Leonard Steinman
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
In case you didn’t know, here is a little information for you. When a truck driver delivers a load of groceries to a grocery warehouse, they are forced to hire a lumper (someone to unload the trailer) even if it is on pallets. They can charge anywhere from $50 to $700 or more to unload the trailer.
The driver has to fill out a Comchek with his information on the it, not the lumper service. So, in the end who pays the taxes on that? The truck driver to whom the check was issued, that’s probably who. If the truck driver is an owner-operator, the unloading fees for the trailer can exceed what he was paid to deliver the load and can be deducted from his settlement. It used to be the driver had the option to unload his own trailer and the company would pay the driver maybe $40 to $100 if they are lucky to unload the load. The driver rarely has this option anymore. If the driver does unload the load, he has to have it done in an hour which is nearly impossible for him to do.
So how about an investigation of the grocery warehouses, grocery distributors and the lumper services.