Landstar is getting cheap.

Yea I gotta watch my Dad. Or I'd be back down the highway as soon as I'm M/T in about 20 minutes.
There's some good stuff. There's two agents that had freight well above the curve before it got out of control, that I could call and always get a good load too, that I still pull some, just for what you just said, it will slow at some point, and you can bet there will be some scores settled then lol.

 

I've seen and experienced how business cycles work in my own life. I was a spec builder for many years. Enough said

 

This happens to me... twice a year maybe. Almost always Meijers fault as they seem to have a particularly flexible relationship with my main produce customer. Usually it's the load got cancelled and is going to IN now instead of MI/WI.

When this happens you literally have all the power. You could have gone home and demanded they pay you 4 dollars a mile to deliver it to the receiver on your time table. And this wouldn't holding the load hostage because they created the situation by booking you to the wrong destination.

That or they could pay you the full rate to bring it back to the shipper lol. There's a reason why every time this happens I do a fair bit of cussing and throwing things. My customer understands how bad they've screwed things up when this happens at least.

Brokers who INTENTIONALLY get in this spot go broke. Period. This is a good way to lose thousands of dollars on a load. He called you a dumb truck driver lol. Dumb is being in this situation from Landstars perspective. You NEVER want a truck loaded with product that you don't have a valid rate confirmation under. That's how you get raped with absolutely zero recourse but saying you won't work with them again.

EDIT: I'm reading a biography of Grant that I got for Christmas. One of the more interesting things about his style as a field commander was his relentless focus on what he could do to the other army rather than what they could do to him. If they mounted a strong attack on the left he would counter attack on the right because they must be unbalanced to make such a strong attack on the left. I suspect this broker thinks that the best way to handle situations like this is false confidence and bravado. He plays hardball when he has no leverage because he thinks he can steamroll people. And he probably can 75% of the time. Of course the 25% of the time he runs into someone who knows a LOT about the business he's going to piss them off... And he has no leverage... so they are going to absolutely blow his #### up.

 

Well yeah. And I don't blame you. This business is too big to get past 'screw me once shame on you'.

 

I'm sure they will be going under without you.

 

After 23 pages you admit you agreed to a deal twice you weren't happy with. Look in the mirror.

 

That's unbelievable! It is one thing to have an appointment changed or a different warehouse in the same town, but forcing you go to a completely different geographical location, 500 miles further West! What if I pick up a load going to Lancaster PA, (which I am on Monday) for a very good rate, but they call me later in the day to tell me it is going to Bronx, NY (hence the good rate)? I don't know, what I would do. Is returning the cargo to the shipper even an option? Because for a change like that I would need at least 2K more, as Bronx is completely out of my domain. Things like these had better be seldom.

 

Well the change in destination like that means your rate confirmation is void. So you either get a good one that makes you happy, tell the dude pound sand I'm taking this back Happy New Year, or you get some more money, and go yea I can deal with it, and never let the guy forget he owes you hugely.

Or you can run around like a puppy that somebody stepped on it's paw, so somebody can come along and make it all better.

So far in 6 months, and I don't know how many loads, I've yet to have a change in destination. I have delivered early, and have been given leeway in delivering early or juggling multiple stops to make it more efficient.

There's a super agent that has some good freight right in my back yard. First load was AFU. Second load he whined cause I delivered it early, cause he told the customer I wouldn't be there until after 1800, I was their at 1100. Then he tried to get $500 back on the first load saying he over paid me. I keep everything, had rate con, he can pound sand, that went away.
So, he's on the no haul list.

There's another that there is just almost always some sort of issue with a customer. No more with him either. It's just cursed.

But there's like 20,000? agents. I already have at least half dozen really good ones. Just pick up the phone and call, POOF, good load.

Landstar is absolutely not for the faint of heart, that much is most certain. But at the end of the day, when it's all evil, you need look in the mirror.

And one thing it never is, unless you let it be, is cheap.