I had thought of that myself (hiring lumper for less than the job would pay and taking a cut), but seemed to me that the company might balk at just writing a check to me for whatever amount I told them the lumper was charging and not require some type of verification.

If it hard for me to imagine that trucking companies, being tight as they are, would just write a check to the driver for whatever amount he/she said the lumper charges and then let the driver take care of the lumper.

It does seem unfair that a company would pay more to the lumper than their own driver for doing the same job. Will companies actually write a check to their driver for the lumping fee with no verification?

I am not a driver and may have misinterpreted some of the posts here.
I thought that the companies wrote the check to the lumper, or lumper company. Am I wrong?

I know you are much better off if you are delivering into one of those famous grocery warehouses,you will save yourself a lot of time if you hire a inhouse lumper,unless you are use to handling freight yourself.Because they will want every item sepperated.Plus trucking co are payed for this anyway.

One of our loaders used to get his friends to fill out lumper slips for is uncle. They would get $5 bucks a piece to fill them out. His uncle would then turn them in, but he was OO so he slipped through the grid.
I think He was caught drinking and driving so lost his "A"
Now his is a supervisor for the post office 60 grand with over time?????

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Now I've NEVER seen that done before, but OSHA would put them out of business for that bit of stupidity.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

OSHA would only know about it if someone got hurt or sent them a picture.

True, but all the guy in the bottom lift would have to do is twitch to cause a disaster here.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

Lumpers are people willing to work for a set amount of money. They are usually considered "independant contractors" for tax purposes. This means you are not responsible for paying tax on their wage while they work for you nor are you responsible for any injuries they might sustain.

It used to be very unorganized and negotiation was needed to get the best price for the job. A driver could talk to several lumpers and each lumper would offer a better deal than the last. It was very cut throat and competitive.

Some lumpers got smart and would even give recievers "kick backs" for helping keep out the low ballers and to help "facilitate" the unloading process by keeping the area clear, providing good empty pallets, checking and tagging the product, as well as clearing the checked pallets quickly so the lumper could get another truck in that dock.

The reason lumping got started was companies (warehouses) refused to hire extra personnel to unload the trucks. It was a physically taxing job and many refused to do it.

Companies did not want the additional wages, tax burden or benefits (such as workers comp claims) costs to cut into their profits so the organized lumper service cam into being.

Now a days most places have "lumper services" which have basically legitamized the practice. Kickbacks seem to have fallen by the wayside and their is no more "negotiation of rates." The lumper service has a cost sheet based on piece count, weight, and weather there is substantial breakdown of product required. The driver either accepts the price or does the job himself.

The Lumper Services are registered and actually have a tax id as well as receipts with their company name embossed on it.

As has been stated companies will actually pay a lumper or lumper service more than they will pay their own driver to unload the truck. The thought is the company does not want you to do the work and take a chance of injuring yourself and then they lose a driver while you heal.

In the past, many "greedy" drivers would decide to unload the trucks themselves (instead of resting) and pocket the cash. This was done by making up a fictitious name and social security number for a receipt. The truckdriver would write on the receipt the lumper accepted cash and the fee was paid in full. The driver would then contact his dispatcher and relay the bogus information (name, address, and social security number) with the statement "the guy would not take a check so I had to pay him cash." The dispatcher would then issue a Comcheck or Efs check to the driver in the drivers name. The trick to getting away with this was to be sure to submit the bogus lumper receipt with the signed bills and notate on the bills "lumper unload." This would effectively cancel out the check advance so the driver would not have that money deducted from his paycheck at the end of the week.

I recommend hiring the lumper services. They know how the tie/hi's go plus weather the product goes on big wood or small (different sized pallets were commom place and older racking systems only had room for small pallets stacked in a certain manner to a certain height). Besides that, they will be authorized to use power equipment and have the certificate whereas you will not.

Several years ago OSHA mandated training for anyone operating power equipment at warehouses. Insurance companies stepped in and also made stipulations on who could use power equipment, effectively cutting the driver out of the unloading process (unless the driver wants to use a hand jack or manually unload each case 1 at a time). Many companies have even gone so far as having accounts set up in advance with these lumper services so the driver cannot get away with doing the job himself and trying to collect extra money for unloading.

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Knowledge is Power

Lumpers have to pay a portion of what they make to their host docks. This really means lumpers allow docks to get discounts on freight charges. The lumper game is the reason why drivers who unload are given sweat jacks to work with and not juice jacks. They're trying to discourage you so you'll hire a lumper and play the game. The lumper game is also the reason O/Os who unload have to wait longer to get dock assignments. O/Os deprive the docks of kickbacks they get from the lumper scheme, and waiting long hours to get in is punishment for not playing the game. If you don't pay that mangy lumper 250 dollars to do 4 hours manual labor, a payment he'll take 25% of, at most, home with him, you'll have the devil to pay. I've talked about this before on this site. Do a search, folks.

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--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.