Back at the Loading Dock

At the Copley breakbulk, Major opens another trailer. The data-collection terminal by the dock door prompts him to answer a quick, eight-question survey: Was the trailer loaded high and tight? Were heavy objects braced properly? and so on. It's an annoyance, but he's lobbied the programmers to cut back on the number of questions they have the system ask, so it won't slow him down too much. The answers may help Roadway become just a little bit more efficient. But Major has his own priorities. Not having to get his pencil out is, to him, a significant advance.

After all, when winter rolls around, there will come the zero-degree nights when the wind whistles through the cracks between the dock doors and the backs of the trailers. Then, he won't just be identifying his activities when he punches in codes. Yes, he'll keep helping Roadway save money, by showing how his work affects its costs. But he'll be saving his fingers as well.

"I won't have to take my mittens off," he says.