Just for clarification, what are we referring to with "Full Disclosure"?

According to FMCSA Part 371.3, "each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of the transaction required to be kept by these rules." These include the amount of compensation received by the broker and the amount of any freight charges collected by the broker.

Once I actually get started on this, I plan to make that part of the regular process of doing business. I have not figured out the particulars on that yet - obviously, since I haven't started yet. Would I be willing to share what I pull in during a week, month or year on all of my work - No. Would I be willing to share with each carrier or o/o what their particular load entailed - Absolutely YES.

Full disclosure to me, means that I would get a copy of the breakdown on each load that you are paying me.

Now in our case, since we don't really trust that broker anymore, we would need to see whatever paperwork they received with the check that shows the breakdown of what the loads paid.

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Your kidding right? FSC is not in question it is directly related to the price of fuel at the time. What I am talking about is $.80/ mile in the 80's $.90/mi in 2008 Thats $.10/mi increase in 20+ years. 12% increase
Minimum wage? 1983 $3.35 2009 $7.25 46% increase

If I did my math right LOL a little rusty on figuring percentages but you get the point. Hopefully.

Full disclosure is the law. Not my personal request or desire.
FMCSA §371.3 Records to be kept by brokers.

(a) A broker shall keep a record of each transaction. For purposes of this section, brokers may keep master lists of consignors and the address and registration number of the carrier, rather than repeating this information for each transaction. The record shall show:

(a)(1) The name and address of the consignor;

(a)(2) The name, address, and registration number of the originating motor carrier;

(a)(3) The bill of lading or freight bill number;

(a)(4) The amount of compensation received by the broker for the brokerage service performed and the name of the payer;

(a)(5) A description of any non–brokerage service performed in connection with each shipment or other activity, the amount of compensation received for the service, and the name of the payer; and

(a)(6) The amount of any freight charges collected by the broker and the date of payment to the carrier.

(b) Brokers shall keep the records required by this section for a period of three years.

(c) Each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of the transaction required to be kept by these rules.

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Ignorance scares me, Even in myself.
The only dumb queston is the one you failed to ask.
Just becasue its "legal" doesn't mean it's safe! I know when I need to sleep and when I am safe to drive. Fight the HOS. Write your Congressman.

There is no such thing as a "BACK-HAUL" everything has a start and stop point, If it needs to be moved then it is a load, period. Insurance, tires, fuel,etc... aren't any cheaper heading towards your home than they are going away. BACKHAUL is BS.

Brokers should get a demerge when truck is on time but has to wait hours to get unloaded and 100% of this should go to the truck.

Our experience- if you work with a broker that is part of a smaller company that has trucks, they far better understand the game, and how to play it fairly.

Until O/O are able to arrange their own loads, brokers will be around. If you think that brokers (or shippers for that matter) will ever provide full, accurate breakdowns of rates, you're crazy. Not that it is shady or underhanded, but it's a principle of what you need to know- if the rate is too low, don't haul it. How many of you are still hauling 'return loads' for the same money you did 4-5 years ago even though fuel has gone up?

I'm the one that wants to become a broker, and I agree with that completely Highballin. As far as I'm concerned, the FSC, detention pay, etc should go to the driver/carrier. The broker's fee should be based on the base rate of the load, FSC should be a separate item and all of it should go to the driver/carrier since I'm not buying the fuel, and any detention pay should also go 100% to the driver/carrier.

I may not end up making a killing like some of these other brokers, but I don't want to. I am just looking to earn some money to do my part to support the family, not buy a mansion and live high on the hog. My whole purpose is to be a driver friendly broker as I understand how bad some brokers screw the drivers over. I may not be able to drive anymore, but I am still a driver at heart, always will be.

BTW - love your avatar!

BHW - I thought that's what you meant, but wanted to make sure. Like I said in my post asking for clarification on that, I plan on making that a standard practice. I'll figure out how to do it once I get into this. I don't see why other brokers don't make this part of their standard practice - well maybe I do - if they share it regularly, without having to be asked, they can't keep screwing the drivers.

Believe it or not, my operating costs have not changed that much since the 80's. Insurance is actually cheaper since I pay for it myself as opposed to a weekly/monthly deduction when we were leased to a carrier, tires and oil changes are a little higher, but overall repairs are down and mpg is up. We bought our own trailers; leasing them from carriers is a money maker for THEM. The only big variable is the fuel.

Not a fair comparison of minimum wage (employees) to leased rate/mile (O/O). And the % increase for minimum wage is 116% by the way. You have to look at "what you get" for the $.90/mile....are they providing a trailer? tags? insurance? dispatching? fuel advance? IFTA reporting? and on an on and on......those things cost money. There are probably as many variations on lease contracts out there as there are trucks on the road, so can't speak to your particular situation and haven't been in the lease operator market for several years.

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If you don't like the rate, don't haul the freight.

Lilbit,

You have a good start at understanding what the O/O goes through out there. Just remember that each type of freight is different.

Hauling cattle is a totally different game than hauling dry van or flat.

There honestly isn't a mold that you can go by.

Our objective is to find a niche market, eventually, and contract our own loads. We aren't there yet, as we have only been doing this a little over a year.

Our experience with that broker was our first experience, and we didn't know better, until hubby started networking with other O/O's in the bull hauling bsns. THEN we wised up, and real quick.

Ours was a lesson learned kind of thing, and we now know what to watch for. We didn't back then.

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With this attitude you very well may be buying a mansion and having done so honestly. My Grandpa taught me a long time ago that you will do far better in businness making $1 from 1000 people than to try to make $1000 off of 1 person. Before long that 1000 people you treated right will pass your name on to 1000 more...............

__________________
Ignorance scares me, Even in myself.
The only dumb queston is the one you failed to ask.
Just becasue its "legal" doesn't mean it's safe! I know when I need to sleep and when I am safe to drive. Fight the HOS. Write your Congressman.

There is no such thing as a "BACK-HAUL" everything has a start and stop point, If it needs to be moved then it is a load, period. Insurance, tires, fuel,etc... aren't any cheaper heading towards your home than they are going away. BACKHAUL is BS.

Very true!!!

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