Walmart Steals from the Poor...

I have "given" my efforts away before just so I could keep on schedule or get ahead of schedule. Personally my reputation for being on time out ways the $50 I would make lumping those 7 pallets. With the freight I haul and the company I'm leased to we (the company and all its O/O) strive to be on time 100% of the time.

I do LTL reefer every week (5-15 stops) and I have yet to visit one of these "complicated and dangerous" warehouses. If I'm in a warehouse with a lot of equipment traffic near the docks I simply break the pallets down in my trailer. As for the complicated stuff...whats so complicated? All the docks I've been to give you a pick sheet listing items with a tier listing (so many per tier X tiers high on the pallet). Every different item has its own pallet and then wrap, tape, or rubber band the top row...simple, but yet so complicated.

The lumpers are paid cause the majority of drivers are to lazy to unload the freight and collect the money themselves. Trucking companies figured this fact out long ago and pretty much gave up on offering to pay the drivers...so now many have banned driver unloads. There has only been 1 warehouse that wouldn't allow me on the dock (Maines Paper up in Conklin, NY) due to the amount of paperwork that myself, my company, and even the vendor would have to fill out. So far this has been the only place that was a issue.

 

Every company I ever worked for would only pay the driver $30 to $50 for lumping the load, but pay $300 for a lumper. Why should I sweat my ### off for several hours and break down pallets for $30 when the company pays several times that for lumpers?
Company I now work for forbids the drivers from the docks.......loading or un-loading. Boss says "our" job is to drive the truck, not load/un-load freight.
If we get a broker load that requires unloading (which is rare), they pay a lumper service.
Most of our freight is inter-plant or customer moves anyway, so there is no stress involved.

 

They quit paying drivers to unload (except for an amount too small to bother with) at my carrier because they got tired of the workman's comp claims when the drivers hurt themselves... cheaper to pay the lumpers.

 

Getting even for a couple of hours of downtime by committing a felony? Sure, that makes sense. He'll go to jail, but he sure showed them!!

 

Ok, I suggest you check your facts before bashing, and no, I'm not defending Walmart. They require THREE YEARS recent OTR and no more than TWO jobs in that 3 years. I looked at them a couple of years back and didn't qualify, since my wife and I had 2-3 companies pretty much shut down on us.

I'll also say that I've delivered inside at a Walmart DC.. when I worked for Zeigler's Apple Cider in PA - I unloaded my own using one of our power pallet jacks - the place was buzzing like a beehive, so I doubt folks were sitting around playing cards while the drivers waited.

 

Many Shippers/Receivers have requirements that may seem ridicules....
Even some carriers who broker their loads....One that has orange rigs and trailers comes to mind....If you want to sign a freight agreement with them...You best be at least 51% minority owned or they won't even consider you....That's life in the big old "cruel" world however.......

 

First, Walmart farms out thier grocery DCs to outside carriers. Most loads out of thier GM DCs are hauled by thier private fleet, which has high standards for hiring drivers. They do use outside carriers, especially doing the holidays.

Second, if you do not like the way Walmart(or any reciever operates), don't take a load there. They all have procedures for a reason.

 

there are some DC's i WISH a hundred trucks would hit...REPEATEDLY