Paid more for unloading my truck than driving it?

I used to give those boys $200 through the company and tell them to wake me up when finished when I worked for a minimum wage otr company for 11 days.

 

I've never worked anywhere where the carrier didn't pay whatever the the going lumping rate is. There are no surprises in this industry anymore. They build the lumping charges into the rate. And for a driver to take $75 to unload when the carrier built in $300 to unload, is not too smart on the driver's part. And if the driver pockets the $300 lumper advance and unloads himself, then gets hurt or tries to claim he's out of hours??? You're pushing your luck my friend.

Give them what they want, and stay in the truck. Save your hours. besides, unload your truck often enough and it's only a matter of time something happens, you get hurt, and you are going to likely find yourself without any meaningful compensation or healthcare reimbursement from EITHER side.

 

OK?,you said you paid more for lumper service than you got paid for the load?, Then you lost money?, Or are you a company driver where your company paid for the lumper?

 

When I discuss lumping, i discuss this with the assumption we are talking about "typical truckload drivers" (not food-service/institutional specialty) ... the food-service drivers and the "tyson type" drivers are often expected to unload their own product as part of the service.

 

Please tell me more about how this 'pallet exchange' / pallet sale works. I've seen it mentioned twice, and it seems like something I could use as another revenue stream.

 

It is against Federal law to be forced to hire lumpers. FMCSA will investigate any reports of this. See this OOIDA article for more information:

http://www.ooida.com/Education&BusinessTools/Resources/Lumping_regs.shtml

 

Google pallet recycling in whatever city you're in. The recyclers usually pay about $1/skid unless is heavy duty, in which they pay a bit more. These are Chicago prices, and they pick them up. Don't try to sell Chep pallets either.

 

So you ask for your pallets back from the receiver then?

 

Most (many) pallets are CHEP and can not "sold" or exchanged except through the CHEP system. Otherwise, I can't justify anyone driving perhaps across town, in traffic, losing an hour or more of time, missing PU appointments, and burning $15-$20 worth of fuel to "make" $16-$24 in selling pallets ... and these are the ones wanting to get into truck ownership and leasing??