Telling you that you can't unload yourself is illegal. They can be jerks and make you use a manual pallet mule. I was going to do one once. They wouldn't let me touch the elctric one without a certification. There way of keeping the lumper employed. My load assignment said "Unilever will not pay to unload." I got them to give me an PO number and that was all done with a Comcheck. It had to be broken down etc. I won't do it. Walmart doesn't give you the option. Swift has an account so no "biggie."
not anymore with wal-mart. Least the last few DCs i've been to that have been drops, its a $50 charge paid via Comchek. Manual pallet jack dont bother me...manual labor dont bother me. the biggest headache would be to break down 30-50 pallets into 100 pallets, then having to decypher the lumper paperwork so you break it down right. next time, if it will end up saving me time, i'll just do it myself. I ended up bumping the dock at 22:30, lumpers didnt show up till 23:30, and i was in 5 min later. Wasnt till 06:00 till they were done. But atleast i got my split sleeper in, and can make my 13:00 pick up headed to eastern TN no problem.
if you dont sweep out your trailers for your co workers your a dick plain and simple. its a 3 minute job, be considerate of the next guy who has to pull it. at least look if its clean before you just leave it. as for the topic at hand, i do it. i hate lumpers and them telling you you dont even have the option is a crock and even more of a scam. i have had it where tha pallets were too heavy and i had the pay them, luckily there it was 50 and they actually did it quickly. why is it the more it costs the slower they seem to go btw? haha. i have never had lumpers at a wal mart dc. of course i have only done a small handful of live unloads with them.
what goes around comes around as far as sweeping out a trailer. its part of the job. and if you dont think that, then its just plain courteous for the next driver. much like holding the door open for a fellow driver who is 5 paces behind you. as far as the whole lumper thing goes....if they really want to make me do a song and dance, pretend like they are 'all powerfull' and 'own' you....i always get under their skin by asking the guy who is lumping, "so how much of that $300 fee i paid do you actually get?" (that is if they can actually understand english.)
One thing some lumpers do is disappear. Sometimes standing there and watching them gets it done faster. When I sent a message to Swift Piggly Wiggly wouldn't let me unload the dock supervisor was out and running telling me it wasn't so! He asked and I showed him who denied me. I got it unloaded with a lumper as I wasn't about to break down the pallets. If I was an owner op I would tell them unload without pay. Not my freight! If I had to eat the lumper fees that is. I delivered to the Newport News AAF exchange. $350 to unload vacuums. Was told the conduct of the lumper was my responsibility. Crock of poopy!
oh trust me, if L/Os started having to pay out of pocket for lumper and not get reimbursed, i'd be sure to never take a live unload load again.....EVER. and if i did, it was going to be t-called. I'm not paying out of pocket to the shipper for something they ordered.
Sounds like all things trucking to me. First you start to "help" to unload your truck to get things moving a bit faster, next you figure you may as well do it and pocket the cash as you are faster than the lumpers anyway, next the company figures if the drivers don't need lumpers, why are they paying for them, and you end up doing it for nothing, like you already do just about everything else, except drive, for free. I unload, load, tie down, handle paperwork, often without a customer being around. The difference is, I'm paid by the hour, every hour and OT starts at hour 9. Wouldn't have it any other way.
