why do grocery warehouses suck

Yeah, it's too bad we have to have unions in order to get a fair handshake or to not being ripped off by the company but I think they take it too far sometimes with all the bureaucracy red tape

 

I spent my share of time at them but mostly as an hourly paid LTL driver that had to downstack and re-wrap the pallets to get the right Ti-Hi. Usually it was a only a couple of pallets and they'd shove it off on me because I was a low man on the seniority list and because I was a relatively young wippersnapper. Easy way to score a couple hours of OT at the end of the day so I never minded. It turned into a joke with all the other LTL drivers from the other companies I'd started to see regularly. "Got stuck with grocery house again? Haha"

 

They've always been that way and always will. I called their bluff years ago in Ca. They wanted $75 to unload pizza dough. Really. Yeap he said. Well Sir I'ii just haul this load back to Or. and out the door I went. Fired that mother up pulled ahead was closing the doors when that guy said they'd unload @ no cost. It was a miracle I tell ya.

 

I don't see what the big deal is with lumpers. .. aren't you guys collecting lumper fees from whoever is paying the freight bill? Yeah I know the idea that they ordered something and now charge to unload it is ridiculous in the first place ...

 

Grocers used to be serviced directly by their vendors. The vendor's delivering driver (often the company owner himself) was expected to unload the product themselves because they were glad for the sale. Then as things changed, the grocers did not have the personnel to unload a bunch of incoming trucks, too. So lumpers came about and it stuck and morphed into what we have today.

The grocery business is very complex, and very much the bread and butter of many carriers, like it or not. Without grocers, we all starve and this is said with multiple meanings as directed to truckers.

BTW, I delivered a Walmart grocery DC in Grantsville, UT the other day and there were no lumper charges and I don't think it was a one-off just related to my load of Ken's Foods salad dressings.

 

^^ that's because the shipper paid the unloading fees in advance.

 

$235 lumper fee. Well what do you know, my docking fee just happens to be $235.

 

I delivered a whole load of hot peppers in cases....the whole load was the same product..jars of peppers.
After 9 hours and the last truck in the dock at 1 am I get the lumper girl who collects the money demanding 375 bucks for unload!
She said I have 5 minutes to get her the check or I would have to come back the next day to get my BOL.
I had asked them several times what the fee would be so I could get a check ready but NO...They could not tell me the amount.

The lumper service was FHI.......Food City in Virginia can suck it!!
I told dispatch I would never pull in their driveway again..

SO happy I never have to haul reefer loads again!

 

Lumpers... Jewel in Chicago. Six ducking hours! $260. What the hell. I could've unloaded it and done whatever lumping they needed in half that time if the company would pay me $260. Insane. Imagine ups delivering a package to you. Would you say "Okay I need $5 to receive my package?" No because that's ducking insane.

 

All I'll say about things is that it should be legal and acceptable to smack the dog #### out of a lumper after hour 2.