Lumpers... I don't understand...

No. Ignoring the politics of how a lumper service gets into a receiver, they're a third party who unloads your load instead of the receiver doing it. If anything, they pay the receiver for the "right" to collect from you.

 

lumpers ARE NOT paid by the warehouse.

in fact, THEY HAVE TO PAY the warehouse a small percentage to work there.

how it works is, to cut costs, a warehouse allows lumpers to be on the docks. when you arrive, a fee is told to you, many times (from my past experiences) this fee is non-negotiable.

so you pay the fee, and you get what is supposed to be a form, signed by the lumper for services, and then you hand that into your employer, for reimbursement.

then either at the end of the day, or at the end of the services, the boss lumper pays the warehouse the percentage THEY agreed on.

i cannot say whether or not the warehouse pays for any workman's comp claims, most likely not, as the lumpers may be organized and have thier own insurance, or are on a 1099....

but i have to "surmise" the lumpers sign some sort of wavier to disavow the warehouse from any insurance claims in case of injury.

years ago, lumper services were not organized, like they are today, and i certainly DO NOT MEAN organized as in "the mob"....i mean organized as in a company, rather than individuals.

 

now to further explain lumpers....say you do NOT pay for a lumper, that is ok, you WILL unload your trailer BY YOURSELF..

at one time, my company paid me a whopping $1.00 per 1,000 pounds of freight to unload....

the only time we ever needed lumpers was for a cigarette loads..that was about 40,000 to 45,000 pound loads..

so, if it took my 4 hours, to unload 40,000 pounds of cigarettes, that was a whopping $40......!!!!!

you have better believe, we paid the lumpers the $100 (back then) to unload us, while we sat in our trucks, with the a/c or heater on, and many of us had tv's as well to watch.

no matter what...our company WOULD NOT PAY US the lumper fee's for unloading...>!!!!!!

there was NO WAY to forge signatures, as the warehouse had to document who unloaded us...!!!!

so would i bust my back for 40,000 pounds, for 4, maybe 5 hours, for a lousy $40...????

i think not.

 

Lumpers are big in refrigerated/grocery store wearhouse because most freight has to be separated and setup to fit in their storage racks. So you can do it yourself or pay Lumpers. Some wearhouse even have time limit like 5 hour to unload. So you have to hire lumpers unless you can hand unload 43,000 lbs of beef sitting on the floor in 80bls boxes.

 

I've hauled cereal loads before and the lumper is usually $250-$450. The broker has offered it to me before... sometimes I take it... sometimes I just let them pay it...

 

Yeah, lumpers are kind of the gray area in trucking. Some places won't let you on the dock, but they'll let lumpers. Otherwise, the company dock schmoes will unload you, but to get out of there, many just hire a lumper, and take a nap.
@ buddyd, I hauled cigarettes in a 48' container, and I don't remember them being 40K. I know they were floor to ceiling and in a big plastic bag, but maybe 30K tops. It was one of the few loads I crossed a scale with during the day. Putting them on pallets was easy because they were light. In 35 years, I never paid a lumper.

 

53's, back to front, floor to ceilings...

 

"Lumping" is one of the holdovers from a bygone era in trucking. They are mostly found in the food warehouses. Even Walmart charges $50. The problem is how trucks are loaded. I once hauled a Hershey load with around 18 pallets that after being unloaded broke down to around 40. Just a lot of work. There is also a lot of myths involved too. As a company driver just get your "comcheck" and pay them and go take a nap. The carriers have all the angles covered.

 

Walmart doesn’t charge the $50 unload fee anymore