Question:
Back in the days when trucking was severely regulated, I worked for a company where Denver, Co. was on the out edge of their authority.
The run was given to only the best of the drivers. A new man who had proved himself would sometimes get one just to test him out.
So, one night I'm in the terminal. A new kid came in, checked the bills to see what he had.
"YEE+HAW! I gor a Denver! Gonna prove to Virgil I'm a Hand!"
And he hooked up, put the power to his shiny 290, and roared out, going thru his 4x4 like a pro.
Called in the next morning.
Couldn't find that business anywhere in the Denver phonebook. Couldn't find the street address either.
Dispatch told him that was probably because Denver, Colorado was NOT Denver, IOWA!
Over the years I've seen guys learn that:
Springfield Mo. is not Springfield Il.
Madison, S.D. is not Madison, Wi.
Best one?
Portland Me. is not Portland Ore.
This load came out of Baltimore and the idiot who pulled it happened to be an owner operator who only called in when he felt like it. Result? He was in Boise, Idaho before they managed to straighten him out.
Point is?
READ YOUR BILLS! EVERYTHING ON THEM! Destination, weight, seal numbers (if any) trailer number, and so on.
Be amazed how many times people screw things up.

Answer:
There’s the old standards:
Dropping the trailer on it nose during your test drive.
Knocking over a street sign with a swinging trailer door.
Does VI bring anything to mind?
And to bring it up to date:
Answering the cell phone while on your test drive.
Calling the safety officer while driving.
-JHappy Dwellers Society
Company Driver Division

Answer:
What Wuzzy said.
We had a driver pick up a load in Dayton, OH going to Cleveland Avenue in Columbus. Yep, you guessed it. He went to Cleveland, OH. Read everything on your paperwork. Might save your job. Companies tend to not like 200-300 out of route miles and late deliveries.

Answer:
Likewise if your FM tells you to start heading somewhere while they work on putting together a load for you make sure you know exactly where you are suppose to go.
Several years ago I unloade din Nashville, TN and after waiting an hour or two for my next load assignment I give the dispatcher a call. He tells me they have nothing in the area but to start heading over to Fulton and he would have something for me to pick up there. So I jump in the truck, grab the atlas and plot my route to Fulton, TN. (Which is north of Memphis)
About an hour from Memphis the QC finally beeps with my load assignment. I pull over and look at it. Pick up in Fulton, Ms, which turns out to be one of the customers that we pulled out of all the time (to the tune of 15 loads a day or so) The dispatcher forgot that I was still really new with the company as this was only my 3rd load since hiring on and just assumed I knew which Fulton he was talking about.
Next time I talked to him I gave him some friendly grief over it and we both had a good laugh as it turned out that I only added about 30 miles to my deadhead trip (which he got me paid for since it was partially his fault).
Taught me a good lesson though, and that was the truly important thing.
Answer:
I got dispatched with a load of meat to Sheboygan,WI from Dubuque IA. Bills stated Sheboygan WI, so off I went, Looked all over town, called around, to no avail. Finally got a phone no. from the shipper, and it turned out to be Cheboygan, MI. OOPS!!!!!!! Another driver went to EauClaire WI. instead of O'Clare MI. And I've heard of the Denver mistake before. Another one? Nashville TN instead of Nashville IL. Just remember:If the world did'nt suck, you'd fall off!
The more I see and read about Republicans and Democrats, the more I wish we had an Independent Party.
IMPEACH BUSH!!!!!!!!!!

Answer:
More than just reading the paperwork (which, as Razz illustrated, can be wrong), crosscheck by getting directions over the QualComm, then (in my case) I crosscheck again by feeding the shipper/receiver address into the map program on my laptop.
It's amazing what the doofi (plural of doofus ) in the office can get wrong.
They sent me directions to a shipper in Portland OR (that we apparently receive routine brokered loads from) which were obviously from some computer map program, because....
Whoever generated the directions typed in So-and-So Avenue instead of So-and-So Place, which was on the other side of town in a residential district. I typed in the right thing on my computer map program, which sure as heck was different from my office's directions. A call to the shipper found me to be right and my office to be wrong ("Gee," the shipper says, "a lot of your drivers wind up on the other side of town.") Doh.

Answer:
Let's take Oak Grove, for instance.
Not only is there an Oak Grove,Kentucky, BUT there are (2)TWO Oak Groves in MISSOURI.

Answer:

Yeah, but us natives call that one Hopkinsville

Answer:

And we call that one Misery

Answer:

Dont you just love it when there are 2 towns of the same name in a state. Cant remember the name of the town now but PA has at least one of them. One is just south of Pittsburgh and the other is over around Philly.
Answer:
I used to live/work in OSWEGO NY and would get drivers looking for an address in OWEGO . oswego is on lake ontario north of syracuse and Owego is near the penn border. just a little out of route

Answer:
Years back saw a newly hired LTL TEAM make record time from Toronto to LA with 8 drops on the way out.
Overheard the conversation " THEY LOADED THE DARN TRAILER BACKWARDS LA STUFF is not at THE BACK "
These 2 clowns figured they would drive to LA and make the deliveries on the way back.

Answer:
Not just towns that get mixed up either. Once got sent to pick up a load dispatch said weighed 37,500 lbs.
They were hooking up the crane when I noticed the side of the crating said 37,500KGS. (82,500 lbs.)
It didn't go on the truck

Answer:
uturn2001
Dont you just love it when there are 2 towns of the same name in a state. Cant remember the name of the town now but PA has at least one of them. One is just south of Pittsburgh and the other is over around Philly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whitehalll, PA
you don't know how many times I have to give drivers directions to the one out east[

Answer:
But now lets not forget a lesser known part of the country.....Miami, OK
I was talking with a guy on the radio one day and he was asking where a tire place might be to fix a flat.....He said he was in Miami....
One driver came back and screamed and yelled and called him a liar saying that there was no way for him to be talking from Miami, FL...what the driver who was doing all the cussing failed to realize...that Miami, OK was just 2 miles down the road....
LOOK AT YOUR SIGNS....