Why do lumpers exist?

When I was still an O/O, had three pallets, was told it would cost, $175.00 to unload, I said, I'll do it myself, they informed me I was not allowed to be on the docks, so I told them "I'll just leave then" they said they would call the police on thief of their product, I said "good luck with that" as I was walking back to my truck, I noticed the trailer moving, be fore I could even make it to the truck they had the pallets removed, got my bills never paid a dime! CANT STAND LUMPER RIPE OFFS, companies order product then want to charge to receive it, just a money scam!

 

Someone has to load/unload trailers that can't be loaded/unloaded mechanically or won't walk itself out of a trailer. Lumpers are generally off the carriers' books. Fees for lumper services are either 1) built into the carriers' rate [as are tolls] or 2) billed back to the shipper [good info for a future broker]. Lumpers aren't only at grocery warehouses (I've seen lumpers at non-grocery shippers and receivers; at Sweetheart Cup in Reno years ago, outbound trailers were loaded by lumpers and paid directly by the carrier, which then billed Sweetheart, which got its trailers loaded while saving on employee benefits, tax withholding, and the like. Basically, a tax-and-money-saving game. The carrier was just a pipe through which money flowed. But I do recall one shipper whose loads were all hand loads--the work was done by legitimate employees. It depends on the product and shippers' margins.

When we used lumpers, payment was often a Com-Check, rarely cash, but always immediately reimbursed to the driver if he/she paid. Sometimes we were told to use a specific lumper service and the rate had been worked out before we got to a dock. Sometimes lumper were guys who hung around guard shacks and solicited work from inbound drivers. If the warehouse allowed them in, we used them. Sometimes the lumper is on his own, a true independent contractor; sometimes he's an employee of a lumping service--probably paid by the load/unload.

So, again, lumpers are laborers who are off at least someone's books and who are ultimately paid by the shipper. I will say that many lumpers I met were hard-working guys who needed a few bucks and who were willing to sweat for it while not thinking too much (you can turn off most of your mind while unloading). Many lumpers seemed to me to be druggies or drunks who were trying to dry out. At one place, the guys who lumped a set of pups for me were Marines (El Segundo? El Toro?) picking up extra cash. They raced each other to see who could unload his pup the fastest; laughed and taunted each other the whole time.

Let's face it, unloading trailers is scutwork. I did it when I had to and sometimes I just wanted a bit of exercise; then I was paid by my carrier. And there were times when I was darn glad to see the lumpers. Some accounts are driver unload and you can't get around it. For mulitple drops you wouldn't have a lumper service following you around to each receiver.

http://www.overdriveonline.com/lumper-fees-sometimes-a-little-push-back-works/
I like the comment, "I didn't just show up and ask if you wanted the product."

By the way, UKJ, "Overdrive Online" is worth reading. Subscriptions are free. Good thread. Apologies if I covered ground other posters got to before I did.

 

Technically, the load isn't delivered until it's in the receivers building sitting on the dock; it's part of the truckers responsibility to get it out of the trailer or to pay someone to get the load on the dock. Just being on the property isn't good enough. Low margin businesses, like grocers, try to cut costs any way they can. One receiver in California went so far as to make drivers responsible to get rid of the stretch wrap on the pallets so that the receiver didn't have to pay an employee to deal with it or to pay for the extra cost of trash removal. Their attitude was that they didn't pay for the stretch wrap, they didn't own it and they shouldn't have to deal with it after the delivery. If you had an immediate reload you'd have to find a dumpster somewhere to get rid of the wrap... if not then you could get rid of it at a truck stop.

 

At Price Chopper warehouse in Rotterdam , NY drivers have an option to spend a few hours unload, count, possibly palletize and organize skids into a lane to be inspected themselves, or they can just sleep and the guys will come out with the paperwork when it's done, signed off and ready to roll. The fee was usually a few hundred bucks.


We were told by our carrier that as Canadians we would be contravening immigration laws to work on a dock unloading or loading a trailer, so we were thus required by law to hire a lumper on any dock that did not supply workers (and there were lots of them in the NY/NJ/PA/MD areas that we ran).

 

When I worked for performance food group in Gainesville, we had a thing called "stand by". I'd come in and seep in a truck from 9pm until they needed me in case someone calls out sick.

If no one calls out by 5am, then I would be woken up by dispatch and I'd work from 5am to 7am in the warehouse helping with what needed help.

I unloaded trucks, usually paper trucks that are floor loaded like paper towels. The warehouse utilized a " lumper" service just like I dealt with when I was OTR. The truckers didn't mind it since they were pretty cheap. Only charged a guy about $40 to unload his truck. I remember at food lion in south Carolina I had to pay a lumper $500 to unload 6, yes SIX pallets of cereal.

So yeah, we would unload the first 15 feet of the trailer by hand and palletize the boxes 2x2. Then they had a special machine kind of a like a sideways fork lift that would grab the sides of the boxes and unload them like that. Took about 40 minutes to unload a 53' van floor loaded with paper towels.


I don't miss those days. I too don't understand the lumper thing but now I've seen both sides of it and why it takes a long time at some places.

UKJ, trucking definitely has some weird ways of doing business that's for sure. I'm just glad I haul fuel now and load/unload myself, no lumpers or shippers to deal with lol

 

I agree! As soon as I got the express code for comcheck from my company at the time, the pallets were off in less than 2 minutes.

They used the long pallet jacks like I used at PFG, they would take two pallets at a time. I was just glad I didn't have to pay that bill! Haha

 

A lot of guys used to comment that they were in the wrong business. I believe the lumpers we're chagrin whatever they could get away with charging, irrespective of how much labour was actually involved. I also believe they had us in a good position, since they knew we had no choice but to hire then and they could charge whatever they wanted - we would have to pay. One of those times I was glad to be company driver and not have to haggle with a broker to get that cost covered.