Unload your own truck at Swift?
 

I spoke with someone at the school in Memphis today who said that drivers unload your own trucks. Is this true? I dont mind helping unload, but I dont want to have to unload 40K pounds of freight alone. What gives here? Do you have reimbursement if you hire a lumper to do it?

At Interstate, some loads require driver to take load to the tail, some loads driver assist hand unload, most loads are power on/off. One load I did had 4 stops, 700 cartons and it all had to go to the tail end on roller racks because customers had no docks. I got paid $40 for the first stop and $10 each for the next 3. My back was killing me by the end of the day. I'll never accept one of those again. Another customer we have to hand unload is windows, but that one pays $40 for every stop. You can make quite a bit of extra $$$ if there's a lot of stops. As for hiring lumpers, that all depends on what the customer will pay for and whether or not the receiver has a union on the docks or will let you unload. Some receivers require the driver to have proof of liability insurance in case the driver has an accident on their dock. No insurance means you don't get unloaded until you pay the lumpers. Just be sure that if you unload, you're ready to break down the load per receivers requirements. That can take many hours by yourself.

Whenever there's a Swift truck at a dock next to me, the driver is sitting on his butt just like everyone else.

Whew! That is a relief! LOL. Im good at butt sitting. :D

I knew a guy that worked for Swift about 2 years ago. He had a dedicated account delivering tires to Sears. He had to tailgate the load...but they paid him to do so. He was pretty happy, it got him home on weekends, and he got some exercise. I would guess that most of Swift's loads you dont have to touch though.

I dont mind doing it, I justed to know what I was getting myself into.

The vast majority of dry van freight is unloaded by the customer. In the case of a dedicated account, things are sometimes a little different. Grocery warehouses and some DC (a few WalMarts, e.g.) will require either the driver to unload or a lumper to be hired. In the case of WalMart, the customer and the lumper are one and the same. As far as I know, all of the major companies will pay the lumper. Swift could be an exception, but I doubt it.

On the choice between unloading or paying a lumper, my company has made its priorities pretty clear. We get $17.50 an hour with a two hour minimum. Since I have yet to see a load of this type that would even come close to taking two hours, they are willing to pay me $35 to unload. The lumpers will charge anywhere from $40 to well over $100, depending on the freight. The company pays this higher amount without hesitation. Therefore, I am 100% convinced that having me unload freight is not on their list of priorities.

Edit to add: Lately I would estimate that 80% of the loads don't even involve going to a dock. I roll in with a loaded trailer, drop it, hook to an empty, and leave. (Reverse the process when picking up.)

I only unloaded 1 one load by myself @ gordon and only a couple with assistance... The one I had to do alone sucked. It was a load of gatorade that toppled over somewhere between Oakland,CA and Long Beach,CA. I had to restack the pallets, then pull them up a slight uphill with an old pallet jack... I did get paid like 90 bucks to do it, but thats only a fraction of what gordon would of paid a lumper...

Chris

The Swift recruiter told my class that they had a policy were the driver either had to do a hand load or unload once a week.

WHAT??????????
That is the dumbest policy that I ever heard. OTR drivers should drive, that's it. Customer loads and unloads unless you are a dedicated account and are PAID well to do it(not $25 for a whole trailer). That is a BS policy!

Must be something "new" at Swift.

When I was there drivers were told to expect to unload one trailer per week on the OTR solo fleet. It was just how it figured out.

When I was there they did tend to whine a little when you hired lumpers, but I never seen or heard of them refusing to do so if there were lumpers on site. They would not, however, bring in outside help to off load a trailer.

The only ones you will have to do are tire loads which are driver assist, yeah right, you roll 900+ tires out of the trailer while the "assister" stacks them in the designated pile, (whoo real hard). :roll:

The other one is when you go to some grocery warehouse in Pennsy and have to unload and re-palletize Orowheat cookies, takes about 8 hours. never done it but I heard from many drivers about that load from Hell.

It is mostly 85% drop and hook and the rest are live unloads, which if you require a lumper they have no problem paying for it.

I don't remember when I had to phsyically unload a load, it's been too long ago.

wow i wouldnt last a week at swift. the first time they told me i had to unload a trailer id tell them im not a f@#$%^& lumper

Alot of companies would rather pay a lumper to unload.This way there isn't a chance of the driver getting hurt.The driver can rest while waiting to be unloaded.I have never had to unload a flatbed,don't have lumpers hanging around flatbeds either.Once in a while there might be someone that wants to tarp your load for you.

Okay, time for a quick recruiting lesson. When they start saying, "Oh and you get this and you get that and then you add it all up and the money is pretty good," they're lying. Your miles are the only thing you can rely on, and even those won't always be reliable.

The Stevens guy was at my school in Detroit a couple of summers ago. He was telling people that they could stop by trucking schools with their trainers and show their trucks to students, earning $50 from his recruiting budget each time. Do that twice a week - there's $100. And they could "help" unload a trailer three times a week - there's $150. It was a load of crap and anyone who bought into it was a sucker. They try to cover for the fact that they pay $300 a week or whatever it is for training.

That's like companies that dance around the pay per mile question with answers like you could earn this much in a year ,But don't want to show the pay scale that allegedly creates that yearly income, Because it's only like .26 CPM and not going to go up much for years and years ,And .26 cPM at 100k is only 26k not 45k ...And I don't care how eager you are to run freight you're not going to make 45k at .26 cpm as a solo driver as it would require about 185k miles a year .

That's like companies that dance around the pay per mile question with answers like you could earn this much in a year ,But don't want to show the pay scale that allegedly creates that yearly income, Because it's only like .26 CPM and not going to go up much for years and years ,And .26 cPM at 100k is only 26k not 45k ...And I don't care how eager you are to run freight you're not going to make 45k at .26 cpm as a solo driver as it would require about 185k miles a year


Yeah, your right on that big jeep. After talking to drivers at some companies and asking what their weekley mileage is it doesn't come close to what the recruiters have told me. I looked into a dedicated account for schneider pulling for Wal-mart here in Ohio. The recruiter said I would easily make $35,000 my first year. So, I go over to pumpkindriver.com to get the real deal. They all confirmed that the pay is no where close to what she told me. They start you out a .28 per mile and that account averages 1400-1800 miles per week plus your stop pay. One schneider driver I meet at truck stop that was working on it said he made more money delivering pizzas then driving on that account. It seems as though recruiters in general well say anything anymore just to get a driver in the door. When it comes to finding out about a company the only source I trust is fellow drivers. Well, not all recruiters but most of the recruiters for the large carriers anyway

Some of the lifestyle apologists that drive for that wage and/OR give their time away for free might disagree with you. :lol: Not to mention that pizza delivery drivers are home every night also. :lol:

Not sure where everyone got there info at. But I worked for swift for 2 years. Just quit on Nov 5th. And in that 2 years I think I only unloaded about 4 loads. So the one a week thing is bogus... There are some dedicated accounts exp.. Dollar General, Sears Tires and so on that you DO UNLOAD but you get paid to do these. Regular OTR you might see some but not as many as you are being told unless things have changed that much in 2 months but I doubt it. BOL

Window loads can pay REAL GOOD. Last window ld 8 stops paid 400 bucks to unld but killed my back due to the way they are loaded ie over extending yourself "trying" to get windows from the top that are just as heavy as the bottom windows. "MOST" places the customer jumps up in your truck to help,but when they don't,you feel like cussing them out. ( no i didn't cuss them, but i felt it coming ). because of this i will only delv to 1 customer if i get another window ld and refuse the rest.

Lurker.... what was that other ld? TJ Max?

A LITTLE HARD WORK NEVER HURT!!! :shock:

Unloading = more pay.. You're already there!!! You might as well make some money!!!!!

FOZZY---- THATS HOW I FEEL! :D

Especially with the new HOS it makes no sense to sit there doing nothing unless you plan on taking a full ten hour break at the shipper / receiver. Most outfits that I've heard of pay various amounts for a full van, it breaks down of course on what you have to do with the load, just pulling off the pallets with a pallet jack with no breakdown pays very little but the pay for handling freight goes up with the numbers and the work. I've had drivers tell me that its not worth their time to unload a trailer for $60 or so bucks... excuse me? The actual work involved in unloading the freight varies, even if it takes three hours, thats $20.00 an hour. Waiting really isn't working and most of the unloading a trailer is waiting for the shlubs in the warehouse to get their freight out of the lanes so you can unload more. Waiting in the bunk pays nil! Your still burning the 14 hours.. might as well use them making some $.

Unloading equals a high risk of personal injury =workmans comp ,And out of work =LESS PAY.

You my friend.... don't have my bad back, unload a trl full of heavy windows with a not so good back, and your tune will change.

I went to work for Interstate for a few reasons.
One being 98% touch free, mostly drp n hook, and I like it that way.
30 years in construction busting my butt and lifting heavy windows/glass/metal, I'm done with that.
I didn't get into trucking to be a lumper.

Why even go out of your house? You may need to go to back to bed and lie perfectly still! Go to any truck stop and look at the majority of drivers out there and tell me that the biggest health threat they face is unloading a truck.

How did you get hired with a back so bad that you cannot work?

Well I enjoy lifting weights 3-4 times a week and bench pressing 315lbs X14 reps with a max bench of just about 425lbs ...But don't feel like hopping in a 130 degree trailer to unload the product ,and sweat my ass off doing the receivers job ...Work ethic has no bearing here ,As I'm a driver ,and do plenty getting the load to it's destination that's my job and and my responsibilty ,And I certainly don't need to be pimped out to the customer ,so they can save money by not hiring a work force and paying insurance benefits to that work force to do shipping/receiving...Now this perspectice come from what Werner pays to unload a trailer which was

$20.00 assist usualy takes 2 hours or more =$10.00 HR
$40.00 Driver unload usually takes about 4 hours = 10.00HR

I don't sweat my ass off doing someone elses job , As my job is to operate the truck pucking up ,and delivering loads ...Not lumping freigh on a dock for 10.00 HR . If you are making more than 10.00 hr to do this non driving related non CDL related work then I can uderstand you doing it ,But if you're doing this for 10.00 hr well that's your choice "SENOIR" . :wink:

I knew someone would come back with a smart a$$ comment, I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.

DID I SAY "I can't work", NO I didn't.
I did say "due to the way they are loaded ie over extending yourself "trying" to get windows from the top that are just as heavy as the bottom windows."

TIP, when lifting you should always keep what your lifting close to your body,and lift with your legs.
You can't do that unloading the way windows are loaded in a trl, you "HAVE" to OVER EXTEND yourself to reach the top windows,and the top windows "Have" to be unlded first.

BY over extending yourself, your putting yourself at risk of straining (or worse) your back.

Lumpers get paid 180.00 to 250.00 to unld a full trl.
Companies want to pay you 20/40/60 bucks to do the same job. Is that fair? I don't think it is. but that's my opinion.
My CO. is 98% touch free, and it's pretty much been just that, and I like that. Think I've unlded about 5 trls in the last 7 months. Out of 5 trls lds I hurt myself 1 time, because I had to over extend myself to unld it.

I've looked around truck stops and I'm in ALOT better shape than MOST drivers. I've seen drivers and wondered " how in the hell do they drive, let alone unld a trl "

If they can do the job, I know damn well I can.
My employer knows of my back, I didn't try to hide it from them. My 2 Doctors, read and talked to my employer about what is involved in trucking, then released me to work "as a truck driver" so your comment to me [ How did you get hired with a back so bad that you cannot work?] was uncalled for, you don't know me, never seen me, your not my employer, or my Doctor. I exercise, I park as far as I can from truck stops, so I have to walk ( more exercise )

I like this site, a lot of great information, but sometimes , some people need to think before they type.

I'm retired, get a good pension, I'm not lazy, thus I'm still working. I'm not like some people, who might take what you said to heart, and let your Tax dollars foot my bills. Only "I" know what I can do and can't do, at least I'm working. You should be happy I'm working and not wasting your tax dollars.

Have a good day

You were the one who offered up the tidbit on why you would / could not unload freight. You did so in a rather condescending manner to the other fellow. I asked the simple question.. you got all whiny about it... As for the "measly" pay for unloading.. 40 bucks is 40 bucks.. most truckloads are unloaded in about two hours or less, the remaining time is spent sitting and waiting for the receivers to do their work. To say that the time is solid labor for the full "four hours" is pure D crap. If you unload three times a week @ $40.00 thats $120.00 a week! Almost $500 a month. And of course the same amount of time has elapsed, you just made more money and got out of the cab of the truck for a few more hours.

Your not reading my post, your reading into them.
I did not whine, I said due to the way windows are loaded, where i got help and didn't get help, I would only deliver windows to 1 place ( where I got help ) and not the other places.
It doesn't matter if your in the greatest shape, work out all day long ect, if you over extend yourself while unloading, you run the risk of injury.

I don't have a problem unloading trls, when you can do so safely.
Even OSHA has rules on how much 1 person can lift and how to do so safely.

As I said, unloading is not a problem, it's how the load is loaded thats the problem. I'll unload all day for the right money, and properly loaded, with proper equipment to do so.

I know now who will help and who won't, I'm just protecting myself from injury by refusing to to unload where I have no/ refused help from the customer.

I made good money on that load, but it's not worth an injury.
I'm to old to play that game, and wiser about where to unload... that makes me a whiner? fine.... I'm a whiner, but I'll be an uninjured whiner and keep driving, not loosing time on the road just because someone says I should unload.

I would rather get another load and drive instead of hurting myself and have to take a few days off.

Sorry that my post asking a question caused a fight, guys. Didnt mean for that to happen at ALL. :oops:

Don't worry about it tiger. No matter what anyone says some a-hole always starts something on any thread.

It appears to me that Fozzy has an agenda to "read" something into everyone's post. He must be an unhappy soul to constantly make comments that disagree with what others have said and actually make it sound as if the other posters are saying something they didn't. In the past, I have learned that when someone does this, they're really not happy with their own life and must try to make others feel insignificant so as to lessen their bad feelings of inadequacy.

I know of the load that glasman is refering to and have unloaded them myself. You're trying to tell us that you can hand unload a 53ft trailer full of whatever stacked to the ceiling in 2 hrs by yourself? Ya right! Let's see you do this with a load of compressed wall insulation that was slip sheeted in and has to restacked on a pallet before you can get it off the tail end. All by yourself!

I was good at butt sitting, too!! TOO GOOD at it for my own good!!

The many sedentary hours of driving, sleeping, poor diet, and poor living habits bought me blood pressure problems that I'm still dealing with!!

Trust me, it does no harm to get your butt into gear, and get those muscles moving!!
:wink:

Well that depends on what your hauling if palletized ,and single high then yes 1-2 hours ...If something you need to stack by hand and play game with by breaking it down and moving ity around by hand...Then no 1-2 hours is not feasible ...well you might be able to do it a break neck pace ,but back to sweating my ass if in a 100+ degree trailer again ,and If i have run around spastic in a trailer to finish in 2 hours or less and visibly break a sweat ...something is wrong with that ...Fact is truck driving OTR it just that TRUCK DRIVING ,and not a mobile lumper service ...And yes I would rather spend my time waiting comfortably in the air conditioned cab while being un loaded by the receiver...the way it should be...rather than humping freight for $10Hr which is what unloading GENERAL freight has akmost always equaled out to in my travels try un loading a 53 FT van of Owens corning insulation in 2 hr or less or freight stacked to the roof that needs to be broken down and re palletized in 2hrs or less :wink: ...i didn't spend 4k dollars to become a traveling dock worker un loading trailers for companies to cheap to do their own job .


Lazy nope I did my job picking up ,and driving the load to the delivery point and docking the trailer my job and duities end there ...Lazy ,and cheap are the companies who think that the couple hours the driver sits at their dock should be spen un-loading their "THEIR" freight onto their docks . I don't know your freight base ,so maybe you have all palletized freigght with motorized jacks ,and this is only 30 minutes to 1 hr work , But in my 2.5 years it's almost always a driver unload or assist ,because it's more work than the customer wants to do ,so they try to put their job on the driver .

Far better to bring some weights ,and walk around the truck stop than to play in a trailer .