199 replies to this topic

[loudfan]

From the "I can't believe this is actually going to be a TV show" files...

A&E presents the new original real-life series “Shipping Wars,” which follows six independent shippers who have discovered that fortunes can be made transporting items that traditional carriers won’t touch. The 10-episode half-hour series begins with back-to-back episodes Tuesday, January 10 at 9PM and 9:30PM ET/PT.
Each episode of “Shipping Wars” dives into the cutthroat world of these heavy-duty movers as they battle for the chance to transport the unshippable. The competition begins with uShip, the world’s largest online auction house for independent truckers. Every day, thousands of shipments are put up for auction. The battle is fierce as the movers have only minutes to bid, and the lowest bidder gets the load.
From oversized loads and bulky packages to the truly bizarre, these shippers will haul anything if the price is right. The high-stakes race is on as they set out to deliver the loads in time, and any setback can cost big bucks.

[lrdmordain]

I have to say, I really liked both episodes. Seeing just what shippinh items like that takes was interesting, not to mention the items themselves.

I didn't dislike any of the shippers we saw tonight either, which was great. Roy had a bit of a hard ass in him but it's tempered by experience and he does seem like a good enough guy, just one who takes his job really seriously.

The husband and wife team look to be the "they fight but they love each other" pairing ala Brandi and Jarrod in Storage Wars.

All in all it has earned a slot into my DVR.

[trojan69]

Cry and cry poor mouth, yet they walk away with hundreds???? Moan and groan about a $500 pay boost for a profit over $7K?

The best, however, was dude crying about the old man engaging him about the old tv. Allll upset that he was costing him money and wouldn't let him do his job. Then, when he drops the shipment, who the heck takes time to ask what the recipient does with the TV?

The edit monkeys either have it in for this tool, or they best get tighter in their edits.

The series definitely has potential, though.

[Writing Wrongs]

I love Roy. He cracks me up.

[tealcandtrip]

The best, however, was dude crying about the old man engaging him about the old tv. Allll upset that he was costing him money and wouldn't let him do his job. Then, when he drops the shipment, who the heck takes time to ask what the recipient does with the TV?

I think that's where they are attempting (and failing) to get the history aspect a la Pawn Stars or the last third of Storage Wars. It doesn't really work in the format.

Despite that, I thought it was kind of interesting. It's one of those services you never think about. How will they pack this? When is it worth it to make a detour? What are the limitations (physical, legal, etc)? I'll DVR it for a few episodes at least. None of the regulars were too annoying. I like them commenting on each other.

[The Deej]

Roy had a bit of a hard ass in him but it's tempered by experience and he does seem like a good enough guy

Just the fact that he brings his cat with him impressed me. Plus he's easy on the eyes in an old biker way.

The best, however, was dude crying about the old man engaging him about the old tv.

During the start of the shipping process I can understand his reluctance to stay around and chat when he lost an entire day loading the phone booth.

[patroo]

Roy had a bit of a hard ass in him but it's tempered by experience and he does seem like a good enough guy

Just the fact that he brings his cat with him impressed me. Plus he's easy on the eyes in an old biker way.

Ditto.

But the arrant stupidity present with these individuals, either in reality or courtesy of the editing monkeys, makes me reluctant to get very interested in this show. Who books a haul without knowing the size and weight of the object? If the weight was misrepresented, that is a possible scenario (those sailboats have a lot of weight in their keels), but hoping to pick up something that will fit inside of a miniscule space in your trailer...nobody's that idiotic.

Hauling the Burger Family unwrapped and not showing them being secured in the trailer gives one a false impression. Since a Burger Family is worth a lot in good condition, taking the chance of rubs, scratches, dings, on the road, is foolish.

Doing this kind of job without good equipment that is registered, insured, and suitable for the task - you might as well call it "Three Stooges Moving Company."

[merlinmerry]

Roy...has my hair. I have to like him.

[walnutqueen]

Roy...has my hair. I have to like him.

merlinmerry - guess that means I have to lke you, too! ;)

My like for Roy grew last night when I found out he'd raised his son by himself and was so proud of him graduating. What sealed the deal for me was when he said:

You hit my cat, you hurt my cat, you're not safe anywhere in the world.

My sentiments, exactly.

[BengalKitty]

My husband is an independent truck driver. And even though he drives for a national company, he deals with the "bidding" aspect of the job like the show details. Only instead of drivers bidding, it's the company's independent agents. They low bid the jobs then get mad when none of the drivers are interested. Most drivers are looking for at least $2/mile, more if there are permits required.

Cry and cry poor mouth, yet they walk away with hundreds???? Moan and groan about a $500 pay boost for a profit over $7K?

You never know when you will get your next haul. EVERY dollar counts, especially when you are paying for your own equipment, fuel, repairs, insurance, paperwork, etc.

[Lastkidpicked]

Roy had a bit of a hard ass in him but it's tempered by experience and he does seem like a good enough guy.

Roy is running this like a business, and he's doing it right. And he is correct that people like the kid, who run around with no permits or insurance are ruining the rates for the professionals.

HOWEVER,

One of the more fun things I do is set up stage lighting and we deal with shipments all the time. When somebody like Roy comes in and starts barking orders and calling everybody morons and idiots, and demanding we hurry up, that's when we all go for a long lunch and let him deal with loading it up himself.

[bluegirl547]

Interesting show, but the clearly-staged talking heads KILLED it for me. You could almost see the shipper's eyes moving back and forth as they struggled to read the zinger-filled cue cards.

[CoyoteBlue]

Roy is running this like a business, and he's doing it right. And he is correct that people like the kid, who run around with no permits or insurance are ruining the rates for the professionals.

Was there actually a bid this last show where the low bid didn't actually win and the implication is that the customer looked at their profiles/histories/ratings and chose the more experienced shipper?

[ZoloftBlob]

Was there actually a bid this last show where the low bid didn't actually win and the implication is that the customer looked at their profiles/histories/ratings and chose the more experienced shipper?

Yes there was. Honestly, I don't find this show very interesting. There's only so much mileage to be gained from "Look at the fucked up shit being shipped" and "X is an idiot for bidding too low". One thing I noticed is that these shippers are never in the same room together, which makes their jibes and jokes and commentary kinda sad. I mean, there's a good possiblity none of these people know each other and these relationships are all completely staged. So the bantering comes off fake and.... you know what? Trucking (and thats what this show is about after all is said and done) isn't that interesting of a job.

[Macthekat]

Just the fact that he brings his cat with him impressed me. Plus he's easy on the eyes in an old biker way.

Scoot on over so I can be on the Roy love-truck, too. Any guy who regularly travels with his cat gets big kudos from me. He seemed like such a softie when he said he must be dirty when the cat was bathing his hand. Plus, it doesn't hurt that his cat looks an awful lot like my cat, Mac.

I'm so glad Cowgirl (Jennifer?) successfully moved the two bulls because I was worried when she asked the shipper basically if they could stay in the trailer for 3 days. ??? I thought they wouldn't make it for sure, but I'm glad to know there are "bull motels" out there for just such cases when livestock ships cross-country. I was scratching my head over her 'riding' one of the bulls. Huh? So glad he didn't do anything but stand there with her on his back. Nice, bull, good boy!

[SilverSand]

Macthecat, It looks like she was riding a dairy cow, not one of the bulls she was transporting.

I will jump on the Roy bandwagon too. Any guy who loves his cat, has her as his co-pilot, and isn't embarrassed to say so gets lots of points in my book. It's very sweet.

[patroo]

I'm so glad Cowgirl (Jennifer?) successfully moved the two bulls because I was worried when she asked the shipper basically if they could stay in the trailer for 3 days. ??? I thought they wouldn't make it for sure, but I'm glad to know there are "bull motels" out there for just such cases when livestock ships cross-country. I was scratching my head over her 'riding' one of the bulls. Huh? So glad he didn't do anything but stand there with her on his back. Nice, bull, good boy!

Yes, Jennifer was sitting on a Brown Swiss dairy cow or crossbred when she did her ride.

You can use your stock trailer as temporary stabling on a long haul. You should have some bedding down for the comfort of the stock, and they'll just get comfortable as they would in a stall. The bedding might be pretty sloppy by the end of the trip in the case of the bulls, but it's much safer to leave them confined in their safe trailer than to trust to random overnight stabling. Those were both small young bulls, and the trailer was big enough. Put a lock on the door and park where you can keep an eye on them, or sleep in the truck.

There are also safety issues with green/novice handlers and getting stock loaded and unloaded. Those bulls weren't high value, or they wouldn't have been entrusted to her to ship, but I would have told her to leave them in the trailer until she got to her destination. No issues with escapes, falls, other drama. Just feed and water them inside.

So far the only thing I like about this show is Roy's cat.

[Macthekat]

LOL, thank goodness you all set me straight about Jennifer sitting on a dairy cow instead of a bull. Maybe I should pay closer attention when I'm watching tv and folding clothes.

patroo, thanks for sharing another way to transport those bulls, which sounds a lot safer for them & Jennifer. Sounds like maybe those baby bulls were lucky to arrive alive and well...

[Lastkidpicked]

I was AMAZED that the buyer was okay cutting the top off his train caboose. And at the end, I was watching to see where he had the top of the caboose loaded on the truck but he didn't even bring the top with him!
There must have been a lot of discussion with the buyer that we didn't see.

[Phane00]

Well, that caboose was in really awful shape anyway. I think the buyer was already making plans on modifications to it the moment he bought it. He's probably going to have to replace the entire roof anyway since he's making it for his kids to play with.

Jenn seems to handle mostly live cargo. Bulls, camels, and horses seem to be her forte. So why does she always seem surprised that she has to stop occasionally and let the animals out for a walk?

[patroo]

For what new owner spent on the caboose and its delivery, he could have built a brand new faux caboose at his location. As it was, it was already beat to smithereens, roofless, and lacked the trucks underneath. After restoration, the only thing original is going to be the grab handle on the back!

If hauled intact, the costs would have gone up even more with the need for more permits, pilot cars, and so forth.

I'd love to have my own caboose, but it is darn sure going to come with all the parts, even if it needs restoration. When I win the lottery, I'll start looking.

[LoneHaranguer]

If the owner had just built his own caboose, he wouldn't be able to brag about shipping the thing all the way from (wherever it was) and restoring it or tell people about who it used to belong to and where it ran.

[hjmugillecuty]

Last night's first episode really showed the perils of being an independent shipper. Both Roy and Jarrett ended up with losses, especially with Roy having to buy a new trailer. No wonder he was so ticked off when it came time to unload.

[Phane00]

I actually felt bad about Roy's situation because the guy selling the truck lied about the weight and dimensions. Not to mention, that the dam thing wouldn't start.

Still, he proably should have gotten a new trailer before he took the gig in the first place. That old one looked a bit rough.

I did like that he stuck to his mantra and had the client pay him and sign the forms before off loading the truck. But he totally killed his customer rating by snapping at them

[Lastkidpicked]

Roy's customer service skills might rub people the wrong way, including me. But look at some of the things he says. Things like, "I promised to deliver the truck, so I'm going to do it." And "This is going to cost me but I gave my word to the customer so I will figure it out."

My take on Roy: Grouchy, short tempered, hard to get along with. And the best damn neighbor you would ever have.

[lrdmordain]

That is actually exactly why I like Roy. He may have a bit of a rough edge when it comes to customer interactions but to him the shipment gets through no matter what and that is exactly what everyone should want in a shipper.

I do feel like we havent been given enough exposure to the husband and wife team to really get any sort of read on them. Here's hoping that changes soon.

[DoctorDogBoy]

I didn't much care for a recent episode, mostly because I was on it. They did a very "Creative" editing job with it. I tried to help pull out some guinea pigs and they made me look like a lech. They continued filming after delivery and edited out the fact I wasn't sure if a credit card was worthwhile (we'd just had it stolen) and wrote a check.

All for guinea pigs we were told the shipping had been paid for.

It was just horrible.

Oh and they had the audacity to doubt my wife had the flu.

What jerks.

[merlinmerry]

DoctorDogBoy - did the guinea pigs come through okay? They did look super cute. (I have always loved guinea pigs - they remind me of Star Trek tribbles, the most totally harmless little critters imaginable.)

I did not think that you came across as a lech. Driver girl just wouldn't get her butt out of the way and let you help. Like most "reality" shows, this one does take liberties with the truth. I hope you got the shipping cost thing straightened out - and expressed your displeasure with the shipping company.

Edited by merlinmerry, Feb 3, 2012 @ 2:34 AM.

[lmiller42]

Briefly <delurking>:
DoctorDogBoy, I'm not sure there's any way they could portray you as looking worse than Jennifer. She's barely competent and isn't nearly as self sufficient as someone in that business should be. (Can anyone picture her getting that Tavern on the Green van to Florida like Roy did? Or getting that giant head sculpture - that I reallyreallylove - up the stairs?) Thanks for the explanation about the check - they did make it look a little bit like you knew you were over your limit but wanted to try to get away with it. It did seem obvious that the other party had stiffed you on the shipping, and not that you were trying to cheat the driver.

Roy is like the doctor with zero bedside manner, but he knows what's wrong with you. I don't like him, but I sort of get him, and I would hire him in a heartbeat to move my stuff over idiots like Jarrett or Jennifer. I want to like Jarrett, but there's just no one home there.
</delurk>

[Lastkidpicked]

I agree with you on Jarrett and Jennifer, and I can totally understand the frustration that the older guys have with them, because I see it all the time in my business.

A rookie like Jarrett doesn't understand his expenses, so he underbids the job. That takes a load away from Roy. Then Jarett delivers the load and is forced to take shortcuts and still loses money. Now the customer is upset, Jarrett lost money, and Roy lost out on a load. A bad deal for everybody.