Too true. I just hauled a 40' container with a weight of a little under 9K, going to an Aston Martin dealer. I don't know for sure what was on board, but I can hazard a guess! Whenever anyone asked what I was hauling, I'd respond, "Aw, driver, it's the usual cheap plastic crap for Wally World."

Hey, I'm not paranoid--I got this way from being proved right too often. :biggrin100 (3):

__________________
No load is worth your life. Or anyone else's.

RON PAUL IN 2008!!

Amen to that fellas. Nobody needs to know what's on your truck. If I was asked, I'd always tell them 'Dispatcher brains' or another favorite 'Monkey Farts' .

The DC's require lumpers for one reason: profits. It's an accounting shell game that looks good to the stockholders. In any operation, payroll is one of the highest expenses; in warehousing it's the highest. DC's found that they could cut their personnel by 75% by merely requiring truckers to unload their own trucks. They still pay for unloading, but using the roundabout way it shows up invisibly in product cost, instead of the in-your-face warehouse expenditure. In the old days, if you wanted to hire a lumper, there was generally a crowd of 20-30 people outside the gate that would swarm your truck as you pulled in, wanting you to hire them; you could take your choice at a competitive price. But insurance wouldn't cover them, and some trucking companies and brokers wouldn't reimburse for that type of lumping provider. Add the crackdown on paperwork requirements for hiring casual labor, and the liability for doing so that nobody wants, you can see why grabbing anybody off the street went the way of the dodo. So now most DC's contract with a lumper service company, who provides documented, insured workers, who work for a wage paid by the lumper company. Naturally, because now you have a middleman, costs go up. The DC's generally only allow one company on their dock, limiting competition and keeping profits high for the lumper companies, who generally pay low wages and a stipend for use of the dock and equipment owned by the DC, pocketing the rest. Nice racket. Personally, I applaud the high lumper costs. I don't have to pay them myself, I just call and get a Comchek. The shippers bear the final cost, which they simply factor into the prices they charge the receiver. Yeah, bread will eventually be $14 a loaf, but it's ok because I arrange my own cost of living increases. It all works.

I am surprised at the name calling from a Member of the Staff. "400 or 500" pound lump of lard. Aren't you special. You should change your moniker to "Twiggy"

If you would actually have read the entire post, you would have realized that the post was made prior to the poster becoming a member of the Staff.

To make comments like this as uninformed makes you special as well.

Sorry! I was under the impression that all would be respected even us lumps of lard.
I don't think "staff" or members should judge me or anyone else based on their physical charactoristics. I've fingerprinted more than my share of freight over the years, I don't need anymore practice.
And yes I did flatbed for some of my career,no money in it out here.
I did read all 2 lines of the original post and in red directly below his member name is "Member of Staff".
But again , I APOLOGIZE!!

...back to the original thread. Im new to this industry and think paying a lumper is BS but I just make out a Comcheck and get some numbers and I dont have to worry about it. One thought though: We pay lumpers to unload our trailer. Why in the heck do they still take their sweet time? If Im paying someone to do something, they better get to it and not slack off.

What I hate is the spliting of pallets,just unload me then split on your own time,just get me going.why should I wait for lumpers to stack on other pallets?just unload truck,bring to a area to split load ,driver gone in 20 minutes we are happy,lumper is happy(they still get same amount of money) and driver can get next load sooner.

You guys should thanks the lumpers. They have a far harder job than drivers. I unload truck six days a week and make a decent living. I pay no dock use fee or give out kickbacks. All the companies get reimbursed for paying me. On average it takes 2 men two hours to unload a 53' trailer, on the floor with 1500 case count. That's 4 man hours at $170 a pop. After a few minor overhead costs it works out about $35 an hour for some of the hardest work there is. Now take into account the down time, no pay, waiting on late truckers an average of 7 hours a week the amount goes down even more. The point is lumpers earn every cent and have a much harder job than truckers so stop your ######## because no one else can do our job certainly not truckers.

Where the heck is OUR $35 an hour then? At least YOU get to go home every day. So stop acting like lumpers are higher up the food chain. It's still up to US to get the goods there safely.

Hmm let's see. 0.32 cpm * 55mph == $17.60 per hour. Now what about all those hours we got to put into our day when we're not driving? Think we get paid for that? Think we get overtime? What if somebody asked you to swipe off the clock and then go back to do more work? You'd be pissed wouldn't you?!