Receiving Dock Launches Lumper Fee Loyalty Card; Tenth Unload Now Costs Only Twice as Much
Drivers who collect nine stamps earn a free cup of water, subject to availability, at the dock that has been 'just about ready for you' since August.
A distribution centre's receiving department has rolled out what it calls the industry's first lumper fee loyalty program, a laminated punch card that rewards repeat customers for paying cash to have their own freight taken off their own trailer.
Under the program, drivers receive one stamp for every unload. Nine stamps unlock a "premium unload" on the tenth visit, which costs only twice the regular fee and includes a complimentary 40-minute wait to find out whether anyone is working Door 6.
"We wanted to say thank you," said a receiving supervisor, speaking from behind a sliding window that had been closed for lunch since 10:15 a.m. "Our drivers spend a lot of time here. Some of them have spent more time here than at home. That kind of loyalty deserves a card."
How the tiers work
The card has three levels. Bronze members get their paperwork stamped. Silver members get their paperwork stamped and returned. Gold members, a tier no driver has yet reached, are told roughly when the unload might start.
Payment is accepted in cash, exact change, money orders issued before 2014 and a gift card for a sandwich chain the receiving office believes still exists. Cards cannot be used on weekends, holidays, Mondays or any day the forklift battery is "feeling it."
Fine print on the back states that the stamps have no cash value, cannot be transferred to a co-driver, and expire if the driver leaves the property, uses the washroom or makes eye contact with the dock clock.
Early response
Drivers have greeted the card with the enthusiasm usually reserved for a surprise reweigh.
"I've got four stamps, three detention hours and one pallet that's apparently mine now," said a flatbed driver who was not hauling flatbed freight and could not explain why he had been assigned a pallet. "If I get to ten, they said I can unload it myself. For a fee."
One driver reported filling an entire card in a single day after being asked to back into four different doors for the same load. The receiving office later disqualified the card for "excessive dock hopping."
The program will expand next quarter to include a referral bonus. Drivers who bring in a friend will receive a second punch card, which is identical to the first but in a slightly different shade of beige.