Owner Operators, who’s in and who’s out? (poll)

Definitely. I would have no problem with holding any fiance company liable for the actions of the carrier. I also would make piercing the corporate veil much easier to hold individual investors personally liable.

 

Well duh. The point is they shouldn’t complain about the system allowing an influx of trucks post-Covid when it’s the same system that allowed them to get authority.

Running the spot market shouldn’t be a business plan.

 

There would be a lot of benefit to that list. However putting some of the compliance burden on brokers and shippers would mean they’d need access to a lot of info carriers wouldn’t want to share. But there would be a benefit there as single truck and small carriers would possibly leave the industry or surrender their authority to avoid dealing with it.

Cracking down on employee classification would help also. Instead of enforcing current regulations they’d rather just make everyone be an employee though.

 

In SC bars can be held to partial liability for over serving a drunk driver. The same needs to be done in the freight industry. As it stands now it’s all about the cheapest truck. Sure they all ##### about non English speaking drivers but they continue to use them. Why? Price.

I should be clear, there are a heap of English speakers lining up to offer cheap services too

 

Need to add one: Retired and gave this crap up. I have 1 foot in this boat.

 

Not really. Say a driver was given a ticket - if the carrier, the broker, and the shipper all got an equivalent citations there would a lot less tolerance of stupidity.

Well, that and a clause that prevents double brokering/sub contracting.

'A Little Bit Frightening': This Legal Obstacle Is Emerging in Trucking Lawsuits - RAM Law

USPS contracted with Carroll Fulmer, a solid company with a solid record - who then brokered out the load to a substandard carrier, who rear ended a vehicle. The driver "had only been on the job a few weeks but had already had multiple crashes, and a police officer’s body cam footage showed Gozibekov [the driver] pleading to not get a ticket". Gozibekov was 'employed' by BJJ Enterprises of St. Louis while the truck was owned by Xpress Line of Chicago.

So how is a driver employed by one company but the truck is owned by a different company? All of whom are contracted by a company that is contracted with the USPS.

If the injured party was allowed to sue all the way up the ladder, there is no way that USPS would allow Carroll Fulmer to broker out their freight. Even if they did, if the driver picked up the load at 12:30 and had 800 miles to delivery, the shipper should automatically reschedule delivery to a time frame possible under the HOS - with whatever penalties to the carrier for not providing a truck with the hours to do the contracted load. Conversely the carrier should be charging an amount that accounts for paying a driver for down time waiting for the load.

Extending my thought - we all know that there are ELD providers that allow for the manipulating of logs and this is okay because ELD providers only have to self certify. If a shipper can be held liable for HOS violations they're going to require the carrier to use a real ELD.

 

Carroll Fulmer Logistics, a Florida-based trucking company that has operated for more than 70 years, is shutting down.

The carrier had 400 trucks and 1,700 trailers. Some 600 employees will be laid off as operations cease. The company plans to offer them 60 days’ severance pay as it winds down.

Indeed, a very solid company.

 

One of the reasons cited was lawsuits

 

Running the spot market can easily be a business plan. But only for someone that understands it.

 

I should’ve said it wasn’t meant to be a business plan. When load boards first came about, back when it was a tv screen at the truckstop, they were used to get home. Haul a customer load out, then find a backhaul. Spot market competition is based solely on price the majority of the time and in my opinion that’s not very solid. As evidenced by the extended down turn in rates due to the sheer volume of trucks available to run the available loads.