Being your own lumper?

This is exactly why I never got into it. Your company doesn’t dispute lumper charges from the receiver because they don’t have a choice. They do have a say in how much you get paid though. I was a lease operator for a mega carrier when I first started trucking. Asked about lumping my own load and the pay was half of what the lumper service charged. No thank you! Too much work, too much risk, too much time spent breaking down pallets. If you refuse the lumper service you won’t get any help or advice from them, so you’re 100% on your own. Those guys are as cutthroat as they get.

Take the advice of all the other guys that commented before me... pay the lumper service and then go take a nap, watch a movie, or whatever. Some things just aren’t worth the money.

 

You wanna lump your own loads?

Food service. Or LTL. We touch every piece, and do it with a hand jack.

 

.....lol

 

When I pulled reefers, I lumped my own loads for years. The company paid us the same amount they would pay a lumper service. I made, cash/no taxes, between $200 - $500 weekly doing my own lumping.
Some places wouldn't let us use any electric equipment unless we had a license for it, so we bought a fake license off the internet; not making this up, it's true.
I logged "sleeper berth" because I'm no angel and really wanted the money for my family.

 

hammer down

 

It is easier to get into certain freight or types of trucking that does not involve lumping. Once you discover that breakthrough, you will be better off without it.

 

Some load like meat are in 75lbs boxes and sit on the trailer floor. So you have to pickup each box and put them on pallet. Some loads can be on 20 pallets and breakdown to 40 pallets. I remember Sysco had regular pallets then some stuff had to go on small wood, extend small pallets.

They will tell you the Tigh and High of the load. You have beakdown pallets and separate each different product and you have to stack them to their spec. Like 5 boxes per pallet per layer or it could be 8 boxes per layer and 4 high/layers per pallet.

 

Exactly, which Walmart employee will be driving your truck after you throw out your back and have already been dispatched on the load after your Walmart unload? The unloading time burns up your clock and you aren't likely to be faster than the lumpers that know where everything goes and can use the electric pallet jacks or forklifts.