Those lumpers!!!

I agree, it’s a pain. But there’s a reason why it’s the way it is. It’s all about the warehouse capacity. Warehouse rack fits 5 or 7 high. Shipper doesn’t want to ship it that way. Shippers Operation stacks them 8 high. Shipper sells a Truckload at a certain price FOB that equates to more product. Shipper Pays the Lumper bill. Part of the Cost to ship. Thank the bean counters in the Grocery Business. It’s a major inconvenience for all, till it’s on the warehouse shelf. The Shippers free to double stack, combine product, whatever they need to do, to get more freight on the Truck, to make more money and save on Shipping. Especially when they combine multiple stops. All said and done, it’s still way cheaper paying stop pay, Lumpers, even Layover pay, then Shipping it LTL. The blame goes on the Receiver, but the problem is created by the Shipper.

 

Why not? He simply put out money that’s normally subject to tax. Like a loan, then got it reimbursed.Sure you’re not thinking of Per Diem? The example he used doesn’t make sense either. He paid $300 to Unload. Broker paid $3300, $3000 for Load, and $300 unloading expense. So he keeps the receipt for $300, writes it off as a Business expense. Leaves $3000 taxable, ( Not yet counting other Business Deductions ) It’s a wash, both examples. If I’m wrong, wouldn’t be the first time. That’s my understanding of it.

 

The receivers don’t want the Liability of Workman’s comp claims, nor do they want the hassle of hiring and firing or trying to get their employees to work harder to get the Trucks unloaded. Cheaper to use a Lumper service. Kroger recently did this. Got rid of their Drivers for the same reason. Now delivering to Kroger is worse than ever. Meijer is one of the few that still unload their Freight. They initially were one of the first places I ever had to work off a build sheet, when the current inventory systems were new. I once had a whole load, each box had to go onto a roller, then went for a ride, got scanned and stickered with a bar code. Came back to Me, and I had to stack it back onto the pallets again. Same tie and height. It was a disaster. Lot of Drivers got injured. One Guy I worked with ran his foot over with a pallet jack. Pretty sure on purpose. He sued them. I was new, paid by the hour. Still a lot of work. I must have been there 5-6 hrs. Since then Meijer has changed the whole system, streamlining it. And only their Workers unload freight. It’s a breeze to deliver to them now. But it’s all tied together with the reasons they do things Today. I scan something at the Self Scan at Walmart, it automatically gets reordered, through the chain. Truckers and Lumpers take up the slack in the chain, between Shippers Dock, and Customers Dock. At least Walmart finally doesn’t require payment. Most water shipments are pre paid. They’re always the same tie and height. Lumping is a Scam, $300 for a straight pull is rediculous.Im actively avoiding all Grocery warehouses. Mainly because of the time it takes to unload. I’ve been doing multiple deliveries, 2, 3,sometimes 4 or 5, on my Loads out of the house for the past 10 yrs. Just to make the extra it paid. Too stressfull. I’m done with it. That’s why I won’t pull a Reefer. I’m sure they’re making a killing right now. I ain’t doing it.

 

I’ve pulled enough different trailers End of year, I’m sure it all comes out to within a couple hundred dollars IN your pocket, just on what you want to deal with to make it

and I’m over dealing with Americold for 11.5 hours for 3 pallets

 

I said this in another thread, if that's the difference between the trailers moneywise one versus the other at year's end then you're not doing it right. The consistency of better rates and more cash flow for me with a reefer versus a van it's not even close. And none of the "horrors" one deals with are really that bad if you have some perspective.

 

My examples don't really compare. As a W2 employee, I was getting taxed on reimbursements as if they were wages. So every paycheck, there would be a small portion of my own money that was being taxed at whatever rate they were withholding. Maybe I could have fixed it or corrected it, but it was such a small amount and I wasn't staying with that company for very long anyway. But as a company, I can add it to expenses when I file and the taxes stay the same. As a business, I keep every receipt and expense, but as an individual I wasn't itemizing at the time, so didn't keep receipts to try and reconcile the difference at the end of the year or whatever. I didn't know, and it wouldn't have been worth the effort to me.

Either way, I don't feel it's proper for carriers to be involved in or extend credit for lumper services. For people that factor, wouldn't they be getting screwed like in my company driver example? The factoring company is going to treat that $300 as income, take their cut, and then deposit that lower amount into your account.

The only benefit I see is that the drivers are on site when the service occurs, so they are in a position to handle the transaction. But if that's the case, then someone from the receiver or brokerage should work 24/7 to handle it, prepay for the service, or carriers should charge a processing and convenience fee on top of the lumper bill.

 

I see what you mean. I missed the point.

 

What you fail to realize, it adds extra expenses to an owner operator. Yes we get reimbursed, but we put the money out of our pockets, and brokers usually pay an invoice in 30 days. Also there are expenses that we don't. For example, the check fees, when the receiver doesn't accept credit cards or cash. And some brokers charge up to $20 for an EFS check. I use nastc and have a fleet one, and can issue my own checks. They still charge me $3 per check, so it can add up.

 

I agree, It’s a joke.