question about a Recalled load

Actually I think you've got em by the short hairs. You should negotiate a fee for bringing the load back. Tell them you will lose a back haul or a cross country load if you have to turn around. Make them pay!

 

Having had 30+ years experience on the side of the industry that generates loads for truckers I would say in this situation you should turn around and take the shipment back to the shipper. You should also be compensated for the miles you actually drove and possibly for any lost shipments or other costs associated with the change. You have the load on your truck and a BOL that is consigned to the receiver, so you could by rights go on to deliver the load and then let someone else sort it out. But it would be more professional to negotiate a fair settlement for bringing it back and work with the broker and shipper to help them out of the situation. It will also help your relationship with the broker for future loads. This is a business, and relationships do matter.

 

I had a load of baby food from New Hampshire to Minnesota. Got to the receiver and they unloaded it off my trailer and dumped it straight into a dumpster. Seems it had failed the QC tests after I left the dock. Had some kind of bacteria.
I was paid for the load and $100 extra for the 2 hr wait at the receiver while they waited for the dumpster to arrive. The consignee signed the bills received and there was no notation as to it being bad.

 

Be a business man! Ask for a rate that will compensate you properly, typically double the original rate, and if they balk, tell them you'll drop the load at any warehouse between you and the original consignee and they can arrange return transportation due to your already booked load. Be pleasant but firm.

 

Looking at this from a shipper's point of view, once they know they have a problem they don't want the shipment to be received by the customer. Often customers will charge very high fees for receiving an "out of spec" shipment. They would rather have the shipment returned and pay your rate for returning the shipment. It is less expensive for them.

For example, when I was a supplier to a major brand name retailer we were charged $20 PER CARTON for out of spec product that had to be returned or destroyed. If we were late with a delivery we were charged $15 PER BACKORDER (a mail order catalogue company) for every backorder they had to fill.

I hope this will give some perspective to other O/O's so we can work to help our shippers, brokers, and receivers. I'm "blessed" (with a large grain of salt) with having been able to work on the "other" side of the transportation equation. It gives me some perspective on the trials and tribulations beyond the cab of the truck.

 

If you are an O/O booking directly with brokers this type of action may preclude you from consideration for future loads. In this kind of situation you do have them "by the short curlies", but I would be more apt to help them out for adequate compensation, return the load, and make sure the broker is aware that I'm a reasonable business man that will work with them in difficult situations. If I were the broker and the trucker wanted double the rate for the return load, I'd make sure to put that trucker much lower on my priority list in the future.

It's a business, and relationships in business are important.

 

Maybe you misunderstood. Double the rate means getting the same rate going and coming. In this case 1800 each way, for a total of double the original agreement. Depending on the situation, ie weekend layover, you could charge more, especially if the load was a next day delivery type and there wasn't much in it to begin with.

 

In that case, asking for the same rate for the backhaul is reasonable... plus any other expenses such as difficulty getting a haul out of the original location, dead heading, etc.