Originally Posted by JolliRoger

In 1957 I was driving for a bullhauler. Came in from a WI to FL haul and back home to MS. Boss came out and needed a favor. He had a nursery shipping shrubbery north to grocery stores. Some foul up, but needed me to go 20 miles and hook a loaded van trailer and take it to Kroger in Cincinatti, OH.
OK, I go hook, and light out. Pulled in to Kroger about 9:00 AM and circled and backed up close. Guy on dock looks at my bills and says" Yeah, we been needing this". I tell him good, its here. I open doors and back in to hole number 2, and climb up on dock to observe. I'd never seen a load of shrubbery before and have not since.

Shrubbery then was shipped (may still be) like a bush dug up, a round ball of dirt wrapped with burlap, pinned with nails. Rough, sticky, and dirty. Loaded by hand like stacked cordwood across the trailer and alternated top to ball. Real tight stuff to break out.

Moments later a forklift scoots up with a stack of pallets, drops them near me and gone. Next out come the dock guy, drags a pallet from the top of the stack, slams in on the dock and says: Give me ten of the Juniper Pfitzers.. I beg his pardon, what is it he wants? He explains. Its those little sticky ones right there on top at back.

I advised him I drive for a nickel a loaded mile. I don't unload. Ah. Kroger don't unload either. I tell him to mark the bill refused and I will open him some dock space. He will mark it "Driver refiused to unload". That's good with me. He writes, I sign and I stamped the bill in his time clock when he went back in his shack.
Pulled out the gate, lined up right side on curb, walked 10 steps to a phone booth. Called the boss, outlined the situation. He had two questions: Could I stay parked for 15 minutes there and could I hear the phone when he called back.
He called back. Take it to 5th and Grand in Detroit, MI, a street address of a sidewalk shrub vendor. I pulled it there, guy paid for load and hauling in cash and about 10 hands swarmed it and got it off.
I love it when a plan comes together.

Originally Posted by Acer12

When asking "why" they will pay a lumper $300.00 and only pay me $100.00, I was told it was because they really don't want the drivers unloading, because it takes away your available hours to drive.[/size]
[size=3]Then you have the ones that are mandatory "driver assist" that want to refuse to sign your bills. Talk about a driver "breaking bad" and showing their uh, butt,....
Walgreens..Moreno Valley, CA.

Originally Posted by Brickman

What I'm wondering is who is the bright person to come up with the idea behind lumpers? And why does flatbed never need lumpers but often van and about always reefer does? Can it be that the receivers of van and reefer freight not really want what they get and so make the transport company pay for the unloading??????
I hear all the time that flat is too much work. It sounds to me like van and reefer is too much stress with all the waiting around and paying lumpers out of your own pocket, and then waiting weeks to be reimbursed. One very nice thing about flat or step is that most all of our freight is too heavy to handle by hand. A forklift or crane has to be used to unload.