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  1. #1

    Default What happened to the yard dogs?

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    Mid 90s, we had theses guys who would look at list of materials or cut sheets, pack it in material trailer, and 99% of the time had everything you needed. Now we have two college educated management types who make too much get material who never get it right. I think we spend 20% of the time shaking and chasing and reusing our material. I know there was a big push to make everyone in our trade a lineman. But there were a lot of bargaining unit support people who made the work flow a lot better that no longer exist. A good yard dog who made groundman wage would have everything ready to go. Now we have more expensive people who get it wrong most of the time. I thought over the years we would have progress. I also remember a job would be bid and the cut sheetswould go to a list of Nema distributors and they would bid on material. They would send a trailer of your material. And the wire order would be perfect. Now we rely on the power companies who glop a big pile of decaying cardboard boxes with nothing right. Every year you have to chase, shake and make it work more and more. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    South East Texas
    Posts
    3,278

    Default

    Umm it happens regular at Entergy resulting in them buying stuff you cant use and not buying the stuff you need everday

  3. #3

    Default I think its getting worse poot

    I have been on jobs where nothing is right. I ve put poles in holes where they get the wrong size on the paperwork. Wrong wire size. Its never right. Why I like construction to that b.s. patchwork job is you know what wire you are putting up. Anymore now, between the crews and the power company engineers the material is never right. So you have to the best you can with what you have. When I was a pup, when we use to rebuild, cutover and do real construction, the contractor was the guy who did material. Now its on the power company. And if they are a bunch of broke ****s, material is wong, and you have to be a magician to build anything. When the contractor did it, it wasnt perfect but it was good. Now every job I have been on in the last five years has been ****ed up because of material. Its getting worse and worse as you go. I notice it.

  4. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bobbo View Post
    Every year you have to chase, shake and make it work more and more. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
    It's just the "NEW" Trade of Linework man. It's even the same thing with Rat Contractors.

    It's serious Sad for REAL Linemen know days. And especially the NEW Linemen coming up in the trade.
    “He who dares not offend, cannot be honest”
    ~ Thomas Paine ~

  5. #5

    Default Remember the cut sheets and those grey tubs with everything in it. The job trailers.

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    Remember those job trailers with all your stuff. Remember the arm perch where you grabbed built arms. New river had the.one where it converted to wire trailer, pole trailer, all in one package. Those were handy. What jappened to them. And then the foreman turned the job package into the yard dog. And you pulled out with everything.you need. The guy would be pretty dead on with bolts, but you carried extra. But they were right on with everything, Detroit and a couple co ops in Ohio did this. Ever since 2000, no one carries those trailers anymore. Yard dogs are gone and its been a goatscrew ever since. On big jobs the distributor would either have a van.dropped or connexes with it all in there. The truckers had the bills of lading right off the distributor. And you counted.thw stupid small stuff to see if it matched. Now the utilities or third party takes care of it and its been ****ed ever since. Get the oldest fart groundman in the locals who can read these yard dog jobs. If you have a place ofsix or more distribution crews showing up, mandate it. Give him all the McClean, Cooper, Hubbel catalogs. . . And get it going. Offset his hours and pay him right, so he can ger all the material or tooling for the next day, and have enough time after quit to stock it. Instead of burning an hour or more for a crew to sort. when it could have been done with good groundman. They streamlined all the common sense out of this trade.

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