The Lumper “experience” from my perspective, what's yours?

G-ddamn... that's theft, boy! Then again, the company was cheap so... whatever, did you ever get caught submitting a receipt for "Duie Cheedhum & Howe Local Mafiosi Unloadi"?

And that's why most modern OTR work is NOT driver unload. They took advantage of healthy drivers, those drivers fattened up or left, now they gotta pay lumpers all the time!

Frankly reefer work... I only did it for a few weeks at Roehl because they screwed w/ the pay (it was supposed to be a pay rise but they claimed switching from drybox to reefer took me out of the "gold lane" and so my pay actually went down) but it was literally a 24 hour job. Once I got my first two paychecks and realized what was happening, I said "switch me back to drybox, I'd rather do car parts and walmart".

If you're working off and on for 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, you should just get a flat salary. $100,000 per year or $2,000 a week will get some folks in, you might hafta bump it up to $120,000 or $2,400 per week to keep people long-term though just cuz the reefer lifestyle seemed really really unsustainably bad and drybox jobs w/ more consistent schedules pay 70k-100k now... My local job is 60-70 hours per week if you're fulltime and drivers make about $110,000 per year gross... there is still high turnover because it's all penske rental equipment and folks get fed up breaking down, having to wait for an available truck for 3 hours (even tho they're paid to wait), etc.

I actually had a guy yell at me for tagging equipment w/ bald tires and no license plate OOS because "I'm a part-timer who doesn't give a sh-t about there not being enuff trucks as-is"

and I'm thinking, jesus christ dude have you no common sense? the guy was from haiti tho...

 

Paying lumpers is a holdover from the past. I read a story in one of the trucking industry web sites discussing the old days. Food customers are holding onto it for some reason. The rest of the freight has moved on. Some companies hold onto it today because they get the work of loading/unloading done without hiring any employees and paying those expenses. They put the work out to low-cost lumper companies that will hire any drug addict or any convict willing to show up and work in a sub-zero temp warehouse for $15/hr.

 

Anything that punishes customers for taking hours to load/unload is fine by me. However, private property owners owe no obligation for allowing drivers to stay on their property, HOS or fatigue not withstanding. The postal carrier has no right to sit on your couch or lay in a bed on your property and you have every right to refuse him that ability, even if you took 10 hours to sign for some letter he delivered to you. The HOS do not apply to shippers and receivers. Saying "federal regulations" doesn't make them subject to the HOS. All the customer has to do to kick you off the property is call the cops and have you trespassed. You will get to pay the tow bill and the impound fee.

 

It has mostly to do with insurance, liability and other employment costs.
Just like all the packing houses/ meat companies sub out all their line workers.

 

Haven't stayed after getting paperwork BUT have refused to move from a door until the gave me signed paperwork.

They actually wanted me to sit and wait for 2 more hours till they could count the freight after being there close to 7 hours and expected me to move from the door while I waited.

After refusing to move my paperwork somehow got signed and hand delivered to my truck within 5 min!

 

Are the lumpers insured? If they get hurt in your trailer for whatever dumb reason it might be do they have workmens comp? Are they going after the trucking company if they don't have it? I would assume their very presence on the dock would require them to be somehow insured. Although I bet there are still some shady outfits paying cash or 1099 to their lumping staff. And what if they damage your trailer? Who is responsible for that? Them or the warehouse that hired them? I have never seen or heard anything positive when it comes to lumpers, except maybe getting in a good nap while they "lump".

 

That’s about the only thing they are good for! But if your not wanting a nap, then what?

 

The warehouse/customer hires the Lumper Service. The lumper service hires 1099 contractors (people) to unload the freight. The 1099s have no protection other than what they buy for themself. Most, however don't buy worker's comp insurance. 1099s are essentially the only employee in the business they work for.

 

To hell with shippers/receivers property rights. They choose to bend over for all sorts of FDA, USDA, and other regulations at the local, state, and federal levels. But a trucker sleeping is where they draw the line?!? HA!

If there is going to be an HOS then there have to be places for workers to stop and rest. Period. Either scrap the HOS or scrap shippers/receivers rights to refuse bathroom access/permission to sleep.

 

So you think the government should tell property owners what to do on their property?