Lumpers - are they needed

Good advise. It's not considered a cash advance (therefore no fee) if it is given to a lumper direct.

 

Look. Somebody has my money until my paperwork is processed and I'm compensated. Therefore, somebody has my money interest free for a short time. It's a safe bet that the people who reimburse me are the same people who borrowed my money.

 

DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!


My point exactly, and some bottom feeding lowlife company will delay paying it.

 

Wrong. Once that truck enters the property and backed up to the dock, then the contence are the responsibility of the receiver.

If I pull up to a place and am told I need to pay lumper fees then leave and go to the truck. Contact the boss and tell him that they want money from me to unload the truck. My boss then calls them and next thing I know, I am backing up and getting unloaded without being charged personally. I have yet to see it deducted from my check. My boss has yet to pay it either. He contacts the shipper and they take care of it period.

 

I think all the big trucking companies should take a stand and tell the grocery places to stick it if they want there #### they can unload it or close the doors and take it back
If enough people would do this they would cure the lumper prob there only going to get worse and worse

 

I just accept the lumper deal, and make money on it when I can. We have basically all dedicated accounts, so we know what the fees will be. In most places, we have accounts to just charge it.

For the ones we don't, I can pay cash and be reimbursed the following week on my paycheck, or get an advance from my Trans Platinum card before going. Either way, nothing out of my pocket.

However, we do have a few stops that are gravy unloads. They take the product off, and we break it down. Usually it'll be something like 21 pallets breaking down to 30 or similar. These pay between $50 and $100 depending on the stop, and I can hammer them out in around an hour. Who can complain about $100/hour?

There is only one load we take, and it only comes around a few times a year for the company, that we basically have to do ourselves. Its a load of Whipped Topping to Aldi distribution. The give you a POWERED jack to unload, and its 3 layers off every pallet. Pays $75 and takes about 2 1/2 hours. The stuff is LIGHT though.

 

The problem is, this won't happen. the bigger companies have a bit more pull, and they are able to negotiate a higher rate to be paid to them, and a lower rate paid to the lumper. IE: They get $100, but the lumper gets $75.

Besides, if it went away completely, I'd lose my gravy money... lol

 

Things are not likely to change in the near future. But I reserve the right to complain until then. And I'm sure that there are drivers like me that would gladly do a lumper's job if only to help eliminate the need for lumpers altogether. But often unloading yourself is not an option. Some loads would take half a day to unload since you have to break down the load after the initial unload, then reload onto other pallets. The lumper is likely to have a forklift and won't let you use it. Then there's labeling the individual boxes. Why not have the driver put the load on the shelves as well?

The shipper knows about the lumper cost. The receiver knows about the lumper cost. The trucking company knows the lumper cost. All three also know how much the load costs and the cost to move the load. Assuming that it's OK to force a driver to pay for a lumper, why doesn't the driver just pay for the entire deal, then get reimbursed?

 

call the US marshalls office. It is illegal for any company to expect you to pay for them to unload their own freight. Whether lumpers are used or not. They do that to you because you allow it. call the right people, stop allowing it, and it wont happen. They cannot charge you or anybody else to unload THEIR freight. Period. Its "un-american".