Lumpers are regularly, and often integrally, used in today’s trucking industry. Trucking companies or carriers, both big and small, warehouses, brokers, and shippers hire lumper services, considered third-party operations at large. What is a lumper? A lumper unloads cargo and sometimes sorts that cargo. They are onsite at warehouses, predominantly food and grocery storage facilities, ready to empty the trailer shipment.
What Does a Lumper Service Do?
A lumper service consists of a team of workers trained to handle the unloading of a variety of truck cargo. This could include special instructions for perishable foods, especially refrigerated edibles, delicate goods, and large items in pallets. That means that lumpers are adept at driving and maintaining forklifts and other machinery specifically designed for unloading trailers full of products. Because lumpers are specially trained, they can get the job done quickly and without incident.
Truck drivers can certainly unload the cargo they haul if they are allowed to by the trucking company they work for. Some truckers do get paid to unload their trucks themselves. But that is increasingly not standard practice in the industry. Because of potential injury, especially with loads and equipment the truck driver may not be familiar with, trucking companies prefer to go with a lumper service. That absolves the company of possible liability and frees the driver to get a bit of rest during the time that the lumpers are unloading the trailer.
Why Is It Cost-Effective to Use a Lumper Service?
Also, by hiring a lumper service, companies and distributors can save millions each year. Contracting a lumper service to do the heavy lifting means that warehouses don’t need dedicated employees to do the unloading. That’s automatic savings on salaries, payroll taxes, and workers’ compensation insurance. A lumper service eliminates the risk of injury for employees.
What Is a Lumper Fee and How Much Do Lumpers Make?
So, what is a lumper fee? Typically, lumpers make anywhere from $100 to $500 per job depending on the hours and the amount of work. Lumper fees are usually paid by the driver of the truck the lumpers are unloading. Also, lumper fees are usually paid on-site after the job is completed.
In the past, lumper fees were paid in cash or by industry-specific checks. That created a time-consuming and paper-shuffling nightmare. Plus, drivers needed a lumper receipt for reimbursement purposes and hard copy receipts were easily misplaced. Today, electronic payments are standard when paying for lumper services. It’s easier, faster, and you have an instant receipt right on your device that shouldn’t get lost.
What Should Be on a Lumper Receipt?
Typically, lumper receipts should detail the date, time, amount, and some description of the lumper service. Here at Apex Capital, we regularly see lumper receipts as part of the invoices that our clients send for factoring. Drivers are not responsible for absorbing lumper fees, so lumper payments are usually reimbursed by the broker or the shipper.
Finding the right factoring partner can be key to ensuring trucking company success. Apex factoring is here to help you manage your cash flow with a variety of valuable tools as well as excellent customer service and back-office support, including lumper receipts. Call us at 855-369-2739 or get started here.