RUNNERS, LUMPERS AND POLISHERS: FACILITATORS OCCUPYING THE

SOCIAL SPACE BETWEEN LONG-HUAL DRIVERS AND SUPPLIERS OF

ILLICIT GOODS AND SERVICES.

By

Stephen Sills

A Research Note on Serendipitous Findings in the Health Risks of Long Haul Truckers
Pilot Study under the direction of Yorghos Apostolopoulos. Department of Sociology;
Arizona State University. February – May, 2001. Prepared for Advanced Qualitative
Methods (JUS 650); Justice Studies Department. Dr. John Johnson. May 3, 2001.

1
INTRODUCTION

I do for the trucker whatever the trucker needs…Truck drivers

have needs. And sometimes those needs, they can’t exactly
communicate right away. Sometimes they really need something.
They want something… And that’s the guy. That’s the one I’m
looking for. That bastard will get paid, I don’t know, eleven
hundred dollars in his wallet – two or three checks at the house…
and he doesn’t know what the fuck he wants to do. He’s think,
maybe, ‘that girl sure is pretty over there’ or ‘those guys sure do
look like they are having a good time smoking that crack pipe.’ I
get him what he needs. ~ Booya (Homeless Runner)

While in the exploratory phase of research on the health risks of long-haul truckers1, a

surprising social space was discovered in the setting of the truck-stop parking lot.

Between the suppliers of illicit substances, prostitutes and other services and the long-

haul drivers there exists a middle ground occupied predominately by the homeless. These

individuals act as facilitators and negotiators between the consumer and supplier, taking

much of the risk in the interaction and gaining little of the profit. The basic premise of

social exchange theory (following Homans, Thibaut, Kelley and Blau as cited in

Emerson, 1976 and Bailey, 1994) is that people’s actions are influence in large part by

perceived rewards. When rewards exceed the cost (including risk, time, monetary value

of goods or services, loss of social status, etc.), profit is gained. Thus, the traditional

utilitarian model is:

PROFIT = REWARDS – COSTS

1
Health Risks of Long Haul Truckers Pilot Study under the direction of Yorghos Apostolopoulos.
Department of Sociology; Arizona State University. February – May, 2001.

2
 In the case of the homeless, costs (perceived or real) are quite low; creating a

situation in which any profit is sufficient reward. Traditional costs that mediate social

exchanges in most conventional situations do not necessarily apply to the social space of

the homeless facilitator. Time is an abundant resource with little real value. Loss of social

status does not inhibit the homeless person from engaging in deviant behaviors. There is

little chance of further loss of social status in the mainstream society from dealing or

pimping. Status within the social network of other homeless individuals may even be

gained from a successful deal. Also, there is little perceived risk of the loss of goods as

the homeless individual is the go-between in the actual drug deal or in arranging the

services of a prostitute. He does not own the goods or service being transferred and is

only there as the mediator between the two parties who have far more perceived risk

(from law enforcement) if the interaction were conducted directly. The homeless

facilitator, on the other hand, does not necessarily view the risk of jail as serious problem.

He usually has no more than a rock (crack) or two in his possession (which he will try to

toss if caught) and believes that even if caught he would receive a lighter sentence than

the dealer. He may even view a short time spent in jail as a period to “health up” before

returning to the street. Consequently, the perception of costs in acting as the facilitator in

the interaction between dealer and driver is mediated by the perception of reward.

Yet, sharing the space with the facilitator (drug runner/ pimp) are several other

classifications of homeless who work the lots of truck plazas and filling stations. There is

for example the lumper: an individual who loads and unloads trucks, sometimes traveling

over the road with a driver for a season or just simply for one local job. Also occupying

this space is the polisher: a person who buffs and polishes the chrome tanks, running

3
boards, fenders and wheel hubs on the trucks. Often polishers and lumpers will become a

facilitator of convenience as drivers who want drugs or prostitutes may ask them to

arrange something for them. Several full-time drug runners note that they began working

the lots as polishers or lumpers and found that running was far more lucrative [Figure 1].

Polishers,
Lumpers, &
Runners

Drug
Truckers
Dealers

Prostitutes

Figure 1 – Overlapping Social Spaces of Suppliers, Facilitators and Consumers at Truck Stops

METHODOLOGY

Traditional ethnographic methodologies of non-interventionist field observation (Adler &

Adler, 1987), informal unstructured interviews, and formal semi-structured interviews

were utilized (Shensul & LeCompte 1999). As this was a pilot study to a larger project on

long-haul truck drivers, the findings in this paper were serendipitous to the actual

research question on HIV health risks in mobile populations. They were, however,

4
tangentially related as the homeless runner, lumper, and polishers act as the facilitator for

the health risk behaviors of the drivers.

In all over 15 homeless polishers, lumpers, runners and prostitutes, and over thirty

drivers have been interviewed either formally or informally at three locations. 2 Field

notes were kept during unobtrusive observations and informal interviews and recordings

were made during paid formal interviews. As data collection continues, only a simple

thematic coding scheme was used in this preliminary analysis of field notes and

interviews:

o Life as a homeless polisher/ lumper/ runner

o Characterization of interactions between truckers and homeless

o Characterization of interactions between drug dealers and homeless

o Characterization of interactions between prostitutes and homeless

o Characterization of interactions among homeless polishers, lumpers,

runners.

SETTING

According to drivers, every lot has a “party row.” Usually in the last row (so as not to be

visible from the station), there will be girls and drug runners who work the line of trucks.

While the semi-urban and rural truck-stops we visited both had obvious areas that fit this

2
One is centrally located in an urban environments, one is on the outskirts of the urban environment, and
the third is on a major highway between two large cities.

5
description, the small lot of the urban truck-stop could be seen as one whole “party row.”

In fact, over-the-road drivers in the rural stop 45 miles away had all heard of the

reputation of the urban lot as the place for drugs, prostitutes, stolen merchandise and

other illicit goods. Security guards who patrol that urban stop also told us of the many

arrests, assaults, robberies and stolen trucks that have occurred in recent months.3 They

also explain that there are rumors of the former security officers getting kickbacks from

the drug dealers.

The areas around the lots are also important to the construction of the social

interaction between drivers and the homeless. All of the lots have some form of security

thus requiring the homeless to have some place to escape to that is close by the lot and

convenient. Likewise the drug dealers and prostitutes need a location that is more secure

and less obvious than the open truck lot. While at night many of the prostitutes do walk

the lots, they are a little less visible during the daytime.

A liquor store sits adjacent to the urban truck lot and is the center of much of the

drug and prostitution activities in the area. There are as many as five or more females at

any given time who work the truck lot as well as the passing cars. Additionally, one may

witness deals occurring in the open, as well as use of crack, marijuana, and alcohol use

with little attempt to conceal the activities. The owner of the store says he has lots of

problems with the crack addicts and alcoholics who hang out, but as long as they clean up

after themselves and don’t cause problems for the store, he lets them stay. He admits he

has had to “trespass” a few of them [legal order to stay off property]. He also says there

are often robberies and assaults that bring out the police.

3
City police records and interviews with police officers familiar with the area confirmed these reports.

6
 In contrast, the truck stop located 45 miles from town has a low-budget motel

adjacent to the lot that is the center of nefarious activities. On one occasion, I was

introduced to the inner workings of the motel by a key informant by the name of Ed. Ed

is a thin man in his late forties. He came down from a northern state during the fall when

it was getting too cold to be living outside. He has a little camp set-up in the desert,

which he shares with a homeless couple. He explains that this is the longest time he has

spent in one place for several years. He usually makes money by polishing trucks and

sometimes from lumping. Recently he has turned to running to support his heroine

addiction. “Anything you need” he says, “is here. Women, blow, pills, you name it.” He

explains that if a driver needs something he can usually get it for them for a little cut,

usually about 10% in cash or in goods. I note in my field journal:

He takes me in to the motel. We stop at certain rooms where he tells me

that I can get sex, pot, crack or heroine. He runs in to an African American
male who is about 6’ 3” and maybe 300 lbs. He calls the man by name and
then looks back at me and says, “he’s cool. I checked him out.” He then
tries to buy some marijuana. The big guy says he doesn’t have anything
right now but to check with X or come back later and he’ll get something.
Ed takes me upstairs, again pointing out the rooms where you can find
drugs. We come down the back stairwell and he shows me that under the
stairs there is a crawl space. There is a cup of water, an aluminum can for
cooking heroine (he points out the residue), and even a few needles. He
says people who need a quick fix will buy from upstairs, and then crawl in
here to hit. We walk around the back and he shows me the open window
where, when he is running for a driver, all he needs to do is call out a price
(a dime, a quarter, etc.) and they will send someone down to collect the
money. The dealer will then drop the goods from the second story window
so he can go and complete the transaction…. He tries to introduce me to
Bill. Bill is the security guard for the motel. Ed explains afterwards that
Bill is also in on the dealing. He gets a kickback for not reporting or
running the dealers off. Bill does not want to talk and looks angry that Ed
is here.

7
FINDINGS

Homeless men fall into three primary groups: polishers, lumpers and runners. Though

there are a few women who also fit in these categories, only one of women interviewed

was found to be a polisher.4 Polishers generally make around $15 a tank and $5 a rim for

a polish, but may negotiate a discount if a driver wants everything polished. On a ‘good’

day a polisher will make over a hundred dollars, but many seem to work toward a daily

goal: enough for a hotel room for the night, alcohol, cigarettes, and food. While the lure

is there for many polishers to run drugs, some choose not to take the risk. For example,

Scarecrow explains that he and his wife Dorothy try to work enough that they can get a

hotel room every-now-and-then and steady supply of alcohol. Neither uses drugs other

than alcohol, so their perceive need for cash is no greater than daily necessities. The risk

arrest for them has a higher cost in that they will not be able to be together, thus there is

insufficient motive to engage in running drugs.

Booya, a 36 year old male who admits that he is a runner and crack addict,

explains that he used to polish, but finds that to support his habit he needed more cash on

a regular basis than could be made polishing. He says, “The guy polishing the tanks was

me. Right. But, you just learn something. You just learn something…. ” He also notes,

however, that he can’t really compete with the polisher who sometimes sells. “I can’t be

on the lot when security is around, but he can [polishers]….”

Lumpers are also common on the lots and around warehouses. These are also men

who are often homeless and make their living from the driver. Many drivers have a

4
Most of the women at these locations were found to be making their living as prostitutes and as
sometimes drug dealers. There is also a suspected hierarchy of prostitutes that work the lots from those
considered “lot-lizard” (usually homeless, drug addicted women) to the “traveling ladies” (women who
stay with one driver for a period and then move on to the next as they travel around the country).

8
percentage of the cost of moving the freight that goes to loading or unloading the truck.

Many warehouses do not do this themselves so the driver is either forced to do it 5 or to

pay a lumper. There are various self-classifications among lumpers. For example, there

are those who deal exclusively with furniture movers (“stick movers” or “bedbuggers”)

or only with dry goods, etc. Often they will work as polishers when they can’t find

anyone needing a lumper. Sometime, especially in the case of furniture movers, the driver

will pay the lumper’s daily expenses and a daily rate for the lumper to travel with him for

a period of time. Only two of the lumpers interviewed said they had ever acted as a drug

runner. 6 They all admitted to occasional drug use and almost all were alcoholics.

Full-time runners were all addicts themselves. The relative costs of facilitating the

drug transaction or arranging a prostitute are all outweighed by the small amount of crack

or cash that they may make off any deal. In most cases the driver will only provide him

with enough capital to buy an agreed upon amount of drugs. Usually this is only a couple

of nickel ($5), dime ($10), or quarter rocks ($25). The homeless facilitator then will

proceed to the dealer and negotiate a better deal in which he can extract a small piece for

himself. Ed, for example, says he gets a little from both ends: usually a small piece of

rock (crack) from the driver (which he can use himself or resell) or some free goods from

the dealer.

James, a longtime driver who admits he used to use drugs to stay awake while

driving, explains that many of the exchanges that occur on the lot are set-up over the CB

radio before hand. For example, Bobcat, a grizzled and toothless runner, carries a hand-

5
Most drivers prefer to take this time off the log so they can drive more hours. Also, few would want to
unload an 80,000 lb. truck after having driven hundreds of miles.
6
Possible a result of their more mobile situation and restrictions then on making contacts with dealers.

9
held CB with him as he walks the lot. He is seen on numerous occasions guiding trucks

into the back part of the lot and then climbing in or walking a woman over from the

motel. It is unclear what proportion of the drug trade is arranged in this manner.

Some runners, though they will arrange the services of a prostitute when

requested, but prefer not to involve anyone else in the social space between consumer and

supplier. While Bobcat, Ed, and Booya all acknowledge acting as a pimp it is usually

only after making a drug deal or negotiating a clear finders fee beforehand. Booya

explains why he prefers not to involve prostitutes:

When you make contact with a guy in a truck, everything in his wallet
belongs to you. Once you put a girl in between there, you lost everything
all that. Everything else that’s coming is hers…. She’s going to tell that
driver everything in the book, everything under the sun, to slander you.
‘You didn’t by dope from him did ya, oh God!’ And she’s going to abuse
him and treat him far worse than I will, and maybe steal his wallet.

Bonnie, a former prostitute, confirmed that the women also provide more

than sex. Bonnie is in her late forties, but could easily be mistaken for late fifties,

and homeless. She said she stopped “doing jobs” about a year ago when she found

she was HIV+. She is currently working with a nurse at the free clinic to try and

get into a shelter. Total she says there are about 10-20 women that are regulars on

this particular lot (the urban truck stop). They are a bit more active late at night

when they can work the back row without being seen. There are others she says

that may pass through, but only about 10 to 20 are “regulars.” She also confirms

that the women make a lot from selling the drugs as well. Often the drivers get

kind of a “package deal” of sex and the drugs, with the woman often using as

well. She says she personally uses crack only 2 or 3 times a day. She gets her

10
supply by running for others. She explains she likes to take a hit and the “make

people happy.”

Reflecting back to when she used to work the lot as a prostitute she says

that she would be with 4 to 5 truckers in a day. It wasn’t always for sex she

explains. “Sometimes they were just interested in the drugs.” She says another

woman used to work with her as a team. The other woman would make more

from sex while she herself would make a more off running, although she would

occasionally exchange drugs for sex.

CONCLUSIONS

While prostitutes, drug runners, polishers and lumpers all share the social space between

drug dealers and truckers, they are each faced with slightly differing costs and rewards in

facilitating transactions. Lumpers, who seem to have the steadiest work of these homeless

groups, also face the highest risks from loss of jobs and mistrust from drug dealers who

may not know them as well. Polishers who themselves are users quickly find that there is

more potential profit (i.e. drugs for personal use), in becoming a runner. Those polishers

who do not use drugs or who have some other tie that causes the perceived costs

associated with running drugs to be much higher (such as the case of the relationship

between Scarecrow and Dorothy), therefore may not find reward then in the role of

facilitator. Finally, runners and prostitutes both have found the costs of running drugs are

outweighed by their need for drugs themselves. As Booya says:

I recognize certain things. Without a commitment to having nothing, you

can’t have crack. And without a commitment to being willing to sacrifice
everything else all the time, every minute of every day, you can’t have

11
 crack. So, I’ve made those sacrifices. A lot of people look at me and say,
‘damn man, why does this guy want to have crack? He doesn’t even take a
shower.’ What they don’t realize is that I sacrifice that shower for my
crack. I sacrifice my dinner for my crack. I sacrifice all the things you’re
doing to maintain a normal life, I sacrifice all those things for my crack.

This willingness to sacrifice all for the drug explains much of why one would take such

apparent risks and incur such great social costs in the role of facilitator, while gaining so

little profit by it. The few minutes of being high are thus perceived to be sufficient reward

to compensate for the costs of the transaction.

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REFERENCES

Bailey, Kenneth D. (1994). Methods of Social Research. New York: The Free Press.

Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. eds. (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research.
Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Emerson, Richard M. (1976). Social Exchange Theory. Annual Review of Sociology,

Vol.2. 335-362.

Patricia A. Adler, Peter Adler, Andrea Fontana. (1987). Everyday Life Sociology
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 13. 217-235.

Peter Blau, Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley, 1964.

Schensul, Jean J. and LeCompte, Margaret D., eds.(1999). The Ethnographer’s Toolkit.
Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press.

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