Things I've learned on the furniture trucks.

* Get a GPS for the delivery truck. Worth their weight in gold. Maps are impossible to read at night in a strange area.

* Never attempt to drive through the New York City area in the truck on a Friday afternoon.

* Boston drivers are the most rude to truckers, by far.

* If you overnight in New Hampshire and Vermont in the winter time, either leave your diesel truck running all night or be plugged into a block heater if you want to begin the next day before lunchtime.

* If there is ice on the rear bumper of the truck, you will fall on it.

* If the truck is going to break, it will ALWAYS be when the truck maintenance shops are closed.

* Carry doggie treats in your pocket and you'll make a friend for life when you meet fido in the home.

* Don't be surly to the guys running the weigh stations.

* If things look like they won't fit in the customers home, don't panic. Slow down and study the situation. Try a different way to get it in. 99% of the time it will fit if you can think outside the box.

* Always have a sweatband in your other pocket (your doggie treats are in the other one). That way you don't perspire all over the new furniture.

* Get out of the house as fast and gracefully as you can with the husband and wife argue.

* Don't pull the trucks into the driveway if you can load off the street. That way you don't run down expensive Japanese Maples and the like.

* Ask the customer to check over their furniture before leaving otherwise you will likely get a call back!

* Everyone has a cell phone these days. Call ahead if arriving early or running late.

* Buy automatic transmission trucks.

* Never skimp on pads and ALWAYS tie everything in securely. The one time you don't tie something in is when its going to go skidding across the truck floor and get damaged

* UPS drivers make the best part-time deliverymen for Saturdays.

* Put down runners on rainy and muddy days in the entryway.

* Customers who give us fresh-baked cookies and an ice-cold drink can get just about any favor they need while we're there.

* Customer with cool car or motorcycle collections in the garage, or have their own airplane out back, get free delivery.