How to hijack freight and get paid

I posted this in a thread I started some time ago, but I though it better to start a new thread entirely based on the nature of this post. I look forward to discussing this issue with others that have been in similar situations.

I think this is time for a little update. The heading above pretty much says it all.

Most O/O's don't realize just how much leverage they are afforded under the federal statutes (laws) regarding the interstate transport of freight.

As this year comes to a close, I have to admit that I have been in several situations where I have had to take possession of a load and exercise my right to DEMAND payment in full prior to making delivery. Yes, I know this is a tricky road to go down and that some will say NEVER to do this. I say HOLD YOUR GROUND!!

In both of the situations I have come out ahead, but I have to say that this will not always be the case.

Sometimes, especially on a Friday or going into a holiday, an unscrupulous broker will hide the fact from you that the delivery of the load you just picked up will IN FACT not be deliverable until several days AFTER the original date that they provide you on the Rate Confirmation.

In this case you will have to decide whether to sit at the receiver (if you don't follow my rule to always call ahead) for several days with no assurance of getting paid for any accessory charges or you can take another approach. This happened to me in both cases where the broker REFUSED to give me contact information for BOTH the shipper and receiver on the rate sheet. In the future, HOMEY Gunz wont be playing this game anymore!! THey do this to you for a reason so BEWARE!! When a broker tells you they will give you the receiver information AFTER you pick up the load and check back in ITS TIME TO GET SUSPICIOUS!!

In most large cities , there are warehouse services that will off load you and place the freight in a warehouse for a fairly minimal fee. Before you start throwing around a lot of expletives, make some calls and see if there is a nearby warehouse that will take the freight and put into storage for 30 days. The fees associated with this may be much less than you might expect. I was loaded with roll stock and had no problems finding a warehouse facility which had the capability to handle the large rolls of paper and was willing to take the load and store it for less than $300 for 30 days, no questions asked.

After arguing with a broker in a situation where they expected me to tie up my equipment over the Easter holiday, I decided to do just this. When I faxed a letter to the broker letting them know of my intentions (they were refusing to take my calls or give me a good e-mail address to use) I suddenly found myself talking to the owner of the company. I am pretty sure they realized the error of their ways when I included the contact information for the warehouse I was planning to use. I think they assumed that since I had roll stock on the trailer that I would not even think of off loading it. WRONG Mr. BROKER WRONG!!

After a quick conversation with the owner, I received a bank wire transfer into my account within an hour for the original amount of the brokered load along with the revised accessorial charges I had requested for holding the load for 3 days. Originally I had only asked for a very reasonable charge, but when they began to play games with me, I played back. I played hard ball and in the end I charged them 3 times the original offer due to the way they had handled the situation. I should point out that the final charges were still well within industry standards for such a Tariff.

Moral of the story: Don't let a schmuck broker push you around!!! Stand your ground!!!

As a carrier, every owner operator is afforded much more power and leverage than a broker would EVER like to admit. For me, in this situation, I had already written off my chances of getting paid AT ALL no matter what I did, so what did I have to loose? Well, what I had to loose were the additional charges that I was owed based on the situation and based ON WHAT I DID FOR THE BROKER! I DON'T WORK FOR FREE PERIOD!!

TRUST NO BROKER IMPLICITLY!! They will ALWAYS try to take atvantage of a carrier, ESPECIALLY the dirty brokers. SO stand your ground and hold for your rate! Also hold for your accessorial charges!

 

I am not sure, but I think the term came from the other side.

For what its worth though, when you tell a broker they are about to get the load hijacked, they tend to start listening to you in short order!!

"Storage" and "delayed delivery" are things a carrier gets paid for. Hijacking is what a carrier is forced to do when a broker REFUSES to recognize the aforementioned terms and agrees to compensate the carrier accordingly.

 

LOL


Nice catch on that one!! Gotta love the spell checker. God, I can only imagine the smut I would post without it!

 

Those are around as well, but they accept a different kind of load