Load Booking Details

Jim L

Jim L

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Mar 2, 2009
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Just a rant...

When booking a load, please tell us on the phone if there are any special instructions or requirements about the load that may be pertinent or you may be disappointed.

I had a load broker today book 1 skid of freight. I gave him the price for 1 skid - 400 lbs. He asked me if I can pick it up right away and when I said yes, he told me the shipper & address and that he'd call the shipper, advise them who is coming and send us load confirmation sheet right away. "Just get going!" were his last words.

Well we got there, picked up the freight, and was well on our way when the load sheet came across the fax that they needed the skid delivered the next morning - 1200 miles later (on a weekend no less).

I'm sorry that I didn't confirm with the guy before we picked it up but I think this is a critical piece of information that every carrier will not assume. Why was this guy thinking that we have teams in every truck and that we only need 1 skid to fill our truck?

Well needless to say he screamed at me when I told him it wouldn't deliver until Monday but we'll do our best to ensure it delivered early on Monday - still not good enough.

Please, please, please tell me these kinds of things when booking a load. I hate to disappoint - especially when I thought I was doing an excellent job.


Just my rant for the day.
 
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Hi Jim, as I sit here Saturday morning enjoying my coffee, I shake my head at your story. I am not not sure of the realtionship your company has with this broker, but what I gather is this: there must have been a past relationship, or you the carrier would not have taken the shimpment so fast without proper background checks etc...secondly the broker would have done the same I would think. Thirdly, the broker is out to lunch thinking that yes you can deliver 1 skid 1200miles away for the next morning. We had a similar situation about 3 yrs ago, where our dispatcher took a load from another carrier without receiving the carrier confirmation. Well needless to say when we received the fax it was noted that it had to deliver the following day for 5:00am without fail. We were 1400 miles away. The carrier, refused to take no for an answer....I mean they must have known about HOS they had their own trucks? Anyway, we had to take them to small claims because they refused to pay for the entire load because we were unable to meet their demands. So our policy today, we dont take any freight unless we have a fax so that we can review all the particulars first.
 
Just a bit of a minor detail Eh? It's unfortunate that people operate like that be it a broker, carrier or customer and of course there are tons of them that do.
 
The impossible

I would not even worry about this idiot!!!

No carrier with a sane mind would take one skid that evidently must run exclusive for the same rate as a standard skid.

The broker that gave you this must think you are an idiot or simply had to get the skid off the shippers dock to passify his client.
The little piece of information he forgot to mention is key to this whole contract.

We had a similar issue with CH Robinson a few years back. It was a late pick up in Bayonne NJ. Ready @ 3:00pm and closing @ 4:00pm, this on a Friday afternoon.

Our driver loaded and naturally was not allowed to fax the documents from the shipper. An hour later we had the b/l and customs docks faxed over. The cargo was a brand new machine from the port valued @ $2.5 million US. We had the standard $250,000.00 cargo liability.

The shipper was now closed. What did we do??

Anyway it became a big problem for CH Robinson. I stopped the truck and sent them a fax looking for further instructions. Instructions were that we were not moving until one of two things happened.!!

I will let you guess what next occurred!
 
The broker is an idiot. If you don't do any real business with the guy and he yelled at you for not delivering 1 skid 1200 miles in 1 day, than I would bring the skid back to your dock and tell him to pick it up himself. Sounds to me like you are going to have a problem collecting your money, they will probably say you didn't keep up your end of the contract.
 
Jersey

No, he was moving within the hour.

I called our insurance company and got a rate for a declared value on the shipment.

Gave CH two options:

Either a letter from them and their client ( who could no longer be reached on Friday after 17:00hrs.) absolving us of any claims over and above $2.00/lb.

They ended up paying out quite a bit in extra insurance, it was more than the freight bill if I remember well!

I suggested to CH that next time he have a better description of the freight.
 
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Yes, we have a business relationship with this broker and I've never had payment issues in the past. Sometimes I think that some guys just yell, scream and stamp their feet so that hopefully something might happen. I'm not too worried about it - in the end what can he really expect? Maybe this was his first booking and he doesn't know anything about trucking.

The other thing that came to mind is maybe his customer gave it to him earlier in the week and it laid on his desk until he turned over a piece of paper and saw it there. He's probably in a lot of hot water with his customer and decided to take it out on me.

In the end we all know that shippers/receivers always put a safety buffer in the required date, then the broker adds to that buffer. Most likely they need the stuff Monday sometime (and it'll be there at 8am) and nobody will squawk. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of hot shipments that I had to move only to find that the previous hot shipment is still on the dock and hasn't been touched.

I just wanted to rant about something. Hopefully everyone reading this will think about all the possible issues when booking and not assume that the other person should know it. If its a drop dead requirement, you better let the other party know or else you may be disappointed.
 
Was the rate especially good for this skid? Or was he offering a standard skid rate for that lane? Quite often the rate tells the tale...although the broker is responsible for supplying all details. And if he yells then put him on your DNU list...I instantly hang up on anyone who yells at me... you don't need it. Don't feel badly about delivery it on Monday..
 
alx said:
No, he was moving within the hour.

I called our insurance company and got a rate for a declared value on the shipment.

Gave CH two options:

Either a letter from them and their client ( who could no longer be reached on Friday after 17:00hrs.) absolving us of any claims over and above $2.00/lb.

They ended up paying out quite a bit in extra insurance, it was more than the freight bill if I remember well!

I suggested to CH that next time he have a better description of the freight.
Click to expand...

How'd you get that? My broker says AXXA will not insure cargo over 750,000?
 
Dave in London said:
How'd you get that? My broker says AXXA will not insure cargo over 750,000?
Click to expand...

Insurance companies will give you a rider for above your limit. But you better hold tight to your panties - when he quotes the cost - it's ridiculous.
 
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Over limit

We have been with the same insurance broker for over 10 years (knock on wood). Never had an accident, hit one deer and a small engine fire.

We have cost our insurance company a total of $18,000.00 over the last 10 years.

We also insure with ZURICH and they are flexible.

Another option would have been insuring the value through the customs broker. For some reason their declared value rates are always low!
 
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what was the cost for the extra insurance on $2.5 Mil?

Mine would have been around $3900usd.
 
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We are going through this now with a client. Their loads range from $500,000 to 2 million dollars. I am advised that the norm for cargo liability ranges from $10,000 to $500,000. The client was advised that we are working close with our insurance company to find a reasonable surcharge for liability purposes. However the client still hasnt answered any of the pertinent quesitons? I forget to ask the insurance broker if all shipment would fall under the BOL act using the $2.00 / lb even if a customs invoice was given showing the actual value? Does anyone have any history with this?
 
Maggs said:
We are going through this now with a client. Their loads range from $500,000 to 2 million dollars. I am advised that the norm for cargo liability ranges from $10,000 to $500,000. The client was advised that we are working close with our insurance company to find a reasonable surcharge for liability purposes. However the client still hasnt answered any of the pertinent quesitons? I forget to ask the insurance broker if all shipment would fall under the BOL act using the $2.00 / lb even if a customs invoice was given showing the actual value? Does anyone have any history with this?
Click to expand...

declared value on customs paperwork would win that battle.

IMO
 
Declared value on a customs invoice means nothing. Value has to be on the BOL to mean anything, otherwise it's $2 per pound.
 
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