***the Lumper Scam***

I know it varies a lot on what kind of load it is, but how long does it take to normally unload a dry van trailer? Not a floor stack, but one that is palletized? If it takes you only two hours, and you get paid $100, that is the same as making $50 an hour. I have been researching companies to work for after I get my CDL, many don't pay as high as $100 most seem in the $50-$75 range, but it still seems not a bad way to make a few extra bucks if you aren't on the last bit of your time for the day, and aren't tired.

 

It isn't the off loading of palletized freight with a pallet-jack that is the problem and time-consuming. It is the RE-STACKING of each pallet, because the receiver only wants 5 items on each "tier" rather than the space-saving 7 items per tier that the shipper sent. Or, the receiver only wants the pallets stacked 5 tiers high, when it is shipped 6 tiers or more high.

 

Ok, thanks. I wasn't aware of the restacking. Makes sense then. That is quite a bit extra work if you have like 23 pallets to do.

 

Docks want to make it tough on the driver because they don't want him to unload freight. They want said driver to play their lumping game.

When you play the lumper game, you hire a lumper to do 3 hours of manual labor and pay him more for that labor than you'd pay a brain surgeon for three hours of surgery on your noggin.

When you hire a lumper, he will gladly unload your goodies. You then fork over a huge amount of money that way over-compensates him for his skill level. No worries, though. After you pull out and head on down the road, Mr. Lumper heads to the administration office and gets his pockets picked. Yeap, he has to pay the dock a big cut of what you pay him. If YOU unload it, the dock gets no cut. And this is tax-free money we're talking about here. Think about the income a dock such as Albertson's is able to make in one year just by playing the lumper game. It's in the millions, no doubt. Drivers playing the lumper game is in their interest.

Don't even begin to think an illegal immigrant unloading your freight gets to take home every cent you give him. No way. He's lucky to take 30% of it home. The rest he gives up to his dock. I'm sure if he doesn't give it up, he gets reported to the INS and then deported. The docks win either way. They lose when YOU unload it. So....to gently persuade you to hire a lumper and play their game, they will place little nit-picky rules to obstruct you, such as requiring you use a sweat jack instead of a juice jack, and requiring you to restack freight that is already in perfectly good stacks. This will aggravate you, and the strategy works. Yes, it's all a game. Most drivers just play the game by hiring a lumper (a person who isn't even employed by the docks so the docks don't get busted for employing illegals) to do the unloading.

If you're an O/O and have ever wondered why you are forced to wait long periods at docks if you tell 'em "I'll unload it myself, thank you," you now know why. You are being "punished" for not playing the lumper game.

 

Now Tip, you know as well as I do (or should anyway) that the cost to unload is either built into the rate or reimbursed to the trucker directly by the shipper. i.e; I write a check for $75, enclose a copy of the lumper's invoice with my bill, and voila!, a separate reimbursement check! Granted, no interest on the money I "lent" the shipper for 30 days, but nothing out of pocket, either. Please just accept that lumpers are the way of the world, and just stop griping about something that really makes no difference. Thank you...
rx

 

It has been my experience that "Brokers" will deduct the cost of the Lumper from the full RATE, then be generous by "giving" it back. There is NO lumper fee negotiated into the RATE, but a subtraction. Sometimes, they will keep the lumper fee (as well as FSC) and leave the O/O or trucking company stuck.

 

I agree totally, in fact, some receivers have designed their docks so that the the front of the truck is lower than the rear and expect the driver to pull the "sweat-jack" UPHILL. Try pulling 2000lbs uphill on a corrugated aluminum or a slick wooden floor sometime. Oh, you probably have.....at least once.

Also, I have suspected that many of these "Lumper Services" were owned by a family member of the GM of the DC (or Store).

Back before most receivers required the use of a "Lumper Service", when most lumping was done by "free-lance" workers, I knew people who supported their family and sent their kids to college working part-time lumping trucks.

 

Yes, quite frequently, those 23 original pallets can turn into 30 or 40 or more pallets; completely re-stacked product.

Once at a WalMart DC in Hurricane UT, it took over 18 hours to re-stack a trailer. There were over 2,000 items on the truck of over 12,000 boxes. There were several pallets that only contained one or two boxes.
WalMart employees changed shifts three times while I was there. I was not allowed to leave the dock for any reason.
After I told my boss, he got pissed and instructed me to leave the DC after I dropped my trailer. The next time I delivered there, I had to call the police because the Security Guard would not let me leave. The Security Guard and the DC GM got arrested.

 

Just out of curiousity, what were they charged for?

Did you ever go back?

I would love to have done that....

 

They were "arrested" for kidnapping, although I don't know what they were actually charged with. It is ILLEGAL for a shipper/receiver to force you to stay on their property.

And YES, I went back several times. WalMart tried to ban the Carrier from delivering there, but the shipper (Steelcase) told them to pound sand.