You think it is live unload but they want you to drop it...

I avoid them because everyone wants to keep your trailer for basically nothing extra. They act incredulous you would ask anything more than a $100 extra or something stupid like that. #### amazon. I'll haul their power only but not their live load BS. They will destroy equipment too.

 

You are not getting correct information to make a decision.

If you expect one thing such a live unload and you are told to drop trailer... nothing doing. Wait until morning and hammer it out with that broker. You will live unload that trailer but someone will have to PAY UP FOR THAT. Make sure that someone does.

DO NOT take your trailer off. God only knows what can happen to it when it's not on YOUR 5th wheel.

Warehouses LOVE trailers. They can stick widgets in there to rot 6 months. Cheap free storage.

 

Screw $100 a day crap, it is $1000 a day if I have a dropped trailer, or it is going right back to the shipper.

I hate brokers who for the most part can't figure out what the customer needs or wants and they post loads that should be handled by a fleet only, not an O/O. If one of my drivers are told to drop it, he is on the phone with the broker, if he can't get a hold of them, then I tell them return the thing and tell the dock people it is considered a refusal, put that right on the BOL and have them sign it as one.

 

The second you were told to drop your trailer and it wasn't on the RC you were good to start refusing to obey the brokers instructions until he sends a new RC with a new rate.

The RC is a contract. Both sides are agreeing to abide by it. It loses all power when you go off script. This is why my RC's clearly spell out everything that can go wrong and what the remedy will be.

Either this broker or this customer created this situation by not communicating or not reading. They need to work out how they are going to get unloaded between themselves. You're perfectly within your rights to ask for a crazy number like 1000 a day. The way this SHOULD get resolved is they should pull you up to a dock and unload you.

 

@TallJoe - if you agreed to a live unload, and they're trying to have you drop it, press the issue with the broker. The thing is that someone didn't do their job and double check what the plan for this load was. The rate confirmation is a contract, and the contract doesn't specify that they want you to leave the equipment. I'd need to see what terms they specify in the rate confirmation, but honestly, in most cases it's not worth the time (or pissed off carrier) to fight this as a broker. They screwed up, and you should be paid for the time lost as a result.

 

Eh the broker has a lot of reasons to be nasty here. The customer is VERY capable of holding the load for a few days on a drop trailer. This could easily turn into a pretty serious issue in my opinion. I'd be very wary of dropping the trailer as the carrier.

This is also a very tough spot for the carrier because he has so little leverage. The receiver obviously doesn't consider the freight high priority, which means they can just tell TallJoe to kick rocks without any serious repercussions besides TallJoe returning the load and having an incredibly difficult time getting the brokerage to pay for anything including the original load.

Which is why Talljoe should be VERY aggressive. If they demand that he drop the trailer he should instead offer to drop the load at a bonded warehouse to be recovered when all fees are paid. Returning the load to the shipper is a terrible option, dropping the trailer is a terrible option, literally every option but delivering the load live is an awful outcome.

EDIT: Like let's say they agree to 1k a day in layover for the trailer. What's his plan when they refuse to pay it? They will claim that he coerced them and fight it to the bloody end if it's not going to get recovered from the customer. For this reason I'd keep all conversations about details away from text and email.

I'm assuming that this brokerage isn't outstanding. If they are good at their jobs and the mistake was actually on the customers side this will be resolved with a live unload... Or a new RC that satisfies Talljoe.

 

This times a thousand. Frankly, the other thing to consider is this - nobody gets paid until you deliver. You need to go ahead and point that out to your broker on this shipment, assuming he's somehow not tracking that. I'm always going to push in your favor when the screw up isn't on your end, because to do otherwise is a violation of trust and my reputation.

 

Seriously the brokerage should be buttering you up so hard right now. They should be telling you how reasonable the customer is and that all they need is for the right person to come in so they can get you unloaded. They should be asking you in an open ended way what kind of money you want to drop the trailer... because they need to at least offer it to the customer. Interestingly they have zero reason to want you to be reasonable about that number because the point isn't to pay it... It's to get the customer to unload the truck.

Interestingly in this spot you acting like a dick is actually good for the broker. He can blame truck and the situation and they will grumble and do the right thing.

I'm not advocating acting like a dick in the course of normal business, but this situation isn't normal and is basically a high 4 figure to low 5 figure problem if it goes really sideways.