How to sniff out stinky brokers

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Gunz444, Dec 29, 2012.

  1. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    As far as ELEETS went, it was the insane pressure and that fact that they seemed fine with every exception I took with their carrier agreement. In hindsight, now that I know they were maliciously booking loads when they knew they were about to go bankrupt, it was mainly my gut telling me that they were way too pushy and too desperate to book the load. It was also a water load that I knew I could barely scale in the first place....so I pussed out and ran away.

    Glad I did now.
     
    RedForeman Thanks this.
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  3. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    Here is the thing on the Authority being in the individuals name.

    If an individual holds the authority, then that individual can be an officer at multiple corporations, and each of those corporations can legaly engage in the activity of interstate commerce.

    What is scary is that the authority goes where ever the person goes. If that person decided to close Company A and then jump ship and suddenly become an Officer at Company B, then suddenly company B is in the trucking or brokerage business and it is all fine and legal with the FMCSA.

    I will go into more details later, but I think you can understand where I am comming from on this issue.

    Think about this. Tell me you are not concerned about this now.

    I am not going to even try to take all the credit for knowing this. I was turned onto this by someone else.

    Just doing my thing.

    Posting and sharing.

    the "thinking" part is up to those who read this post and wonder if I am talking sh#@
     
  4. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    Also, could someone be set up this way and have no intent to be a stinky broker? Well of course they could. But this was much more COMMON 20 years ago than today, so you have to ask yourselves WhyTF would someone be doing it this way today.
     
  5. RedForeman

    RedForeman Momentum Conservationist

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    If I hadn't been thru the name change thing myself, I'd be inclined to just agree. I changed from a simple partnership to a c-corp. What I thought would be a simple day or two paper shuffle turned into a month-long back and forth with FMCSA as they determined I was not reincarnating an unsafe carrier or the like. My point being that these things are getting scrutiny, and not just lip service to the press.

    Not saying it's not possible. The system still depends a great deal on the responsible person making the required (and truthful) updates, either via MCS-150 or a change form directly with FMCSA. The FMCSA "victories" in this sort of thing that I've read about recently usually follow some egregious violation or fatality, which ends up the clue that gets their attention.
     
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  6. windsmith

    windsmith Road Train Member

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    Eleets - I hauled 2 loads for them, and both mirrored your experience, except for the second one which wasn't paid. $600. A drop in the bucket in the overall scheme of things. Both were $2+/mile loads. And we didn't haul more for them for the same reason - cheap freight.
     
  7. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    My point exactly. yes the FMCSA is trying harder, but come on.

    You had to change your name and you had issues. Well an individual with the authority in their name will NOT have the same issues. That is the whole point of my comment. That is what I am trying to explain here. The name of the corp can change but the name of the registrant for the authority will not have to change. That makes it WAY too easy to go stinky.

    That is why it stinks big time!!!

    The individual can move from corp to corp and there is nothing that the FMCSA can do about it. The FMCSA does not regulate billing issues and failure to pay your bills. If this supposed individual still maintains a clean Safety record, then they can still move from corp or biz to biz.

    Only when you start digging will the stench start to waft up.
     
    Dominick253 Thanks this.
  8. windsmith

    windsmith Road Train Member

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    Not really.

    I don't put many of my eggs in one basket. And I rarely if ever get into a position where I don't have a selection of 'outs'.

    So, does it pay for me to spend hours researching one broker, searching for any hint of a foul odor? No, it doesn't. I book the load, haul it, get paid and continue on with my business.
     
    jess-juju Thanks this.
  9. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    Well 90 days ago I could have bought a pretty nice 9mm with $600 but now all I can get with that is 4 mags.
     
  10. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    Good for you. Good luck with that approach.
     
  11. Gunz444

    Gunz444 Light Load Member

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    I never spend that amount of time doing what I do. I don't think I ever said I spent that much time, but I also did say I do it before or even while I am on the phone with a broker. It really doesn't take hours. But if you want to throw caution to the wind then good luck to you. Statistically you may actually even be ok in the end. I prefer to do a little work BEFORE rather than later.
     
    Dominick253 and windsmith Thank this.
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