Nonpayment Of Invoice

I say 90% of my invoices are paid around 35-45 days

 

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XPO - lead the pack, they never failed to cut their checks earlier than 30 days.

 

Really? That's a much longer time.... I guess, you don't go with the big brokers for the most part. I calculate the period from the time of an invoice submission to the date on the check, not the physical arrival. I have them all mail me checks.

 

How does one get finessed out of a load? Like, how do you allow that to happen?

 

You have a good lawyer who isn't afraid to sue the broker on your behalf.

We think that the bond is the only way to recover funds but there is no regulation that says you have to go after only the bond. When the broker is non-paying and avoiding contact with you, they are in breach of contract, and nullifying recovery through the bond.

 

I haven't had any non-payments yet, but I did have one broker that used to pay a week late and one customer that seems to have a bad habit of paying whenever they feel like it- one, two weeks late, on time, depends on their mood. I don't haul for them anymore either and haven't had an issue otherwise.

 

Well one thing we have done with customers is give them 60 days to pay then interest is charged. Depending on the customer, it can be as high as 10% per week.

 

I have a similar deal with my other customers. This particular one is a bigger shipper that was only seasonal filler anyways and everything was their way or the highway. I'm much better off without them.

 

Yeah I get that, but no matter who it is, it is much better to be consistent and treat them all the same.

I don't kiss *** with office people, I tell them that and my manager who sometimes goes with me is embarrassed by that. He is a good negotiator but me, I tell them I don't need the business, I tell the potential customer that the performance of my drivers and accommodation of their needs is number one once we have a contract, not before. I've had potential customers wanting to test us, and I tell them no.

I had to visit a potential local customer the other day, it is a sizable contract for us, and other companies were in there pitching their service.

Sitting in the conference room on the fifth floor in Detroit, me in my work clothes with two 20 something kids dressed to the nines across the table, they seemed to be uneasy because I didn't say much, they expected me to bring them toys, calender's and all kinds of concessions for them to sign the contract, I don't work that way.

I had their RFQ package with me and the additional material they sent over. I went through the requirements with them, their QC/QA requirements and handed them a quote and a contract. I also handed them my customer's QC/QA reports with a list of contacts to them.

They were taken aback when I told them I don't have a lot of time to kibitz, I wasn't going to be like the company mine was replacing, I won't kiss *** with office people and told them I have more important things to deal with. Said good bye and left.

Some vp or director called this morning on my business phone and left a message, I will head down there Monday morning to sign the contract and start at the beginning of July to provide them a service at the quoted price (which by the way is higher than the last company).