B3 Well Services - Dickinson ND area

Sorry to hear that. We have a few guys here that came down from N.D. and from what I hear B-3 is not the only one

 

OK this is becoming a cyclical trend and I have have written on this board about it, so check it out. These owner-operators who first came to ND as NEW drivers, then bought trucks and hired their own drivers. These o/o are quite inexperienced in trucking and in the Bakken, and usually UNDER-CAPITALIZED. Such people may not be lying when they claim to not have any money. Let me run down the situation of these green o/o:

1. They see ads for ND drivers. They drive for a year or two, sock away (wisely) half the money. They see how the money flows up here.
2. About a year in, they get ideas for being their own authority and having drivers make money for them.
3. They buy crap trucks from some other o/o in the hopes they wont break down before the settlements start flowing.
4. S4!t happens, the trucks break, they lose the customer, someone spills, and the hoped-for flow of money is interrupted.
5. The o/o acts in self-preservation, by spending the rest of his nest-egg on repairs, reservation stickers (a grand a pop!) and fuel bills.
6. There is nothing left for drivers. Yeah, they worked for it, but they won't get anything for it except bragging rights. The o/o did not set out to rip off anyone but their lack of experience came home to roost when their money failed.
7. The o/o runs to a factoring company for a loan, handing over the truck titles as collateral. The o/o fails to redeem their loan and the trucks disappear, probably to an auction and then yet another o/o seeking cheap trash.
8. The o/o goes back home with nothing remaining of his business dream. He licks his wounds, then calls back the job that hired him in the first place, to beg for his old job back.

I do not recommend to any friend that newer or smaller o/o should be of ANY consideration for a job. Working away from home is enough of a load for a guy, without jumping to respond when he doesn't get paid.

 

A bounced check should be all you need to get paid. DA will normally make a call and tell them pay or we file charges.

 

That doesn't work with a transient o/o who drives away and leaves town. They just change states. Even going to the DOT with a lawyer won't do it, as o/o just change ownership structure and become drivers in their own companies. DAs have no traction when out-of-state o/o without even a ND mailing address do business here. Manual re-deposit of the check is the only recourse I know of. Keep calling the bank to see if the check would clear today. If the account is closed, either hire a PI or write it off as a bad debt and send a note to the IRS. That's it.