Finally got my own truck

Congrats wish u the best. I'm thinking about getting one but not that new

 

@nax The recourse is the contract (rate confirmation) is invalid because it is not what was discussed. It will need to be revised or there is no agreement.

And are you kidding? He's at some place with rotting, maggot infested cowhides on the dock and doesn't know what they are loading until it's in the truck? You don't find out what is going into your truck when you check in at shipping? As an o/o this is inexcusable. Even as a company driver it is inexcusable.. He's live loading not dropping and hooking sealed trailers..

 

LoL...I get the stinky smelly part...

What if the BOL said "old equipment", or say "cowboy boots"...then existence of smell would not make me think much.

It's just like that load of cocaine in "lime- looking balls"...who would'a thunk???

 

Boywander, I'm rooting for you. I'm stuck driving a desk now so I enjoy reading what you're up to. Good luck and be safe.

 

This broker knew this load was skins and hides and he knew it was going to be rancid as hell. I had a coworker who used to run them and she was constantly paying REALLY good money to move them. That's probably because she was telling people exactly what they were getting into lol. Listening to a forty something year old woman try to soft sell a load of rancid skins to some extremely skeptical dispatcher was always good for a laugh. She made it work though. I think that was her first major account. She'd already moved up to bigger and better things by the time I started though.

 

I booked a load few months ago with a Landstar agency, they said it's a paper load. When I got there, it ended up being a stinky recycling facility, which was going to put that crap in my trailer.
When I asked my broker what is this about, they offered to pay for a washout, I asked for a double rate instead.
I had 4 people call me from that agency begging to take the load. The lady who I booked the load with, even went far enough to say that I am taking food away from her children lol
Basically I called them all liars,even though they were swearing they did not know it was recycling. Ended up taking the load for 180% of the original booked price.
In a few weeks they had the same load posted, asked my friend to call on it. Sure is, those clowns still said it's just paper without mentioning it was recycling.
Can't stand lying scumbags like that.

 

People like this give everyone on my side of the phone a bad name. I may move produce, and it may suck, but I definitely tell people exactly what they are in for. There's no such thing as a bad lane, only bad rates. If your customer wants an unpleasant job done there is someone out there who will do it for the right money. There's nothing unethical about sourcing that guy, but it's VERY unethical to do it by lying to him about what the job is.

EDIT: I'm also always confused how some people have the time to get into this kind of squabble with the truck. I bet if they had told you, up front, what the load was going to be they could have gotten you or someone else to do it for 150%. As a broker or a dispatcher you can tell little lies to deflect liability (my driver decided to sleep at a bad time for the customer, I tell them he got held up at the last drop.. Or I as a broker tell someone that the customer yanked the load from me when actually they just missed the pickup that they were PAID EXTRA MONEY TO MAKE and think I'm just going to pay them the extra money in the morning now that the customer is furious with me) As long as you communicate the facts on the ground to them. When you start lying about the facts on the ground #### gets serious really quick. Do not lie about when your truck will be there, what it will be picking up, when it can be delivered, or anything else that will effect someone else's operations. The cardinal sin in this business is creating unnecessary problems. Respect other people's time, business, and money. Do not create situations where you make an extra 50 bucks because the other guy loses a few hundred. You'll find yourself unable to do business with reputable people VERY quickly behaving that way.

 

There a many loads that you should not take, I know the flat side of loads to avoid but not muck on the van/reefer side.
Maybe a list of things not to haul would be good.
I do know you don't want to load carbon black.
Others can add to the list

 

All berries
Ice cream without a brand new reefer and then try to avoid anywhere that is hotter than 90 degrees.
Bananas without a reefer that can hold a very consistent temp
Skins and hides
Bulk produce without an older trailer you're fine making dirty
Seafood
Cigarettes
Name brand accessories like hand bags or anything else that could be sold out of a trunk in a big city easily.
Liquor (unless you know what you're doing... then only haul liquor lol)
Fireworks and other 1.4G (I think that's the code it's been a long while) hazmat unless you know what your doing... then same as liquor.
Avoid the cheapest types of meat as they can generate more claims than you would think. I'm talking stuff that is called mechanically separated anything. It can be fine, but don't take any tight delivery windows as it's a good way to lose 15k.