Landstar

I am not surprised at how much they charge in fees. I knew going in what they charged. It is all in black and white on their contract. No one forces you to do business with Landstar or any other broker. I have gotten over $4/mile from Landstar. I have also been offered less than $1.50. I don't run my trucks that cheap so I turned down the cheap loads. I am not sure that I have ever been offered a load that paid $0.75/mile from them. I have leased to Landstar and dealt with them running my authority. It is always up to the owner or driver of the truck to decide whether a load is safe and secure. If a load is not right then you can either work with the shipper and agent to make it right or walk away from the load.

A few months ago I had an over sized load that I booked with them. I was told that the dimensions were just under 12' wide. I never order permits before I or my drivers measure the load when we arrive on site. When I measured the load it was over 12' wide and would need escorts in one state in which we had to travel. I called the agent and the shipper decided that rather than paying extra for the escorts that they would take off the piece that was wider and repackage it. The shipper wanted me to take it as it was, but I refused. I explained that they could either pay for the escorts or make it under 12'. I was already told by the agent that they would pay me TONU if we could not get it worked out. I took the load after it was made legal without having to use escorts. I don't haul illegal loads. That is one reason that I maintain a very good safety record.

The broker or agent only knew what the shipper told them. This is not the first time that I have had a shipper tell me the width of a load was one thing and when we measured it that it was wider. That is why I no longer order permits until we measure for ourselves. Had I taken it as it was then I could have been held responsible if caught. Not only would I been shut down until I had escorts I would also have had a big fine.

Most shippers understand about how to make a load legal. The majority of them will not ask a carrier to haul something that is not properly secured. In fact, some have very specific guidelines about how to secure their loads. If a load leaves their premises that is not properly secured then not only can the driver and carrier be held responsible should something go wrong, but the shipper can also be held liable.

And you can deduct the fees charged. It is only a matter of bookkeeping. TQL has much higher fees than Landstar. Too many brokers do double broker these days, including Landstar. But, not all Landstar agents double broker loads. I have one of their agents that I did business for years that I regularly hauled legal loads for him that were just under $3/mile. I did 1-2 loads per month until the economy tanked. I don't recall having a problem with any of their agents except the one in New Smyrna Beach, Florida and that was when I was leased to them as a BCO. He screwed me out of over $1,000. Landstar could have done a better job of working it out, but it was that agent. I never did business with him again. There is no need to go into all the details because it was a long time ago. Other than that one incident, my experience with Landstar has been positive.

 

When I started I didn't know any better about rates. I originally was going to lease to this guy in No.Al. went and drug tested and all, then this guy come up with insurance want cover you? I had clean driving record, just said I din't have enough OTR experience, I detailed it all before hand somehow things changed? So I was with a truck trailer, plates and all and no where to go.Got online searching and a interstar agent(who is also landstar agent) sent me both comapnies carrier packs. I learned all my lessons the hard way after over twenty five years as a diesel mecahnic, I now see what drivers put up with. And for the record carrier services is a joke if you have a problem with a agent in the end they will say the agent is a independant agent and can do as they see fit. Your only recourse is suing them indiviually.
Known agents to watch out for CQU, ASH, PTP,KCM and IZP
all of these I will not deal with and post anywhere I can find not to use them.
I hope I can help them into a early going out of business.

 

You sound like you're a newbie know it all crybaby to me. You do know that dunnage can stick out 3" on each side of the trailer up to 108" right? In most cases, you can stagger the pipe a couple inches so the dunnage around the pipe doesn't hit, narrowing the load as well. What's wrong with the broken dunnage? A two inch strap wrapped around it will more than hold it secure.I'm guessing the shipper wasn't interested in repackaging the pipe due to your attitude. To top it off, your rant against an 8,000 truck and 1,000 agent company is due to one load. I love it!!!!

 

While I'm at it, let's put this fee thing to rest. This is direct from my statement.

Unladen Liability $19.45
LCN fees $ 3.69
Prepass $ 2.50
Occ/Acc $31.38
Future year permits $11.11

The only one I dislike is the $3.69 for load alerts, which is optional anyway, but I make a lot of money of load alerts so I don't even #####.

Every company requires bobtail, and because of the way LS is structured, they require unladen which is bobtail with a trailer.

Prepass is self explanatory and cheaper than I cna get on my own.

Occ/Acc is required, just like most companies you lease too. It's pretty wise to have, and I had it when I had my own authority. Pricing is good as well compared to other places like OOIDA.

Permits are $200 per year. No biggie.

So where are all these supposed outrageous fees that LS charges??????

 

While I have seen some of the double brokering and low rates with LS I see far better rates on average with them than other brokers. LS is large and you will have issues with agents. But all it takes is a call to corporate and they fight for the carrier. This is a lot more than I can say for other large brokers.

But it is easy to see the ones that are good and bad. Out of IL it seems there are a couple brokers that the only freight they have comes from blast emails to dozens of brokers. I avoid those agents.

Seems to me like we have the ranting of an independent that has not taken the time to understand how one of the biggest brokers in the industry operates. Education is free unless you sign-up for the school of hard knocks. Then it get pricey.

 

Thats what I was thinking. If the front and the rear is good, that looked like a middle piece, wrap a 2 inch around it to hold the bundle together. It looked like it was just that top piece of dunnage that was broken anyways. Sorry if I am not seeing the big deal about this but what was the point of throwing a fit about something so small and so easily fixable with a securement device you should have on your truck?

 

BTW, what poster was talking about in cargo insurance fees is the $1.75 per load they charge us for cover contingent cargo to provide $1 million in coverage. I agree on that point, this is a BS fee since when I hauled a load that was $200K for LS I had to get additional insurance for the load. And no other load that I have hauled has come near the $100k insuance I have.

 

Bill, I too paid many, many, many of those fees for Landstar, so much so that I had a line item specifically for it in Quickbooks for my invoicing. 1.75 never kept me from pulling a LandstarBroker load, and with Savings Plus, I always felt I was ahead pulling them. I guess that must be another of those OUTRAGEOUS fees that other guys were talking about. LOL

 

What about that horrible $1.75 to load your comdata card?

Know any brokers that do it for less?

 

The term Nickel and dimming you to death comes to mind.