I checked in with the security guard once I arrived and then began the procedural dance. Park in the gravel lot. Walk to the receiving office and check in. Wait in the truck until they call on Channel 16. Answer the CB. Proceed to my door. Back in. Unhook from the trailer and wait inside by my dock door. Go out to the truck and get a ComCheck for the lumper. Wait for them to call on Channel 16 and tell me that I can leave.
Yeah, I got that call after a couple of hours. "ConWay in Door 96, you can park in the gravel lot and walk to the receiving office for your paperwork." Well that sounds pretty basic. I sent in my empty call before hooking to my trailer and leaving. As I started to back under the trailer, it didn't feel like it was empty. I had to press the accelerator a little to get my truck to scoot under. That's unusual. Maybe the fifth wheel needs some grease or something. I pulled forward a few feet and went back to close the doors. Umm. My trailer was full of bottled water. Guess I shouldn't have sent that empty call after all. I walked inside and asked the lumpers to explain what was going on. No explanation from them. I closed it up and headed out to the gravel lot, then walked to the receiving office. The lady in there ignored my question but kindly stamped my paperwork. Load shifted. Refused.
There were no issues visible when I opened the door, so as nearly as I can tell they got halfway into the trailer before seeing a problem and deciding to stop unloading. Then they piled the pallets back in and tossed a bunch of loose cases on the tailgate, just for good measure. Well isn't that nice. After seeing the handiwork of the beer guy last week, I'm pretty sure these peckerheads could have unloaded this trailer today. I went to the lumper desk and asked for my $95 back. Yeah, as if. According to them, they have no say in whether or not the consignee accepts the load. They essentially re-loaded the water for free, to hear them tell the tale. Well how charitable of them. Isn't that nice. I don't anticipate any issues with getting my reimbursement from my employer but we'll have to see.
When you are waiting for your next load assignment, being attached to a trailer full of water is not the ideal position in which to be. Nothing I could do until we figured out how to handle mucha agua. I made my call to Joplin and got the ball rolling. Then the claims people had to deal with the customer before they could tell the dispatching people what to do with me. After a few hours I was sent to a little auto repair shop down in Fayetteville to get the load restacked. It was at least a little reassuring to see one of my coworkers there getting his trailer restacked when I arrived. Guess I wasn't the only one this week. And his was worse than mine.
The guy at the shop told me that it would take four or five hours, so I had time to drop my trailer and head out for some dinner. By the time I made my way back to the shop, maybe an hour later, they were finished. My original load consisted of 22 pallets of water. Now I have 21 pallets of water and one empty pallet. Either there were a bunch of damaged cases or the shop guys took a street tax. It's not my job to investigate these things, but we'll just say that I have my suspicions.
Now I'm back in Dunn, waiting for the word from headquarters on when I'll be able to try another delivery. They seem to think that I can get in tomorrow at some point. Then I get to jump through more hoops, take another $95 advance to pay a lumper... again, and deal with more hassles since there appears to be a missing pallet. Hopefully the
Looks like I should have a fast enough connection to watch baseball and hockey tonight. Life could be worse.
Joe Im not a driver (yet) but I never have understood the lumper deal.
ReplyDeleteIf you run a warehouse wouldn't you want some employees there so your product will be unloaded and put up in a proper manner and time?
These lumpers just kinda hang around the dock and don't really work for the company right?
Truckers usually pay them and not the receiver is this correct?
I'm not sure where the distinction was made way back when (perhaps some of the old hands could shed some light here) but the lumpers tend to be mainly at grocery warehouses, as opposed to typical consignees receiving their own product. I can see where it benefits the warehouse not to pay any unloading employees. They just say that the unloading is our problem and, oh by the way, these guys here will do it for an exorbitant price. Since we (drivers) can only use their pallet jacks and not the forklifts, it's easier on our end just to pay them.
ReplyDeleteWe pay the lumpers and not the consignee. Then I would assume that we bill the shipper, since most of our freight bills are paid by the shippers. Then the shipper factors the cost into the price of the goods. It's one big weird circle that tends to be a pain in the ass for the driver as much as anything. It makes no difference to me who unloads the trailer, but floating a hundred bucks to my employer until the reimbursement hits my next paycheck can be annoying sometimes.
http://www.a1lumpers.com/index.html
ReplyDelete