Taking Your Lumps

As promised, here's a post describing an interesting role in the trucking industry, one that we had never heard of before - lumpers.

Basically, lumpers are the people who load and unload trailers, known in the vernacular as "lumping." Not sure where that term came from. If we find out, we'll let you know.

We knew that over-the-road truck drivers typically don't have to load and unload the trailers. We assumed the people who did were warehouse workers employed by the warehouse company. While that is sometimes the case, more often than not the lumpers are freelancers who have permission from the warehouse company to work on the loading dock but aren't their employees. And, the warehouse doesn't pay them - the truck driver does! Even more bizarre is the fact that you don't know what the lumping fee will be until you get to the dock and actually "hire" a lumper. Lori has seen the fees range from about $40 up to the $200 she had to pay the other day to have her load of coffee creamer re-arranged.

Payment is made in cash or through the use of a "Com Data" check, the paper equivalent of a debit card. The driver pays the agreed fee, gets a receipt, and submits it with the rest of the final paperwork for each load so they can be reimbursed by Prime. Prime then charges that amount back to the shipper as part of their final invoice.

Some places will allow the drivers to lump their own loads. If they do, Prime will pay the driver a lumping fee based on the size of the load. But as a rule, most drivers use their dock time to rest up. It's nice to know, though, that you can make a few extra bucks if you want. However, some places make it impossible for a driver to lump the trailer by not allowing "unauthorized" persons to use their pallet jacks or other loading equipment. Some won't even allow drivers off of their truck. The frustrating thing is there are no hard and fast rules on lumping; they vary from company to company.

It seems a person could make a pretty good living as a lumper. But not knowing all the ins and outs, we don't know how someone would get into that line of work or how steady it is. Anyway, it's not a career path we'll be taking!