Broker to carrier spot, who decides the rate and fuel surcharge?

Even if your theory is correct, it's still in favor of the brokerages to give a better credit rating than what is truly less. I'm inclined to believe it's not as prevalent with DAT but I find it undeniable with ITS.

 

You do realize that you are wrestling a pig in mud, right?

 

Just got a call from a broker on my DNH list because of slow pay...Circle Logistics. According to ITS they have a credit rating of 25DTP as we speak. However, when I check it directly through Sunbelt Finance they have a current DTP of 42! I know for a fact they're slow pay because they paid me 20 days late and Sunbelt's database coincides.

That's a huge difference and it certainly would/should matter to any Carrier doing their due diligence. The only people who think this inaccurate reporting is acceptable are the brokers and ITS. Look at the brokers charging in to defend them. It's obvious they benefit more than the Carriers. No Carrier in their right mind would think this is ok since they're the ones issuing the credit.

 

I haven’t really followed this thread much but as far as credit and DTP on DAT...

We pay at 21 days in order to get 30 days on DAT. Although I did notice lately they have have changed how it’s calculated because now we’re 21 days on there. Also the credit score goes down if you do basically ANYTHING wrong even if it’s a mistake. Carriers themselves never seem to report but all of the factoring companies do and it takes work to make sure they are happy and that any confusion is settled and marked in their system so you don’t get dinged. It’s no joke from my perspective anyway.

 

Why is there such a lag? Most Carriers don't report because they can't unless they allow places like Ansonia direct access to their accounting software/application. Your comment and my experiences are proof enough that nobody should put their faith in the data DAT and ITS puts out. It's an OK barometer at best but should not be trusted no matter who those "inaccuracies" benefit.

 

If you mean lag between 21 days and what’s posted 30 days, it’s because the factoring companies go off when the load was delivered. Not when the broker actually received everything in order to process payment. Then there is lag of the factor receiving payment and processing it. So, the brokers to get the magic 30 dtp had to actually be at 21 from moment of delivery.

 

The load board subscriptions cost more for brokers than they do for carriers. They probably also charge them for every agent that logs in rather than just one account for everyone in that brokerage to use. I think they make more money off of brokerages than truck drivers, but it's just a guess. I do believe they favor brokers over carriers, but it is possible that it's just incompetence. Brokers were able to get ITS reverted to an earlier version, while carriers were not. I still can't search for team loads on their desktop platform.

DAT took the reviews and rating summary from the overview page and made it so I have to click on the load for that information. Now instead of being able to scroll past the 1 star brokers with multiple reviews, I have to click through pages to get the information. I can't say it's nefarious, but I do think it's fair to question their motives. Maybe the stars and parenthesis took up too much data or space on the screen.

With that said, I don't think they're bending over backwards and manipulating credit scores and days to pay data. For the most part, I've found it fairly accurate. The only ones I question are the companies who haven't been in business very long.

 

Point of clarification on the ITS thing: They smashed us with a new version that's worse, and refuse to revert it.

 

That sucks. I actually left feedback that said they would have been better off paying their developers to play solitaire. Between the load board new versions and Rand McNally 2.0, I'm convinced that there's a huge disconnect between a lot of technology companies and their customers. Taking features and icons and shuffling them around is not an upgrade, especially when old features are left out. It's like they hired the retail exec who came up with the idea of shuffling around the aisles in the stores every few weeks and implemented that strategy to an online platform.

 

They did the same thing to the Carriers too.