***the Lumper Scam***

In 1957 I was driving for a bullhauler. Came in from a WI to FL haul and back home to MS. Boss came out and needed a favor. He had a nursery shipping shrubbery north to grocery stores. Some foul up, but needed me to go 20 miles and hook a loaded van trailer and take it to Kroger in Cincinatti, OH.
OK, I go hook, and light out. Pulled in to Kroger about 9:00 AM and circled and backed up close. Guy on dock looks at my bills and says" Yeah, we been needing this". I tell him good, its here. I open doors and back in to hole number 2, and climb up on dock to observe. I'd never seen a load of shrubbery before and have not since.

Shrubbery then was shipped (may still be) like a bush dug up, a round ball of dirt wrapped with burlap, pinned with nails. Rough, sticky, and dirty. Loaded by hand like stacked cordwood across the trailer and alternated top to ball. Real tight stuff to break out.

Moments later a forklift scoots up with a stack of pallets, drops them near me and gone. Next out come the dock guy, drags a pallet from the top of the stack, slams in on the dock and says: Give me ten of the Juniper Pfitzers.. I beg his pardon, what is it he wants? He explains. Its those little sticky ones right there on top at back.

I advised him I drive for a nickel a loaded mile. I don't unload. Ah. Kroger don't unload either. I tell him to mark the bill refused and I will open him some dock space. He will mark it "Driver refiused to unload". That's good with me. He writes, I sign and I stamped the bill in his time clock when he went back in his shack.
Pulled out the gate, lined up right side on curb, walked 10 steps to a phone booth. Called the boss, outlined the situation. He had two questions: Could I stay parked for 15 minutes there and could I hear the phone when he called back.
He called back. Take it to 5th and Grand in Detroit, MI, a street address of a sidewalk shrub vendor. I pulled it there, guy paid for load and hauling in cash and about 10 hands swarmed it and got it off.
I love it when a plan comes together.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was in Woodbridge NJ at the C&S, that place is horrible. I think they hire the guys right out of the prison that's across the street. Anyway, a driver next to me had one pallet so he took an electric jack and took it off. They charged him $60 for using their stuff. I couldn't believe it. They make you have to use the lumpers pretty much. Cause you need an OSHA approved certification and steel toe boots if you want to unload yourself.

 

I would not have paid the $60. A quick call to the company and I bet he would have got out of there w/o paying.

 

Yeah let the company pay them. The companies just bill it back to the shipper, and the shipper bills it back to the reciever. The reason it is done is because the reciever doesn't want to have to pay taxes on the lumpers, or insurance, or worker comp. The recievers know they will wind up paying it, but save money in the long run. In the old days, you could get away with a lot more. Today, let them do it. Besides, they do the best they can to make it hard on you. They make you use the hand jacks, do there best to get in your way. Make it easy on yourself.

 

Oh they needed it OK. Just an Ohio dock boss trying to show the kid driver from Mississippi his was bigger.
His problem was I was used to hauling cattle and hogs. They walk on and off with a HEY-AH or SOO'ooooie. I had just run a load of big Holstien dairy cows from Waukesha, WI to Huntsville, AL, stopped/unloaded there at a sale barn, slept some, reloaded and took them on to Miami to Mc Arthur Dairies.
Laid over that night, scooped out the trailer, washed it, and loaded 300 boxes of oranges back to West Point, MS. then on to Starkville, MS to the shop.
I didn't load or unload the fruit, so the sticky, gummy, dirty shrubs really didn't interst me.
Boss man was good. I never recall him telling me: "Go to Waukesha,WI or Berseford, SD and get a load for Mami."
His request was like this: (my name) could I get you to run up to (either above) and pick up a load we have there. Good equipment, paid us fully and promptly and had repair credit with any IH dealer in the US.

 

Jolli, those were some good stories. Seems like alot has changed. Just know that guys like you give me alot of motivation to stay in this line of work and thanks for your service and passing on your experiences with us newer guys!

 

Thanks for the kind words. Notice you are with CRST. Is this Cedar Rapids Steel Transport???. I use to run double decks of veal calves from stockyards down here in to Rath Packing Co in Waterloo. Hit old IA218 at Keokuk and ran it in to Walterloo. Reason for this is the slickest piece of ice I was ever on was where IA218 hit US30; at Cedar Rapids, then, west jointly to Cedar Falls???, then back as IA218 to Waterloo. Felt like grease under packed snow and all frozen solid. Them were the days. Narrow 2 lane roads with the little raised outer 8 inch angled curb for drainage. Hook your right steer tire up against it, outside drive trying to crawl up it, just sit there and ride. Like being on one flanged railroad track.

 

most all company billing dept know what the receipts and how much the lumpers charge.
here one that happen to me; Had a drop in San Fransico, the lumper showed and unloaded the truck, had a stop in oakland with the same lumper service, my company issused wire codes for both drops but charge me for one of them , they said that there is no way that it was done by the same lumper service......

 

Jolli, yeah, for the moment I am with them. They haul very little steel anymore though...mainly cheap freight. Definately lost the family touch and they still pay new drivers like it was 1952! It's good hearing stories like this....I talked to a Bullhauler from Nebraska a few months ago in Carlisle....he seems to make excellent money and loves the dedicated runs....Is there some type of livestock market in Chicago?