What is lumper fee?
Also called lumper
A lumper fee is money paid to third-party workers at a warehouse who load or unload the trailer, rather than the driver doing it. It is common at grocery and food distribution centres.
Some receivers require that their own contracted crews handle the freight. The driver pays those crews at the dock and is reimbursed afterwards, usually by the broker on presentation of the receipt.
The amount varies with the load and the facility, and is normally a few hundred dollars.
What it means on a dispatch desk
The trap is cash flow rather than cost. The driver pays now and the reimbursement arrives with the invoice, so a small carrier running several lumper loads at once can be a few thousand dollars out of pocket against freight that has not settled. Confirm the reimbursement terms before accepting, and keep the receipt, because no receipt means no reimbursement and the argument is unwinnable.
Related terms
- AccessorialAn accessorial is any charge for work beyond moving the freight from origin to destination. Detention, layover, driver-assisted unloading, extra stops and tarping are all accessorials.
- Rate confirmationA rate confirmation is the document that sets the agreed price and terms for one specific load, issued by the broker and signed by the carrier before the truck moves. It governs that load only.
- FactoringFactoring is selling freight invoices to a third party at a discount in order to be paid within a day or two instead of waiting thirty to sixty days. The factoring company then collects from the broker.
- Proof of deliveryProof of delivery is the signed document confirming the receiver took the freight, usually the delivery copy of the bill of lading. It is what an invoice must be supported by before anyone pays it.
Knowing the term is the easy half
Knowing which carriers are worth calling this morning is the hard half.
Start a 7-day free trial