Coyote Logistics

I had precisely this exact scenario in Indiana last week. Had an "appointment" time of 12pm at a shipper. I was there at 1145am. Nobody to check me in so I sit there for about 45 minutes. I call the broker and let them know what's going on. Next, the shipping manager comes out and says we'll pull you in ASAP. Everybody is on lunch right now. First thing I think to myself is why did you schedule me to be here during your lunch break and why does the entire plant stop for it instead of taking it in shifts? Anyway, by the time they have me loaded and I'm all secured I go in to get my paperwork signed and ask for a "detention sheet" to document my time there for invoicing. Well, they claim they have no such thing even after I told them the broker say they do.

I then have the manager put in my times and he leaves off a half hour. I explained that was incorrect and he told me that's all I was getting because the rest of the time they were on lunch. I was flabbergasted and told him that was unacceptable. He then said he would gladly offload me in about 4 hours. So I said, "hey, no problem I'm billing this all out at $100/hour so I'm in no hurry!" My phone rings in less then 5 minutes with the broker sending me revised rate con with an extra $100 on it.

It's funny this came up because, like you mentioned there really isn't anywhere to offload materials like heavy coils, tube or steel products so it puts us in a strange position at times. The hourly billing certainly gets them fired up that's for sure.

 

+1. When it gets to this point I'm done being a "team player." I also accept there's some give/take with what I haul so this option only gets pulled as a last resort. Say if I have a reload at risk, I'm done whether I waste half a day or more messing around trying to find storage versus being at the shipper in the same amount of time. I'm missing that reload either way, so at least in my case, it's better to work every other option before turning it around. In 7 yrs with 2 trucks I've threatened twice and never made the return trip. Both times were already at one day layover and there wasn't going to be a second one. The return to shipper threat is a motivator.

Same with a reefer on storage options. Very few cold storages will take product without having a contract in place first. Even if you can find one, often they won't take certain products in conflict with what they already store. For example a freezer on the coast that stores a lot of seafood won't accept a poultry load. Most won't even touch produce because it spoils.

I also run within about a 1,000 mi radius, so at most a few hundred dollars and a day at most gets it back to the shipper and my trailer back in service. I could see for someone doing a coast to coast run, return not being as ideal an option.

 

So how do you bill that if you you return it to the shipper? You charge them for the delivery but take it back for free?

 

I'd bill it at a avg market rate plus any detention/layover incurred during the decision making process. No inflation or crazy rates gives me leverage with their bonding company when it comes to that. Them paying it may be another issue, but by then I'm more focused on minimizing the loss than keeping my cpm average up this week.

 

So you basically double the invoice amount? Half for the delivery and half to return it? I bet they fight that tooth and nail. How many times have you had to file a claim on their bond to get payment?

 

Admittedly buried in a long winded post, I've threatened twice but never had to follow through. I would log into DAT Rate View, get the previous day's average rate (and save a pdf of it), and that is what I would put on the return trip along with the original run plus detention/layover in between. The idea being to document a fair claim to a bonding company or judge if it came down to that. That way I'm clearly just trying to be made whole, not be unreasonable or exploit an unfortunate turn of events.

All that said, I have just doubled the rate one time when a shipper put too much product on, and in my favor compared to average. The extra couple hundred dollars took the sting out of the lost reload with a regular customer. The product was 8 skids of frozen shrimp (expensive) and it was all on the shipper not the broker. At the time I'd only been doing this a year or so, and the broker was more lost about how to deal with it than I was. I was in an area where no cold storage would accept seafood and the broker really was at a loss as it wasn't his failure. I made the offer, he thought it was fair too, so a win-win for us both.

 

Duly noted. It seems the general process is the same regardless of trailer type/commodity. Just want to make sure I'm in line with what others are doing too.

 

And like I said, I've only taken 1 back. I don't care at that point and I'm in for a 100% loss. I've made the threat maybe 10-12 times in 25 years. It does get the brokers attention. Look I'm not a jerk, I will help load/unload my truck any way I can, physical labor(I need the exercise), pull up back up move over as many times as they need, I'm courteous-Yes Sir No Ma'am,I smile, I'm always on time, everything I can do to make good experience. BUT as soon as they think they can treat me like pile of dog #### and my time is worth nothing I get very angry. I don't yell, scream, curse or anything. You have 3 options. And if I'm not load in 3 hours I leave and find another load, sometimes it takes 3,4,5 hours to get unloaded. Sometimes there is a problem, crane is broke down, forklift won't start, or whatever, and I am understanding about that.
It takes a lot of time and money for a truckload of something from the manufacturer to the salesman to the storage all the office help and paying someone to load it on the truck. The last thing they want after you pull out of the gate with it, is to see it come back.
I stay with in 300 (use to be 500) miles of home so to eat 300 out and 300 back of fuel and wear and tear will give me great satisfaction to know I've proven a point.

 

Running such a small radius certainly helps facilitate that decision no doubt. I'm the same way though. Easy going until you've disrespected me or my time. In the aforementioned Indiana issue, it wasn't about the measly half hour, it was more about how they think they can get everything for free. The way I see it, they're stealing from me and taking food off my table. They get their "free" two hours and that's it. Period. I don't care if a crane breaks down, they're on lunch or any other reason they pull out of their #####. This is business. Plain and simple.