I was talking to a coworker yesterday who filled me in on something I had no awareness of.
Here is what this is about from a thread on a trucking website:
“Lumpers are essentially free labor for the warehouses as they force truck drivers and/or carriers to pay for their services. These people, (often illegal aliens,) contract their services to load and unload trucks. Either you pay them, or the company does. Most carriers use Comdata to pay the lumpers.
You call the company, give them the extortionist’s rates,the company gives you a Comdata number to place on the check, and eventually, your truck will be unloaded.
If you choose not to use a lumper, assuming you are not at a warehouse that requires you to use a lumper, you must unload the truck yourself. You will also have to break down each pallet to the way the warehouse wants is done. This can mean anything from re stacking an entire pallet, or maybe just taking the top layer or two off and placing those boxes on another pallet. Each warehouse is different, but they will normally give you a breakdown sheet that shows how each pallet will be. ”
It would be cheaper for a trucker to take out a ‘hit’ contract on the warehouse manager and make it’s cancellation dependent on the manager giving the truck driver a complimentary Comdata #. Seems to be a reasonable exchange to me.
off topic: many on this blog will enjoy the political humor in these pictures:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-06-29/okuna-my-data