Can anyone beat that?

I had a frozen load last month with a lumper fee to load the trailer at the shipper. That was a first for me.

 

I never really thought about the lumper fee reducing the freight. I always figured the warehouse had absolutely no labor cost. Either way, it’s quite a racket. The most I have ever paid was somewhere around $800 for 3 stops of Ice cream. (Total). The part that I don’t like is it’s charged against my pay until I turn in the receipts. I am very careful about jumping through all their hoops to get reimbursed.

 

Screw Ralph's. Took a load of meat there once and they turned down two full pallets of mixed cases because they have a weight limit per case of 70 lbs.

Note. They broke down all the pallets, then rebuilt two pallets exclusively from 70+ lb cases. They could lift and move them around to put them back on the truck, but not to accept them. No case was over 75 lbs.

 

Just remember, if a Dispatcher EVER gives you explict instructions that a load is packed to custom order so forklift unload only, DO NOT let any one in there to touch any of the other stops if on trailer. More than likely those are custom layered and stacked as well for forklift unload.

Whats the problem you say?

Easy. If you are a dum dum who barely speaks english or cannot think fast, what they do is bamboozle you in BS fast talk about how you are going to be racking up lumper fees if they can do you a favor for 60 dollars to repack other stop or stops. You give the man and he goes in.

Next thing you know all stops charge you fees to lump it off because its not forklift anymore A percentage goes back to stop number one.

And you wonder why I like non grocery, non food or meat or produce reefers. No more of that.

20 years ago dispatch could not be bothered to pay more than say 70 dollars for entire load to be lumped. Now 300? 500? 600? 900? more? Forget it.

In my time engineering a ban is easy. So I never have to go back to a small wood place ever again. How? walk in dock with a gallon mug of coffee. Pretend to trip and spill it closing down a major traffic path. Suits scream yell and forklift everything off and then tell me to GTFO the property now.

Dispatcher ask me what the heck happened? Dunno, wet floor tripped.

Never see them again in the black book kept for that purpose in my desk.

 

These lumper fees are outrageous. I've never had one larger than about 400 dollars. The biggest lumper charges are courtesy of Capstone. Aldi's charged 50-something dollars last time I went to O Fallon for a full trailer of canned goods. I dont know if I've ever gone more than 200 for Aldi

 

I think if they want to charge 628.00 to unload a partial load I would do it my self. I know that is better money than I would make driving the truck and it would give me some exercise.

 

If you try charging that much, I predict grumpy type-A personality bean counters in your future, even if they would have paid the same money to someone else.

Some places also have lumping requirements preventing drivers from self-lumping for insurance purposes.

That said, I have seen a 450 dollar lumping fee for 100 cases on 4 pallets, once. I was sorely tempted.

 

There's many places that won't provide a pallet jack. So unless you carry one you have to pay the lumper.

Or must have steel toes, or a hard hat, etc and they won't loan any out.

 

Anybody remember Kraft Foodservice in Phoenix on Van Buren , they really sucked.
I chuckled when Kraft fired them all and shut down there foodservice divisions.
Karma comes around.