Customs Brokers

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thebluffs1

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Jul 18, 2008
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All on the board,
I am looking for some innovative ways in which to present a plausible case to customers as to the need for a)accountability with their customs brokers and b) the need for proper and correct documentation.

How do you folks handle the barrage of inability to perform?
 
The ONLY way you win a fight with a Customs Broker is when you get THEIR customer on your side. In a previous lifetime I worked for a private fleet and we delt with a Customs Broker that had a tendency to be rude to drivers in general. I fielded a call one night from an employee who was telling me how "stupid" the truck driver was when in fact it was THEIR screw up. The following morning we started the ball rolling to change Customs Brokers.

Like any business you have to hit them in the wallet to get their attention.
 
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Bluffs, is the broker a Canadian or American customs broker?

I would start with what the problem actually is. You say proper documentation is part of the problem so that would be ideal place to start. Have a look at the last few to see what was going on. Was it a document deficiency? Was it improper buyer/seller info? Was the shipment submitted to the broker afterhours and there was no afterhours authorized? How much can be attributed to the driver not doing his/her part (assuming all looks good with the paperwork) and to the customer?

Once you identify what the problem is and how it is costing you and your customer money (eg: border detention, bonding, fax costs, phone calls to the shipper to chase down corrected paperwork), you can present a case asking for accountability. If you can demonstrate that what should be a routine exercise (PAPS/PARS) is turning out to be a gong show and illustrate with costs with the last few orders that have gone wrong (assuming you did everything to the letter), you can probably get the customer onside to deal with the broker with a specific problem.

If they do not, then the option is to start levying a border surcharge to cover these extra costs which are largely not compensated. When ACI comes into effect, that defective paperwork will keep their goods from entering Canada so the world is about to get a whole lot more complicated. Keep in mind, the customer gets charged a brokerage transaction fee for clearing the freight so if there's a lot of afterhours charges, it may have more to do with how small and Mickey Mouse their customs broker may be. The solution in that case is to make sure all paperwork is in before 3pm and making sure the driver does not leave anywhere without paperwork in hand. I find it annoying when someone calls and says a driver didn't get paperwork and expects everyone to pick up their slack (unless it's sent ahead to the broker.)

Have a look at where the problem really is and what it's costing at the current scale of screw ups, average it out and you may have a border surcharge for that customer that you can justify to them.
 
They are a funny animal to deal with, some are great and some are just rubbish, their size has little to do with it.

We do a lot of LTL and have found it to be beneficial to have the drivers fax us the paperwork . We peruse through said documentation assuring that the basics are there such as piece count, value and country of origin.
We then fax documentation straight to the border the driver will cross at if such is available, if not we will fax to locations given to us.
We always follow up with a print out of the clearance with the transaction number , again if available.
The customs documentation is always sent with a clear cover page we created with emergency contact numbers for our staff in case of any problems , they have numbers to call.

There is one customs broker that we watch out for specifically and it is LIVINGSTON. They have the bad habit (a policy of theirs) of not looking at your paperwork until 2 hours before your scheduled for the border. Hence if you sent them your paperwork on friday @ 6:00am and you will cross on Saturday @ 8:00am, One of their staff will discover on Saturday morning when everyone else is closed that they need additional information. Hence if Livingston is the broker we always cross in 2 hours, that gives us a fighting chance.
 
We follow the same process as ALX. Seems to work for us. There is a copy in our office and can be refaxed without the driver having to stop.
 
Currently,
We have our drivers fax all inbound and outbound customs documents to our office, we check documents and forward them to brokers and monitor. We have the following notice as the footer of our PARS cover page...."Important note to all customs brokers: As part of our ongoing commitment to service quality, we are monitoring all PARS activities. BROKERS WHO FAIL TO SETUP PARS OR TO PROACTIVELY COMMUNICATE WITH US WILL BE BILLED ACCORDINGLY (either directly or to your customer). It is imperative for you, as the broker, to contact either the driver, or the company if there is any difficulty in setting up the PARS clearance"
In spite of this effort, we still experience a lot of frustration where:
a) the customs broker goes to the carrier for information instead of to the customer
b) the customs broker is not the broker on the account but does not notify us
c) the broker loses the documentation
d) the broker is missing some cryptic tariff information and does not process it
e) the order is rejected by customs and the broker does nothing about it

We believe that we are relatively proactive in our approach, but am mostly frustrated that there is no mechanism to hold the broker accountable financially, since there is no financial consideration in the transactions that occur in the course of the business that we conduct.
 
Because customers and consignees change customs brokers more frequently then ever, it should be a standard practice to confirm the broker regularly, and who their agent at the border is in the case of an unusually small broker.

It should always be incumbent on the person filing the PARS to check that the broker received it and follow up re: the transaction # and any other special things, like Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspections or if it's a CFIA skip-lot. Tracking online is the best. This will also confirm that documentation does not get lost.

Not a whole lot you can do about missing tariff information but the good news is that the customer controls this information and you can tally that up as a customer problem outside of your control.
 
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Bluffs....have you ever been in a Customs Office at the border? With that statement at the bottom of your cover sheet you are just asking for trouble. These people on the front lines make crap money and probably take crap all day long from everyone so if they see that statement your paperwork may get lost more often than most because they all know it is impossible to enforce. We treat people the way we want to be treated and if you sent that to us we would be on the defensive immediately.
 
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Hey Bluffs,

You are never going to win a fight with the customs broker. I think we are all subject to the same experiences when dealing with them and what seems perfectly logical to everyone else, is always difficult for them to understand.

The first thing I do is call them to make sure that they clear for that customer and verify their fax number. I always place the time of crossing at 2 hours from the time I fax the paperwork and follow up one hour later to make sure they have everything they need.

I can probably count on one hand the times that a broker has called me to let me know that there is a problem. If they become difficult to deal with, I always let them know that their customer will ultimately pay the price for their incompetence and remind them that there are many other brokers for them to choose from.

I honestly believe that adding a threatening statement to your cover sheet probably does more harm than good. I would tend to believe that this may give them inspiration to mess with you right from the start and, unless you verify that they have received your paperwork and sometimes, even when you do verify that they have your documents, they always have that fall back excuse that they did not receive your fax.
It's way too easy for customs brokers to ignore standard business protocal. It boggles my mind how a service driven industry continues to fail accross the board at customer service. I constantly remind them that, if we all had their attitude, most of us would be out of business.
 
Lowmiller

Everybody is responsible for their actions or inactions.

There is no reason not to hold a customs broker responsible for their craft.

On our cover page we clearly put all contact information and stress fact that we are available 24 hrs in case of problems.

This and keeping copies of fax confirmations has led brokers to take us seriously. We very seldom have any issues, we can clearly prove we have done our due dilligence.

When this tactic fails and this is very rare - we take the shipment in bond, and all charges including the extra drop charges, trailer detention and so on get passed directly to the customer.

When we deal with a customs broker we rarely see, we assure ourselves that we have after hours phone numbers, if not provided by the customs broker we have the number of someone at the importer. Beleive me that when you have gone to that point the customs broker makes sure that you clear.
 
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We handle both our inbound PARS and outbound PAPS similar to how alx does it as well as we handle a lot of ltl as well (everything through our office, with cover pages, keep confirmations it went through, not the drivers handing any of that. Follow up on every shipment with the print outs from the brokers websites on the outbound to send with the drivers to the border with the paperwork, keep copies of ppwk at our office etc.). On the inbound to Canada; borderconnect.com (Please dont get mad for "advertising" because I am not... just the service we know about and use) and we set it up so that they send us emails when every pars is accepted, and cleared with Canada customs (so we only call on the shipments that are not set up past our "eta" saving a bunch of time).
 
alx
we do the same things I think any good transportation company understands the need for proper back up. I'm just saying that I'm willing to bet if it came down to choosing who gets done first the person threatening may get put at the bottom of the pile.
 
Brokers

We do not threaten in any way either, we just don't give them an inch. We are in the business of moving the freight, they are there to clear it.

Here we are in the 21st century with all this technology , and it is unfathomable that you have customs brokers that have no way of dealing with issues after hours or over the week end.

The brokers are involved in the supply chain as much as we are. This industry now operates 7/ 24 - 365 days / year. It's time that the ones that cannot provide this service be weeded out!!

Fortunatly, as we mentionned earlier we have very few issues with customs now that our system has been implemented. We also try to clear as much as possible in Lacolle QC, on our way home. Most brokers present there are very helpful.
 
Honestly we do not even need custom brokers but they cannot eliminate them because of the thousands of people who would be out of work. With the technology today we should not even have to slow down at the border with 98% of the freight.
 
I thought we were alone in handling all of our drivers paperwork, both PAPS and PARS !! The bottom line is if you have done your due dilligence, kept your fax confirmations, notified your customer immediately regarding any paperwork problems,(no ppwk, missing values, tariffs, totals, origin, duties paid by etc.) then you have done your job, and done it WELL. We are NOT the importer of record, just the carrier. We want to give our customers the best service possible, but we can't do our job unless the paperwork is done correctly, the customs broker does THEIR job and so on and so forth. I have to say how impressed I am to hear how many carriers out there put in so much effort trying to do the best job for their customer and it's refreshing that we aren't alone in the nightmare that border crossing has become....
 
If you dont help out with the paperwork then you will find it harder to get drivers to cross the bridge no matter what your pay is. Without drivers your freight sits. I worked for one co. where the Pres. fired the dispatch for not helping a driver straighten out the inbound paperwork on a weekend.
 
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So what I'm hearing is that most of us are committing extra time and resouces (=cost) to ensure that we compensate for the inadequacies of the customs brokers and the incompleteness of shipping documents prepared by the shippers?

Am I correct in that?

So, is it a solid customer service strategy, or another example of us as an industry bearing the burden of someone else's inadequacies?
 
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Bluffs,

Absolutely. I think the problem will either get solved very quickly or become more complicated when ACI comes into effect, when shoddy paperwork is rejected (specifically, you will no longer able to say FAK or generically describe freight) and trucks cannot enter Canada as was described during the webinar with CBSA.

I am assuming customers are not generally into root-causing solutions when it comes to customs and assume it's part of business. They have to understand that transport companies are paid to transport goods and take responsibility and due care for the things they are directly and reasonably responsible for. Customs brokers and customs information as far as we are concerned has to be accurate but we can't do more than a quick audit and make sure the driver has the essentials that anyone would look for: a bol, invoice, required certificates and manifests. We can be proactive and check for country of origin and so on. Ultimately, customers have to take ownership of things that have to do with their transactions and making sure that the documents, like an invoice, are accurate is something that has to be driven home with them. When ACI starts, there will be penalties by the government for not complying with submitting accurate information. That will be a big motivator to straighten up the problem.
 
I believe, for most carriers, border delays cost money. Sure you can recover some of the costs with detention time etc., but it will never compensate enough to cover a lost load or a unhappy customer who's delivery is late because of someone else's mistake.

I totally agree that some brokers do not really care enough to do their job correctly and I often question why a company continues to do business with a bad broker, but this is never going to change.

It's easy to point fingers at the broker for dropping the ball or the shipper for not issuing proper paperwork, but this will always be an ongoing battle and our first priority, as carriers, is to do everything we can to make the border crossing go as smoothly as possible.

I constantly remind customers that there are better brokers out there and that they should look into making a change. In the end, all we can really do is educate them and hope they take your advice.
 
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