Addendum

Well you are going to find guys that will reply to you that will tell you (I'm being sarcastic) that they charge $250 an hour for detension and that starts one hour after they arrive and they bill it in 1 minute increments if they are 1 minute late being loaded and they charge $1,000 a day for layovers and $500 for truck ordered not used and if their pay is one day late over 30 days they charge 10% for every day that it is late and every broker agrees and signs it and that's the end of it.

Before I got my authority I heavily looked into all of this. Here's the fact.

You are one truck. You have no leverage to dictate anything to them. Especially as we move into a time where there are more trucks and not enough loads, and really during any time you have no leverage over them at all.

What you negotiate is the rate. There may be some brokerages, perhaps smaller brokerages, somewhere at some point in some way thar will negotiate something else with you but that is few and far between. If you get a good enough rate, that's it.

On top of that, when you start looking for loads you're going to realize you're going to find one or two that fit the price you are looking for that's going to where you need to go. You're not going to have 20 or 30 loads that you can just say hey mister broker agree to my terms or I'm not pulling your Freight.

They will just say okay thank you we'll find someone else.

Before you pull the load you need to ask them what their detention policy is and truck ordered not used and layovers Etc and you either accept it or not. That's about the best you're going to do.

And the real problem that you want to look for is to read their agreements and especially the rate cons and make sure there isn't anything crazy on there, like for example you agree that if the shipper for any reason refuses the load that you agree to haul it back to the shipper for $0.30 a mile. Yes you will find crazy things on the rate cons sometimes. And no they will not remove that they will just find another carrier.

If you do take the advice of whoever tells you that you can negotiate that with them please come back to us and let us know how that works out for you.

 

Yeah, listen to what naysayers have to cry about because they can't pull it off because they're too soft. You have to keep the upper hand at all times or they'll never agree to your terms. If you even so much ask a broker what they're policy is on detention you've already folded like a lawn chair.

It's YOUR company, not theirs. Letting them dictate your rates doesn't seem like a smart business choice at all. Some posters here will claim they can't get an policy signed and so therefore it's not possible. Well, maybe for them it isn't but for many of us...it is!

If the load doesn't really need to move, you won't get what you want. However, if it truly needs to go you will get pretty much anything you want. Learn to play poker and be really good at it. The lessons you learn directly translate to negotiations. Don't let the weak Negative Nancys steer you into letting brokers tell you how to operate.

 

I would just focus on getting signed up to as many brokers as possible in your first year of running. You may be able to add some terms like 50/hr or 75/hr after 2 free hours, 350/layover, but likely what’ll happen is you’ll sit around waiting so long that it would be more profitable to be rolling. Or, in the long term you’ll only find a handful of brokers who will work with you and overall you make a lot less then if you had more options.

I run trucks and have a brokerage, I can tell you that maybe 1% of companies edit the contract and most times it has to do with insurance liability or back soliciting then anything to do with detention.

It’s great to stand your ground, but don’t starve yourself while holding the hill. lol. I find it best to have as many broker options as possible and therefore access to the most opportunities possible. You’ll learn or see who the brokers are that have crap terms. Either end up not using them, price it into the rate, or have them put something in the rate con if your concerned about a particular load.

I’m afraid you have great intentions but will end up harming yourself. Take all of that energy and put into negotiating the rates. Just my opinion.

 

If you run for cheaper you can add that stuff in and it will most likely happen. If you want top dollar on the rate you might as well hang it up unless you have someone already willing to work with you.

ProfessionalNoticer seems to have it all figured out on that. I also think he runs cheaper stuff and has admitted to it in the past. If it works for him nothing is wrong with it either so not knocking him down for it.

I personally do not waste my time on it. I work with a handful of brokers and the policy is not set up in my favor. But it is not that bad and most of the times I know if a company is gonna waste my time. So just add it in on the bid and get it up front and not worry about it.

 

Not everyone will even book a load with you because you have new authority. Some don't or won't even pay detention. Always ask, I don't haul loads that don't pay detention. Brokers will tell you what their detention rate is, which usually is terrible. You can put any addendum that you want on your rate con, getting them to pay one of them is another thing. Instead of worrying about what addendum that you want, put all of your effort into finding broker with decent rates. Good luck!

 

A load broker refusing to deal with you is the best thing that could possibly happen. Erase that load broker #### from your mind. You have a truck and a trailer. Now get out there and find the same load the broker found with no truck and no trailer. There, your revenue is up by 30% already.

 

I remember having a conversation with OOIDA, and they told me that anything that a broker sends you that you sign, anything and everything that they send you that you sign, is completely 100% in their favor. That's the way it works. If you do not like it then you have to go find Direct Freight.

Those are some very wise words. So how do you combat that if that's the way it is?

Eventually you get to where you have so many Brokers that you work for that you know which Brokers are better brokers. You know which ones are going to send you the detention within a half an hour of you sending it in. You know which ones are going to pay you in 30 days. You know which ones have someone there to answer the phone at 3 in the morning if you're having a problem.

And the new Brokers you very carefully vet them.