Ending of My Boycott
After 5 long years I am officially ending my boycott of a large international adult beverage conglomerate. Yes, 
3tonight I will enjoy any beverage that I want without the worry that it is a product of the conglomerate. My boycott has been successful. Driver treatment at the brewery has improved tremendously. I give them credit for capitulating to my boycott. They must have missed the $99 or so (after all moderation matters) that I used to spend annually on their products. The conglomerate has capitulated. Driver treatment has improved.
It could be that it has become smart to treat drivers better. Drivers are no longer willing to wait on loads. As for me, I had refused to live load out of there. Yes, one hot summer day 5 years ago I arrived at 12:00 for my 13:00 appointment. My wagon was freshly washed out and I was ready. Security directed me to the to the hold yard. He told me that they would direct me to a door shortly. It was a Thursday. I was looking forward to getting unloaded Friday morning and having an actual 2 day weekend.
About 14:00, I checked in with security to see what was going on. I was informed that my appointment had 
been changed to 03:00 Friday. They refused to pay detention. The thought of dead heading home crossed my mind. Freight and money were in short supply then. Now, capacity is in short supply. Truckers are in the driver seat now. My company would not have been pleased about angering an important customer either. My decision was to boycott their product. That and never go back there for a live load. I wonder how many drivers began refusing service.
Give them credit. They have gotten better. Now, for me it has become a drop and hook operation. They are 
professional and polite. They let you scale out your loads. Last week, I had a leased wagon. It is heavier than our new wagons. The load scaled at 80,260 pounds. I have a 450 pound APU allowance. My 13,000 pound steer axle allowed me to axle legally. I wanted to take it. But NOOO! The brewery will not print out a bill over 80,000 pounds and they wanted me to got to the docks. I envisioned sitting and waiting for hours.
To my surprise, it lasted about 20 minutes. I backed my truck into the dock. It is the driver's responsibility to chock the tires, lock and drop the dock and I did. As I finished a lift truck operator appeared. He removed the last two pallets with a forklift. I asked if I could help break down the pallets. He said no and grabbed a clamp truck. With that he picked 3 tiers off of one of the pallets. He then put dunnage in at my request. I secured the load, scaled legally and was on my way home.
In retrospect, I doubt that my boycott worked. The fact that driver time now does have value did.