cases are all designed to fit in the truck width in the following ways:
- 4 cases across (quarter pack)
- 3 cases across (third pack)
- 2 cases across (half pack)
Our cases dimensions are the following (at least the length or width is one of these dimensions):
- 22.5”x45” (can go either quarter or half pack)
- 22.5”x30” (can go either quarter or third pack)
- 30”x45” (can go either third or half pack)
- 30”x30” (third pack only)
So as you can see we are really just playing a game of Tetris to load the truck. That truck will sometimes be loaded from front to back floor to ceiling. The last item that we have to be careful of is the weight distribution in the trailer. We have to be careful of how much weight is on each axle of the truck because each state has different rules that you have to comply with, this even changes during the winter on some roads.
So I’ll wrap things up by saying I love loading trucks! It’s a game that I tend to play in my head to see how efficient I can be to get everything to fit in the truck from a size and weight standpoint. But even more importantly to you, I hope you realize that even the small things matter to CLE. We put a lot of thought into every aspect of your event, even something that is not always thought of, loading trucks!
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