As I pulled into the BNSF rail yard this afternoon to drop my last outbound shipment for the day, I noticed something I see far too often. As I approach the slot that I am supposed to drop my loaded container in, I see next to it another container next to my spot sticking out about three feet over the clearance line. This is not only a sign of pure laziness, but also a hazard to me, as I have to get around it and into my spot as well. This type of thing is also not isolated to the rail, as I see it at a lot of shippers and receivers that I drop and hook at from many different trucking companies.
These clearance lines painted in tight areas are for our own benefit as drivers. In tight spaces, parking behind them allows for everyone to have enough space to back their long trailers in and pull out safely and with less damage risk. In this event that took place for me today, the trailer sticking out too far created three extra points of heightened caution (pictured here). It is an example of how an extra minute to back up two or three feet more for the driver of that trailer could have saved me from the possibility of having a backing incident. Thankfully I was able to get into my spot safely without any “bumper trailer” mishaps.
A little professional courtesy can go a long way between two drivers, even if they never even see each other face to face. If you have room behind your trailer to safely give the next guy a little room, by all means back up and do so. You should be doing a walk around inspection every time you drop a trailer anyway, so why not take the extra second to make sure you are dropping your trailer far enough in the drop spot and 
straight? We drive some pretty big pieces of machinery around for a living and need to remember to leave adequate room for everyone else to operate them in tight conditions as safely as possible as well. It’s as easy as coloring within the lines and making sure all your ducks are in a row!