Having a lot of cancelled loads lately.

No, sell your truck, cancel your insurance, and stand at the end of a busy off ramp holding a sjgn. That's where the real money is!

 

I love this Ridgeline, I LOVE this, LOL....

I'm just going to say this and I don't care who or what they think.

I read all these posts about a guy who got screwed on a load (LIKE ME about 3 weeks ago...) that booked it, drove 300 miles to get it, get 3-4 texts from the broker asking what time you'll be there to pick it up even when you already told them 3 times when...,) and then you arrive and the load was shipped "yesterday". Broker acts surprised, offers $50.00 for a TONU. I state the industry standard is $250.00, they cry and say it's coming out of pocket, cannot do $250.00, the most we've ever paid was $150.00 EVER. I rode them like a wild bull for a week until we got to $150.00 and that was IT...they were willing to get sued for it. That was the negotiation, PERIOD. (And it was all done in a diplomatic manner by the way, to ensure a positive outcome.) On the 90th day if we don't see that $150.00 in the account magically appear from them, both barrels will be ####ed, waiting.

Mark my words, I will pursue the next one by filing against their bond. You have to wait 90 days from date of incident, but in these cases, I am a very, very patient fella.

I love these truck stop attorneys; "You gotta learn how to negotiate..." what's your rate"...how long you been at this" "why you using brokers anyways", "just go get your own customers"....blah, blah blah. Yeah, like it's as simple as that hoss. Just walk right in and take over the show from the carriers that have been doing the work before you were even born...that's easy.

Here's a little piece of solid, factual, perhaps meaningless-to-some-folks' insight; ain't NOBODY gotta do NOTHING except DIE and pay taxes, and the latter ain't even chiseled in stone as the first one. So in these events that this happens, you can be as much of a negotiator as Warren Buffet and still hold yer hand on yer keester in the end. These rate con's are full of language to detach those sleezebags from any and all liabilities. If these sleezebags operate like that and just refuse to be on the up and up about it, then hopefully, one day, the right guy will come along and clean their clocks by having the right legal counsel and make them wish they paid the lousy, stinking $250.00 TONU in the first place. I for one, am prepared to be "that guy".

You wanna poke the bear you sleezebags, you're gonna get the claws. Now, if only a couple more would agree on that instead of bombarding this topic with all the different ways to look at this, like "go get yer own shippers, learn how to negotiate, sell yer truck," etc., maybe this could finally be addressed in a matter that there could be some change. I'm not holding my breath though. This is one industry that can't seem to get together in numbers enough to change anything unfortunately.

Slowly, we learn by our experiences, good, bad or otherwise.

 

What you are missing is the fact the tonu and detention charges need to be in the contract before it happens. If you don't have them in contract, filing on the bond will not help.
Get it in writing on the rate sheet and/or carrier packet before you accept the load. Only once you have a contract that has not been paid will the bond help.

 

In regards to detention it can be done after load acceptance as well. The Carrier just needs to be persistent and/or ready to walk away if their billing needs aren't met. If you're at the shipper or receiver and things start going South you call and have it added. If you can't come to an agreement, you leave. The TONU should be there ahead of time, no doubt. Because if you decide to bail on the load I seriously doubt the broker's going to give you anything they're not required to.

 

I bailed on a load once under the pretense of running out of hours( which was true but I was on paper logs) and they kept me there for 5 hours already. I found out from the "befriended" shipping clerk there that it was a recovered load I got myself into. Lesson learned: Whenever you go to big grocery warehouses with an open window appointment, charge them double...or Don't go! Too bad if it is a delivery situation, not much can be done.

 

I've added annotations to rate confirmations many times over the course of the last couple of years, as the language continues to lean towards the brokers advantage more and more. The ones with integrity will acknowledge and make the adjustments, the "others" deny any and all changes. Those are the easy ones to put on the "do not haul list". The rest are a crap shoot until you get involved.

Lack of integrity is in my opinion, the biggest deterrent to the broker/carrier relationship, thus resulting in all the negativity. It goes both ways too, of course.

 

Sounds like double brokering to me. They don’t even know the commodity sometimes

 

Indeed. Nor many other pertinent details. Instead they place you hold and call their "customer". At that point I just hang the phone up. If you don't already know it's because you aren't direct. I want only one party in between me and the customer.

 

I'm advocating for a double and triple "THANK YOU" button for posts like these, LOL...

 

My first question to a new broker is Were is your office? Chicago! good Im 284 miles away. If we ever have problems I can be there in a few hours and discuss the money issues in person. Very nicely I communicate this. Ive only had to do this twice. It was Cleveland, I was home and the check was deposited by the afternoon. Now my grandfather would tell you, "That a cheat, and liar has a way of changing his attitude when you start the conversation by laying a .45 auto on the desk." and don't say a word, just look at them.