negotiating rates

What an interesting question I'm glad you asked.

First I think lies can be divided into two groups. The first group is lies about why. These lies do not hide the nature of the situation from the other person, but exist mostly to protect the liar from admitting fault and thus being liable for some kind of damages. Examples include a truck lying about why they are falling out (I'd say 90% of the reasons I'm given for fallouts are ########) and me lying about why the customer cares about something like an empty scale ticket before pickup. (I tell you it's to make sure you're not overloaded. IRL it's because they use the empty weight to figure out what they owe the farmer) These lies are necessary for everyone and generally pretty beneficial all around. I don't have a problem with telling or being told lies about why.

The second group of lies is significantly more serious. These are lies about the actual reality of a situation. Examples include a trucking company telling me that they are 50 miles from the pickup when they are actually 120 miles from pickup, causing my customer to pay 5 people 1.5 hours of OT while they wait around for my truck to show... And me telling a truck that everything will be fine when they are almost definitely taking the short bus to claim town. In certain situations I'll say absolutely anything to get the load off the truck. That's me covering my own ###.

I think lies are mostly necessary in the first group and only necessary in really extreme situations in the second group. I think that simply saying 'lying is bad' is overly simplistic and doesn't accurately account for types of lies and their impacts. There's a big difference between telling your wife that those pants don't make her look fat because you want to get laid again someday and convincing a mildly mentally retarded person to become a police informant against dangerous people.

 

My mama used to tell me that if I keep telling lies I will go to Purgatory instead of Heaven. I think, it is better to stick to the truth.

 

No my friend...Thank You.

I keep asking some o/o friends of mine why they put up with 2h!t like this and standard response is "its just trucking"

I cant stand this line. Why? because truckers let themselves be bend over, then whine about it.

You took a stand, and it got rectified QUICK!!....and in you sharing this, I learned something (put that in my negotiations toolbox)

More o/o need to grow a pair, instead of running their business like charity and then whining

 

Where it doesn't expose me to direct liability I couldn't agree enough. Never lie just to lie. It's just one tool in the toolbox. Overusing it is just as bad as trying to use a hammer for everything.

 

Interesting that you can justify your lies.

 

You'll notice I'm justifying a whole lot of people's lies and being refreshingly honest about my own. Everyone lies more or less all the time. It's actually a really interesting subject. I'm sorry that you can't find it in yourself to be honest about your own dishonesty. Are you one of those people who always has an excuse for every lie he tells while becoming irrationally angry every time someone else lies to you?

A little secret... if you think you're this mythical honest person the best lie you're telling is to yourself. We all struggle with honesty. We all have since we were 8 years old and got caught with our hand in the cookie jar. We all tell little lies grease the social wheels out of politness. Trucking's equivalent is the most common lie out there "I got a flat tire".

If trucks broke down 25% as often as I get told they break down semi trucks wouldn't be the dominant form of freight transportation in the US and I'd be a diesel mechanic.

 

Another bone I have to pick with brokers is this. DSV posted a few loads on DAT the other morning, Ontario, CA to Chehalis, WA for $3,300. Very good van rate for the miles.

When I called around 0630 in the morning, the broker agent replied, "we don't have the load sheet in our hands yet, call back later, we might have them by then."

WTF is that? Why post a load as available when it's not. That's bush league stuff.

How about the one's like I.C.C.I. that post loads all the time from Medford, OR to Portland, OR. Yet, the loads are really from Weed, CA to Clackamas, OR. Medford, OR to Weed, CA is an additional 85 miles the opposite direction!

One broker posted a load and when I called about it, he told that he was just doing a "test run" to see how much interest there might be in a lane he thinking about bidding on.

This is the kind of stuff that really make brokers look really sleazy.

 

Hahaha....No it's called research...

I'm doing the same thing, only this time I'm a carrier.

I signed up on DAT, and when I see a load I like, I call, get the info and note it in my black book. I ask if this is a regular lane, and see if they can come up on the $$. When they ask for my MC, I tell them I dont have it but wanted learn about the lane.

They tell me to call them once my MC is operational.

 

Yeah that's all 100% standard. Sorry but it is. How else are we supposed to find out what stuff costs when we try to get into new customers? I do occasionally post loads I don't have yet when I expect a large spike of demand to come through. I usually go as far as sending RC's on those though. I know that I'm getting some, I'm just waiting on numbers basically.

I'm not going to comment on posting strategies because they're kind of proprietary, but I will say that I see a lot of stone stupid ones that actually drive up the rates. Nothing more annoying than the dude who posts the same load 8 times because he thinks it makes him 8 times as likely to get called.

 

I called DAT and complained about that practice. They seemed to indicate that posting a load, without actually having a contract to do so, is in violation of their contract. Is that correct?

That would be like me in my real estate days listing a house on the MLS without actually having a listing contract in hand.

Buyer: "Hello, I'm calling about your listing on Main Street for $100,000, is it still available?"

Broker: "Well, I actually don't have the listing yet, I'm just trying to determine what kind of interest there would be in the house IF I did have it."