Had to let a customer go

Exactly!!! Its the principle of the matter at hand. They screwed you once yet tryed to come back because that driver that cut your rate screwed somthing up somewhere and then they realize, hmmmm maybe that old saying you get what you pay for is true....

 

Yeah man, Kudos BH for holding the line. Now only if more of us would follow.......

 

Reality, more loads than trucks. Truckers do not have to have some slimy low balling client to be successful.

 

Haven't had to really fire a customer yet. Well.. except for one that screwed us on a promised detention payment.

Even my best customers try to slip a cheapie on me once in a while. It's not personal when I refuse. If I accept it, the only one harmed is me.

I'll admit, it does sting a little the first couple of times you go thru the cycle. You feel like you earned the premium rate, going above and beyond, only to see that business go to a bottom feeder. You know the cycle.. the customer takes your good service for granted and starts grinding rates and going to a cheaper carrier. After they get beat up enough with missed appointments and claims they come back.

I'm over it. I'll negotiate and if they're offer is below my minimum, the call is over. Doesn't hurt my feelings one bit. In fact, when they call back to accept my offer after all that, I'm doubly suspicious of the offer. When they get tired of the cheap guys screwing their loads up and call again, I talk to them like a good friend I haven't heard from in a while LOL.

 

Its a delicate balance between a truck owner and a shipper or broker. Sometimes the O/O forgets that their in the business to provide a service, on the other hand the shipper get complacent and forget that the truck owner has continuously increase in cost of operation. The problem is the increase of operation on both sides of the fence... the problem is that 3rd wheel, the broker. He has nothing invested in the fight yet he thinks he worth a bigger piece of the pie then both the shipper or the truck owner.

I agree, $2 ttt might be a fair rate going 1500 miles, but that goes right out the window when your talking local work and its more about time involved and these brokers know this.