lumper fees...why???

Forgive my naivete', but in the instances where you are paying yourself the lumper fees to unload the truck, I have a couple of questions.

Is your company aware of you doing this, and are they OK with it?

If so, do you just make out the comcheck to yourself?

Thanks in advance for the info.................

 

The last Reefer Company I worked knew how I did things and were ok with it. Like I said they were reimbursed for all money spent on lumpers by the shipper.
The Reefer places before that, again, they knew when lumpers were going to be needed before I picked up the load. So I would usually get cash from my fuel card before I needed it or after I was finished the load I would get a comcheck from my company cashed, with my percentage added on of course.
Did they know I added extra for me...
























Hell no. They don't need to know everything I do. Just remember to get or make out a receipt for the full amount.

 

I really have no argument against what you are saying except there is a world of difference between boards & little bitty boxes.
But it would be great if we never had to worry about that crap, but we do. So why not make the most of it while it is this way.

 

Yes essentially I have to pay that $500. What I do is send a qualcomm message requesting authorization to pay the lumper the fee they are charging, sometimes as low as $65 bucks but today was the highest I've seen. So they send an authorization code out to the truck and the money is now on my comdata fuel card. I then call the 800 number on the back of the card and enter my pin number and go through the menu to make a draft or draw that money off and transfer it onto a comchek I have on the truck.

So my company fronts me the $500 then I pay the lumper. Now it is on me to make sure I send in the receipt otherwise the $500 will come out of my next paycheck.

I tell ya I don't like this system. I don't want to be the middleman. I don't want my money mixed up in this at all. I say let's get a separate comdata type card that is strictly company money for lumpers. Or maybe send in the comchek number along with the qualcomm macro asking for authorization and have them directly load the money on the check from there.

 

the small company I work for YES. the broker pays whomever it is. I just ask the lumpers how much it will be then decline their service, unload it, cash the comcheck or whatever and include a reciept with my name on it when I send in the paperwork

 

Thanks, scottied67. That is a totally nutso way of doing things.
Don't forget to send in that receipt!

 

My company sends me the code for the comchek. I send them the receipt in the trippak

 

Without the receipt, the company may not be able to bill the customer to recover the lumper's fee...and they certainly couldn't write it off on their taxes as a business expense, so they really want make sure they get that receipt. If there is no penalty for not sending in the receipt, the driver might not be as likely to see to it that the receipt is forwarded to the company.

Many states have laws prohibiting employers from withholding money from an employee's pay to reimburse the company for a loss caused by the employee. The way around that is to give the employee a short term loan....an advance on a future paycheck. If the receipt is turned in, the loan has been repaid and no deduction is made from that future paycheck. If no receipt is turned in, the money is deducted from the next paycheck because the driver has already been paid that money. The employee is motivated to make sure the receipt gets turned in because it will be a substantial financial hit if he does not, and the company is not violating any laws recovering the money from the driver if the receipt is not turned in.

Works the same way at a lot of companies for any other reimbursed expense, too. Either pay for it out of your own pocket and turn in the receipt to be reimbursed, or the company gives you an advance on your next paycheck and you turn in the receipt so that the money is not withheld from that check.

I have never liked other people messing with my paycheck, so I always had a credit card that I'd use for reimbursed expenses. I'd charge it, submit the receipt, and by the time the bill came I had been reimbursed so I could pay it off and not get charged any interest.

 

Good points, Pedigreed Bulldog. I hadn't thought of the receipt-go-round that way. Makes sense. Thanks. That's one heck of an incentive!

 

Another reason to pay lumpers is, say you have a pallet with several hundred of the same items, and cases of mixed items, YOU have to count and breakdown the pallet, count and sort all the items, I would rather sit in my truck and do paperwork, or just plain relax, when the lumper is done, I cut him a comcheck or pay him in cash my company advances me, much easier.