Where is the front and back of items on a truck.

When unloading or loading a truck what is considered the front and back or an item such as road case or set cart? Definitely a safety issues when you need direction. This question of refers to while it is still on the truck.
Hello @AlwaysLearning While you're waiting for the rest of the world to wake up and recover from the excesses of Christmas, I'll ask a few queries / variables in no particular order:
- Is the truck parked on a level surface; level both cab to rear door(s) and side to side?
- Are all of the loads on casters?
- Do all of the loads have handles and / or grip-able grips and on how many sides?
- Are you unloading through a rear door(s) or a side door?
- How heavy is each load item, are they all one person loads or will you require multiple / coordinated workers to counter gravity; both rolling and elevating?
- Are all loads on the truck bed, opposed to stored overhead on load bars?
- If the loads are on casters, are all casters straight, all swivels or a mix of swivels on one end and straights on the other OR two straights in the centre with one swivel centred on either end?
There's a few points to ponder to get things "rolling" (pardon the pun) I'm sure others will post if they haven;t while I;m typing.
SEASON'S BEST!!!
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
When unloading or loading a truck what is considered the front and back or an item such as road case or set cart? Definitely a safety issues when you need direction. This question of refers to while it is still on the truck.

Front and back are pretty standard terms. Front of any vehicle is the direction it is driven (excepting when backing up, obviously), has the engine (almost always), drivers cab, steerable wheels, etc.,.. thus any truck box would follow the same terminology as used for the vehicle, front of the box is towards where the cab Is located. When your Dad/Mom told to “ride up front” you knew at any early age, what they meant. Nothing’s changed,

Road cases can be anything as they can be built in any desired fashion. If a case needs to be located in a part of the box, that’s the job of the person calling the load. Cases that need to go in a certain way need to be clearly marked as such.

Just curious as to the reason for the question. Is Front and Back not understood by some folks ?.
 
There are at least 4 sides to every case....

In our shop all cases, racks and carts have a label. If the worker can read (??) the label, he/she/they are pushing from the correct side. The front of any rack is the side the mounting rails are on. The front of any cart is marked and usually we have yellow arrow stickers showing "push this way". It's amazing how many hands cannot follow symbols, let alone written instructions. All our racks, for example, are marked as stage left or stage right, and work trunks are similarly marked. I spend the first 15 minutes of a load in pushing racks and cases to their proper place.

Loudspeakers like EAW's KF850 are pushed like an arrow - narrow point facing the direction of travel. The components are mounted to the interior face of the speaker and it's very grille-side heavy. Push it from the wrong side and hit a crack in the concrete or a small obstruction of the floor (screw, nail, debris) and it tips right over.

In loading a truck it's best if items can go in oriented as they will be in the truck pack as some items will not turn 180 inside the trailer (flats, set & deck carts, usually). When unloading racks it's best if they come down the ramp "light end first" which usually mean the rack's BACK side proceeds down the ramp, with the "front" on the up hill end. This helps keep the ramp from tipping over when it reaches the bottom of the ramp. Ditto for reverse is you're pushing items up the ramp - you want the light end of the item preceding, otherwise there is a tendency for the rack to tip over onto the ramp.
 
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Front and back are pretty standard terms. Front of any vehicle is the direction it is driven (excepting when backing up, obviously), has the engine (almost always), drivers cab, steerable wheels, etc.,.. thus any truck box would follow the same terminology as used for the vehicle, front of the box is towards where the cab Is located. When your Dad/Mom told to “ride up front” you knew at any early age, what they meant. Nothing’s changed,

Road cases can be anything as they can be built in any desired fashion. If a case needs to be located in a part of the box, that’s the job of the person calling the load. Cases that need to go in a certain way need to be clearly marked as such.

Just curious as to the reason for the question. Is Front and Back not understood by some folks ?.

Again, we are only trying to identify FRONT and REAR of an object IN the truck. Not the truck itself or how it will be positioned, located, stored...Trying to keep it simple not to muddy the question. Anyhow, going with your "When your Dad/Mom told to “ride up front” you knew at any early age, what they meant. Nothing’s changed,". So you are in the front seat, you are holding a pizza in a box, the driver hits the brake and your mom yells to you to grab onto the FRONT of the pizza box. Do you grab the end of the pizza box towards the head lights or tail lights? Keeping in mind your are a child and direction of the vehicle means nothing to you.

Is Front and Back not understood by some folks ?. Yes, it is not clear. I was taught many years ago that the front of anything on a truck is towards the headlights of the truck whether it is in motion or stopped. Now it seems that all that I survey go by the direction of the motion on the object. To me this is unsafe. Imagine if the top motor case box of a triple take is just sitting on the truck, not in motion, should happen to fall. If the top box was falling towards the headlights the you could give warning more accurately by saying grab the front.
 
Again, we are only trying to identify FRONT and REAR of an object IN the truck. Not the truck itself or how it will be positioned, located, stored...Trying to keep it simple not to muddy the question. Anyhow, going with your "When your Dad/Mom told to “ride up front” you knew at any early age, what they meant. Nothing’s changed,". So you are in the front seat, you are holding a pizza in a box, the driver hits the brake and your mom yells to you to grab onto the FRONT of the pizza box. Do you grab the end of the pizza box towards the head lights or tail lights? Keeping in mind your are a child and direction of the vehicle means nothing to you.

Is Front and Back not understood by some folks ?. Yes, it is not clear. I was taught many years ago that the front of anything on a truck is towards the headlights of the truck whether it is in motion or stopped. Now it seems that all that I survey go by the direction of the motion on the object. To me this is unsafe. Imagine if the top motor case box of a triple take is just sitting on the truck, not in motion, should happen to fall. If the top box was falling towards the headlights the you could give warning more accurately by saying grab the front.






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There are at least 4 sides to every case....

In our shop all cases, racks and carts have a label. If the worker can read (??) the label, he/she/they are pushing from the correct side. The front of any rack is the side the mounting rails are on. The front of any cart is marked and usually we have yellow arrow stickers showing "push this way". It's amazing how many hands cannot follow symbols, let alone written instructions. All our racks, for example, are marked as stage left or stage right, and work trunks are similarly marked. I spend the first 15 minutes of a load in pushing racks and cases to their proper place.

Loudspeakers like EAW's KF850 are pushed like an arrow - narrow point facing the direction of travel. The components are mounted to the interior face of the speaker and it's very grille-side heavy. Push it from the wrong side and hit a crack in the concrete or a small obstruction of the floor (screw, nail, debris) and it tips right over.

In loading a truck it's best if items can go in oriented as they will be in the truck pack as some items will not turn 180 inside the trailer (flats, set & deck carts, usually). When unloading racks it's best if they come down the ramp "light end first" which usually mean the rack's BACK side proceeds down the ramp, with the "front" on the up hill end. This helps keep the ramp from tipping over when it reaches the bottom of the ramp. Ditto for reverse is you're pushing items up the ramp - you want the light end of the item preceding, otherwise there is a tendency for the rack to tip over onto the ramp.
 
Thank to all who replied. I might be getting a little off topic but I feel I should share. My years of experience right or wrong.
Do not go into the truck unless invited.
It is a good idea to have 4 loaders on the truck for safety. Too mant people on a truck gets dangerous too. Watch out for each other. Notice danger. Are load bars upside down that could fall? Is there somethings in FRONT of the road case the person breaking the strap can't see.that will fall? I have seen stacks of plywood, base plate, scaffolding placed front to back as opposed to side to side that would have done serious damage if someone was not watching and putting a hand on it before breaking the strap
Do not break the strap or proceed unless told to by the client/owner/lead. I have seen many times where we were not going to use that ruck or item and have to redo. Notify you are breaking the strap and make sure there are others loader around to have your back.
Do not lean load bar on sides of truck or something that could roll away. Do no drop load bars on truck deck. I personally know people that have tinnitus cause by this.
Personally I load drivers wall, passenger wall the middle. be sure to call it as such. "Drivers wall, as is (or 90), wheel to the...sky, center, drivers wall...I have heard term to the outside. To me this is drivers or passenger wall. not the back of the trailer. I usually try not to give either/or option of direction as this will confuse loaders. There are more than one. Keep an eye on placement of racket straps before you put the last case in. It seems like always we have to pull out case every time we need to set a strap. Straps should be set/etack forward of the back of the case to compress load forward as opposed to compressing the truck walls. Pull all slack out of strap before you ratchet making sure strap is not binding. I close ratchet making sure slot is lined up to insert strap. If truck is loaded same way each time I break straps in the middle and weave strap into etrack hole to get it out of the way. I don't use bungees to hold ratchets. I have had racks/cart grab these barely missing my eye.
If on a grade push case up the center of the trailer then to drives or passenger wall. This turn the wheel parallel. but be careful. It could still roll away. never turn you back on a load.
Hamper then a solid box before strapping if possible.. This keeps hamper from being crushed by ratchet.
4 man lift even if box is empty. This also keeps the rhythm. Download / push to side row of top cases before one loader takes a case to rear of trailer so other 3 don't have to wait. Short people on front, taller on back. Opposite on loft suck as truss.
Never put hand/body where it can get crushed.
Never push anything onto the truck unless asked. Make sure a loader has item before walking away.
Handle towards the back or trailer if possible. Lift cases from bottom. Handle do come off as well as lids.

This is just a potpourri of stuff and I am sure I missed a lot I wanted to add. Anyhow I hope it does someone good.
 
Thank to all who replied. I might be getting a little off topic but I feel I should share. My years of experience right or wrong.
Do not go into the truck unless invited.
It is a good idea to have 4 loaders on the truck for safety. Too mant people on a truck gets dangerous too. Watch out for each other. Notice danger. Are load bars upside down that could fall? Is there somethings in FRONT of the road case the person breaking the strap can't see.that will fall? I have seen stacks of plywood, base plate, scaffolding placed front to back as opposed to side to side that would have done serious damage if someone was not watching and putting a hand on it before breaking the strap
Do not break the strap or proceed unless told to by the client/owner/lead. I have seen many times where we were not going to use that ruck or item and have to redo. Notify you are breaking the strap and make sure there are others loader around to have your back.
Do not lean load bar on sides of truck or something that could roll away. Do no drop load bars on truck deck. I personally know people that have tinnitus cause by this.
Personally I load drivers wall, passenger wall the middle. be sure to call it as such. "Drivers wall, as is (or 90), wheel to the...sky, center, drivers wall...I have heard term to the outside. To me this is drivers or passenger wall. not the back of the trailer. I usually try not to give either/or option of direction as this will confuse loaders. There are more than one. Keep an eye on placement of racket straps before you put the last case in. It seems like always we have to pull out case every time we need to set a strap. Straps should be set/etack forward of the back of the case to compress load forward as opposed to compressing the truck walls. Pull all slack out of strap before you ratchet making sure strap is not binding. I close ratchet making sure slot is lined up to insert strap. If truck is loaded same way each time I break straps in the middle and weave strap into etrack hole to get it out of the way. I don't use bungees to hold ratchets. I have had racks/cart grab these barely missing my eye.
If on a grade push case up the center of the trailer then to drives or passenger wall. This turn the wheel parallel. but be careful. It could still roll away. never turn you back on a load.
Hamper then a solid box before strapping if possible.. This keeps hamper from being crushed by ratchet.
4 man lift even if box is empty. This also keeps the rhythm. Download / push to side row of top cases before one loader takes a case to rear of trailer so other 3 don't have to wait. Short people on front, taller on back. Opposite on loft suck as truss.
Never put hand/body where it can get crushed.
Never push anything onto the truck unless asked. Make sure a loader has item before walking away.
Handle towards the back or trailer if possible. Lift cases from bottom. Handle do come off as well as lids.

This is just a potpourri of stuff and I am sure I missed a lot I wanted to add. Anyhow I hope it does someone good.
@AlwaysLearning
Either you're confusing me, I'm confusing me, OR my 5 decades of experience have left me TOTALLY confused (which is entirely possible):

Quoting You: "My years of experience right or wrong." + "Opposite on loft suck as truss." Is likely Crystal Clear in your mind. Possibly I'm confused; personally I can't remember a time I've 'sucked as truss', neither in a truck, on a dock, nor on stage. @TimMc Can you help me out here??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
So you are in the front seat, you are holding a pizza in a box, the driver hits the brake and your mom yells to you to grab onto the FRONT of the pizza box. Do you grab the end of the pizza box towards the head lights or tail lights? Keeping in mind your are a child and direction of the vehicle means nothing to you.
Pretty sure we all agree that the FRONT of the 🍕 box is opposite the hinge, so it doesn't matter at all where the head/tail lights are.
 
Pretty sure we all agree that the FRONT of the 🍕 box is opposite the hinge, so it doesn't matter at all where the head/tail lights are.
Why are you putting the pizza in the truck in the first place?
 
Why are you putting the pizza in the truck in the first place?
Shouldn't the pizza be on a road case, on the dock and who cares where the front or back is if it's a pizza box on a job it should just be labelled 'MT'. Pizza boxes don't have wheels BTW.
 
The front of a case in the truck can be oriented towards the rear of the truck. The end of the truck toward the cab is the front. If a case is oriented so that it is backwards or sideways even, the side facing the cab doesn't become the front of the case. The front remains whatever has been determined on the case, no matter what direction it is facing (dependant on how it opens, whats in it, where the rails are etc)

I'm not super particular about what side gets loaded how, except that the load is balanced so that you dont have a majority of the weight on one side of the truck. Most of the time we've figured that out in advance and have a planned pack already.
 
Pizza box labeled as MT =?? "My tuck?" Or ?
 
I am totally baffled by this thread, I feel like there is some over engineering going on.

To me the truck has a Nose and Tail. The part of the case or cart in the truck toward the nose is always the front (even if it is labeled differently). Then you can say things like "is there a load bar in front of that row" and it makes sense.
 
As far as I can tell.... (for whatever that's worth)... This all started with a situation where someone made reference to the "front" of an object in a truck, and then there was much confusion over whether the object had its own unique and specific front, or whether the front of the object was always defined by the end facing the front of the truck.

My takeaway is that trying to work off of a rule like that is more likely to cause confusion, so it's better to find ways of describing things that don't rely on arbitrary definitions. I tend to say things like "My end, your end, Ron's end, or *that* end (*with pointing)" because I can't assume the person I'm talking to knows what I mean by "front" unless it's clearly labeled. Left and right would be just as confusing unless you're sure to always say, "my left", "your left", or "stage left".

I really hope no one is actually confused about which end of the truck is the front...
 

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