Brokers are Making A Killing on these loads! (screen shots)

Intuitively, those back solicitation preclusions always seemed to me as un-American and anti-free market, thus very artificial legal creations.
If I see a trucking company that shows an exemplary regard for the product and their operators instill confidence, I'd sure welcome them to approach me to discuss business. It should be my call and risk to decide where I get service from, and the decision should never be hindered by some legal tool killing the spirit of competition.

 

Brokers indeed may work hard to aquire customers but it is not like they create them for their own exclusive use, as if they never existed. In other words, their work does not have the same inventive element of great brains who worked on their projects for years, and therefore should be protected by patent laws.

In my 20 mile home radius area, I will find warehouses that I never took a load from but they might be very likely customers of the brokers with whom I signed broker - carrier agreements.
Acquiring someone elses customers is not unethical in the realm of a free market business - it adheres to the very principle of providing the best quality product or service to the customer at the best price. The realm in which ONLY the customers ought to be the ultimate Gods deciding who would serve their needs.

 

That's why I suspect that those clauses violate antitrust and unfair competition laws. Another thing to think about...A broker has a customer for a certain period of time or certain number of loads. If the contract between the broker and the shipper has terminated, does the broker still have dibs on the shipper? I for one am going to contact shippers as soon as I buy my trailer. I have a trip sheet I created for every load I've taken since I started. I must have hundreds of trip sheets and bols. And as for the shippers that I've been to as an owner-op these past 4 months, they're fair game too.

 

It's no different than almost all contracts, they are not forever, they have an end date. Once that contract expires, free market they are.
I have a contract with a logging company right now, as soon as their equipment is moved, it expires. Doesn't matter that I've been moving their equipment for about 2 decades now. I have no say in who they use spring 2023 to move this equipment out of there. Some people seem to think that brokers are mystical, and have some special powers, and rights.
They do not, they are simply a middle man, with no special powers. Skipping the middle man if possible is good for the other two.
Brokers may try to make someone believe that they are almighty powerful. But remember, in reality they are they unnecessary person in this three some.
The people who are at each end are the important ones, they are the truckers customers. The truckers need to worry about doing a great job for them, the broker is like a thief, stealing a lot of money, while doing absolutely nothing of value. They don't make anything, they don't haul anything, and they don't own the stores that sell to consumers or make something larger out of the product hauled.
The sooner people stop treating these blood sucking leaches like they are mystical, and remember they are leaches, the better.

 

I would not go to the extreme of defining them as leeches. They provide a package of transport arrangements to someone who is willing to pay for it. But the willingness to pay for it should not be obstructed by their legal measures to prevent others from marketing their business. Just like they don't want their profits to be capped, they should not prevent carriers and shippers from discussing business.
I just don't believe that their acquisition of customers deserves a special protection because the acquisition itself is not any different from the one of a carrier trying to convince someone to use their services. Their merely contacting the customer first should not earn them exclusive rights.
If a house cleaning service starts charging too much and an individual lady from that service crew tells me that she could do the cleaning herself for half the price, it should be up to me to decide if I want her or not. I should be able to say, screw the cleaning service...