Lumpers - are they needed

Where the heck is OUR $35 an hour then? At least YOU get to go home every day. So stop acting like lumpers are higher up the food chain. It's still up to US to get the goods there safely.

Hmm let's see. 0.32 cpm * 55mph == $17.60 per hour. Now what about all those hours we got to put into our day when we're not driving? Think we get paid for that? Think we get overtime? What if somebody asked you to swipe off the clock and then go back to do more work? You'd be pissed wouldn't you?!

 

Why do we have to wait for the lumpers? unload the whole truck with a fork lift and split the load on your time and let the truck driver go to get the next load faster which in turn makes less down time for you. Thats a WIN-WIN situation for both of us. We hate lumpers for mainly 2 reasons, 1- you get paid more money to unload than we do so why should we unload and take your job away,2- is keeping us at the dock when we can be driving (if the wheels aren't turnin there is no money being made.) And another thing is alot of us have done your job but then there is the guy who has to clean bathrooms and you wouldnt want his job for less now would you?

 

Can a receiver force you to use lumpers?

Had an incident that involved freight on the floor (no pallets). Receiver said it would take to long if I did it, so I hired lumpers.

My question is.....Can you legally refuse to hire lumpers? If yes, can the receiver refuse to receive the freight?

Any other comments on the non-use of lumpers is greatly appreciated.

 

The company you drive for should pay for the lumper, It is stated in there broker agreements, to pat and add on.

The driver should never be the one footing the bill, despite what they tell you unless its a new account for them they went thru this with another driver they knew before you arrived.

Make the company pay you the same as they would the lumper and smile all the way to the bank... Remeber they only know what you tell them, and turn in on a reciept.

 

Powder Joints, I didn't "foot-the-bill". I was reimbursed.

I was just wondering, that when the work assignment calls for "driver unload", and I actually want to do it, can the receiver prevent me from doing so? Or does making a fuss about it, create "a-can-of-worms" that is best left alone?

When I'm not tired and feel up to it, I don't mind unloading. Gives me a chance for a couple extra bucks.

 

If you are a company driver or a leased O/O then you do what your carrier tells you to do, period. The carrier should also pay via comcheck/t-check directly to the lumper service. You should never pay out of pocket, just be sure to hang onto that lumper receipt. If you are running under your own authority, then you are the one signing the contract and you can do whatever you think you can get away with.

Its not a matter of legal/illegal. Its a matter of the contract between the purchaser/shipper/receiver and the carrier. The contract will state how to handle the lumper situation. If you refuse to use the lumper service, most likely you are breaching the contract between your employer and their customer.

Now, I think the lumper service is about the biggest scam in the trucking business. However, it is somewhat justifiable in some instances. For example, the biggest grocery warehouse in my area is SuperValu in Hopkins, Mn. They do warehousing for SuperValu stores, but also for Cub Foods, Target, County Market and some other grocery stores. Lumper services are one way that the SuperValu warehouse can keep an accurate record of how much to charge their customers for their warehousing/ distribution services. Lumper services such as PLS are an authorized, 'trusted' (LMAO!) 3rd party that the purchaser and the warehouse agree on for charges. IMHO, the purchaser is getting scammed, but that's between the purchaser, the warehouse and the lumper service.

In short, its a scam that's above our pay grade to try to fight.

 

ton bundle,

Great info, thanks. It certainly is beginning to look like the "can-of-worms" a driver is smart to avoid. I'll take your advice and let the "higher-pay-grades" fight it out.

 

I was also going to say that lumper fees can be a way of shippers and receivers to indemnify each other for mistakes and other things.

I have one receiver that doesn't charge a lumper fee unless there is a load shift or broken bag due to poor loading. So if the load is sealed and there is shift or damage, the receiver will charge an unloading fee so they don't foot the labor costs of restacking or clean up.

I have another customer that will not use pallets, so they floor load their boxes and the receiver charges them a stacking fee, based on number of packages, for unloading and stacking the pallets. The fee is cheaper than the price of the pallets, or it is some 'green initiative' or whatever.

Its all a PITA, but customers are hard to come by right now, so we just say 'yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!'

I actually have a bigger problem with the receivers that charge outrageous unload penalties for missing unloading appointments. I know of one receiver in my area that charges $1000 for a missed appointment, no excuses. Yes, you should always be on time, but warehouses don't break down, get caught in traffic jams, DOT inspections, white- out blizzards, or interstates getting closed, etc. There is no way they incurr loss of $1000 for a late truck, it is just a profit center for them to make money off of the carrier.

 

Not really. I only do grocery warehouses and see this issue alot. My company pays us, and well i might add, to break down our own loads. I won't go into lots of detail. Most lumper services run the other way when they see our loads and don't want to do them anyway. LOL. Our loads sometimes take quite a while at certain customers. I have had them try to force me to hire a lumper cause i was taking to much time, LMAO, I can do our loads quicker than 3 lumpers could even think about. I just laugh at them and tell'em not a chance. I have even been told by a warehouse manager that i was going to have to hire a lumper cause they needed to get done and go home. My answer well iguess i'll take the rest of this stuff back with me then and you won't have it to ship to your customers. They shut up and leave us alone. I must say though our company really gives us a lot of leniancy to do what we got to do in these instances. They don't want to hire a lumpoer they would rather pay us good money to do it. If you want to unload your load don't let them tell you otherwise unless your company has special arrangments that forbid you. Most drivers I see won't touch nothing on their trucks because they are to "whatever" ( fill in your own word) I personally like making $50 an hr to get a little more exercise.

Supervalu just got sued over a scam that basically did not allow drivers to unload their own freight because of unrealistic insurance requirements. Supervalu also lost the lawsuit.

 

super value lost because they broke the law it is illegal for them to force you to use a lumper but you must have the correct clothing and safety shoes and other certifications the warehouse requires such as electric pallett jack etc but if you have all of that it is illegal to make you use lumpers