Former TQL employee: ask away

I can't say I've had *that* particular experience, but you know I'd have to agree with that.

 

I always feel like such a outsider in TQL debates. They have been nothing short of great with me. Accurate, fast pay! Tons and tons and tons of brokers to work with. Ohio based like me.....I don't get their bad rep at this point.

 

Wasn't on a load. A dispatch company cold called me and got through, heard it in the background.

 

Agree on the known commodity.
But what if it's dealing with the owner or dispatcher and not the driver. How do you know then?

Reason I ask this is because of a deal a few years ago.
I booked a load with a broker I had used for a couple of prior loads..
2 new backhoes going to Dundalk. Easy step deck load
The rate was ok.
I'm backed up to the loading dock and get loaded.
I'm watching another truck trying to back in next to me.
Seeing how he almost hit my truck,I quickly threw a couple chains and moved out of harms way.
With his co-driver guiding him, 45 minutes later he was sorta kinda square to the dock.
They loaded 2 backhoes on them as well.
They both got out of the truck and I kid you not,this is how they looked.


They started pulling brand new chains out of the side boxes.
No headache rack of course.

They both walk over and are looking to see how I chained down. Walk back to their trailer and are staring at the chain and trying to figure it all out.
They are both talking loudly with each other in a language I was not familiar with.
One of them drags a chain over to my trailer,but pulled it over his buddy's shiny leather disco shoes. Lmao
They yelled about that for what seemed like a hour.
He went up and sat in the truck.

I took his chain and showed him how to attach it.
With the language barrier, it was hard to explain that he needed binders. I pointed to mine and he ran to his sidebox and came back smiling with 2 snap binders.
After much deliberation, it was determined that was all they had.
So he's trying to match his snap binder to my ratchet binder. Clueless...
Smdh.....
Co-driver comes walking back with a Rand McNally,some paperwork and freshly polished shoes while talking on the phone.Pointing to stuff on a rate conformation,he hands me the phone.
So I'm trying to talk with the owner/dispatcher who didn't have a firm grip of the English language and he wants me to show these guys how to get to Baltimore.
Are you flipping kidding me??

Told him they don't have enough equipment to secure the load.

I had seen and heard enough at this point,so I went to my truck,poured a cup of coffee and called the broker...

I told him what was going on and thought he would like to know.
They have no clue what their doing,have 3 chains, 2 binders
and don't know how to get to Baltimore.
And how much I appreciated finding out that they were making 100 bucks more on the load then me...
He said he had to bump the rate to cover the load. Whatever.

He did thank me for letting him know.

So I finished my coffee and went into the shipping office to get my paperwork and told them what was going on with the other truck. They weren't suprised at all..
Got back in the truck and had a missed call from the broker..
Called him back and he said they would pay me the extra 100 bucks if I would loan them my extra chains and binders and chain their load down..
And because we were going to the same place, it would work out to get my equipment back.

After I got done laughing, I told him I would do it for double the rate.
He said he couldn't do that....
That's fine,have a nice day.


And the moral of the story is do you really know who you are loading and everytime I see SNL "Two wild and crazy guys" I LOL because I got to meet the real life version..........


P.S. I don't like to profile, but it was a white Volvo from Chicago.
'Nuff said..

 

That goes to that qualification. I'll share a story, wherein I learned, again the hard way, to ask important questions such as: "You do understand that this load is over-dimensional, and you will need permits?"

It's Wednesday. Customer of a customer has requested me to arrange transport of a wide, over-length power-only shipment going into California. I have a conversation with the gal, she's pumped about the rate. I give the dimensions, and the weight, and she sounds like everything is good to go. Unit needs to pick up in Arizona, and be on site on Friday. Any time Friday is good- it's a four hundredish mile run. Newer authority at the time. I got a bit of a weird gut feeling about it, but brushed it off, figuring that they're just excited to do the job. I'd been forthcoming with all of the particulars, as one should be. I send and get back the signed rate confirmation, which again, has all of the particulars listed. Unit number, model, what it is, dimensions, weight, the contacts on both ends, plus my cell phone number for direct contact for after hours. Everything seems hunky dory.

I get a phone call, on my drive back to the house from a number I didn't recognize. It's the pleasant young lady I spoke with at 8 AM, and I kid you not, no crap there I was, coming down 494 about half way to the house. "Hi Paul, I just had a question about this load... does it require special permits?"

It's 5:30. I've burned a day, and I'm in my car. Surely, of course, I can't be hearing this correctly. I've told her that the unit they're to pick up, is 11' Wide, and approximately 90ft long. "...I'm sorry, say again?"

"Does this load require special permits?"

"Well yes, yes it does. It's over-width, and over-length. You should be fine on the weight. I told you earlier that it was wide and long."

"Oh, yes. Yes you did. That's all I had. Thank you!"

She hangs up. That was weird, says I. I'd have figured she'd have known that out of the gate, and that I wouldn't be paying as much as I was if it was just any old power only movement. Surely she knows that she's going to need CDOT To get it inspected as well.

I get an email as I'm walking through the door, that they had to cancel the load because the driver "got hung up in Las Vegas." This displeases me. If she'd been honest with me and told me that she got excited and got in over their heads? No harm, no foul. I'll still be behind the eight ball, but it's an honest error on her part. I proceed to call the dispatch gal a number of times, and she's ignoring my calls. Fine. Two can play silly games - I don't appreciate being lied to, and blown off at that.

I pulled up the carrier411 profile on my phone and call the company owner, on my wife's cell phone. We have different area codes. He answers all happy like, until I tell him who I am. Then you can just hear the tone change in his voice, as I give it to him with both barrels.

Now, I was able to salvage it at a loss to me, because I lost out on timing and had one option to take it remaining at that point. Guy basically got to name his rate, and we got it done, because there's a delivery deadline and my word is good. But it took me getting to work on the boards straightaway after work and eating any hope of making any money on that run. Which is fine. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Now my takeaway from this has been the following a) Trust your gut. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. b) When I'm booking, I ask the carrier questions, I pay attention to their authority, age, CSA scores, insurance, etc. If it's something that's going to require specific bits and bobs of securement (X number of chains, x number of binders, etc) I make sure to ask if they have that. If a load needs to be tarped, I check to see what size of tarps they have. I take time to make sure I understand my customers' products, because some things just need to be handled a certain way, and somethings are basically bomb proof. And finally c) I try to talk to the driver direct, especially on something like that power only that I related above, because often times dispatch will tell you one thing and the driver another. I'm not one to bother the driver, but if you're going to be pulling a half million dollar piece of equipment for me, I want to make sure you're solid, and you understand any hit times, and so on.

But yes, the amount of "WILD AND CRAAAAZY GUYS" is too ###### high. Bottom line, how do you truly know? You can't. That's certainly true. But I've developed a pretty good sniffer, and these days I'm right waaaaaay more often than not, and we as a company have been in business for ten years, and dealt with a lot of folks. It's easier now, especially as we grow, to find known products and commodities for the trucking side. Sorry for the ramble, but I think it helps for you to understand that I came up this way through some hard knocks, if that makes sense.

 

Sounds like you got a good grip on the biz.. well done.

It just goes to show everyone reading this that there are knuckleheads on both sides of the ball in this industry.

Maybe someday we'll be able to have a couple of beers and tell horror stories.....lol
And I'll be sure to get you a signed copy of my forthcoming book, "Escorts from hell"...LMAO

 

Hahaha... I'd read that. Lord knows I've heard a few doozies from some of the OD guys I work with.

 

The problem is you and I are the minority, I'm 180k in equipment plus insurance. Truckers do not stick together and the ones that pull the 1.60 to $2 freight are the majority. The question is how do we get truckers to unite and either say no to cheap $2 freight and wait or just strike for a month. When the country goes into riot mode because the shelves are empty maybe we will finally be heard!!

 

Can you tell me why brokers make carries sign a waiver to seeing the freight bill? Why is it such a secret what the customer pays? Wouldn't you be able to make money easier if you showed the carrier the true rate and that you would really be losing money on certain loads at different times of the year. In other words why make 50% q3 or q4 and lose 20% -30% other times. Wouldn't it be better for you as a broker and me as a carrier for you to make 10-20% of the load all year round. Then there would be no hard feelings on either of our ends, don't you agree? And if you don't may I know why?

 

I think a strike would wake up people but getting people to strike would be nearly impossible.
What about a national slowdown? If you drive during 5am till 7pm all drivers max their speeds at 55 mph. And take up all the lanes they legally can. Maybe lay on the horn at the top of every hour. The public could show support by joining in on the honking.
Freight still moves but slower, pay although lower; still coming in. All it will do is slightly inconvenience the general public in their commute and make the news. Another words trucking issues would get some attention.