More Freight then booked for

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misto27

misto27

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Dec 4, 2009
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Good day People!

Have a question and was wondering how you carriers / brokers usually handle that kind of situation.

Ex :
as a broker, we booked a shipment which takes 25' of trailer.
Once at the pickup, the shipment take 32, of trailer.
The carrier picks, without calling us even with the notes written and all we agreed on the phone and now asks us more money then dealed...
Shipper sent more freight then supposed, without the bill to customer knowing, and they don't want to pay...
What would you do?

Anyways, why would drivers take more or less freight they agreed?

Just really confused as what other people do in that kind of situation

Thanks everyone!
 
misto27 said:
Good day People!

Have a question and was wondering how you carriers / brokers usually handle that kind of situation.

Ex :
as a broker, we booked a shipment which takes 25' of trailer.
Once at the pickup, the shipment take 32, of trailer.
The carrier picks, without calling us even with the notes written and all we agreed on the phone and now asks us more money then dealed...
Shipper sent more freight then supposed, without the bill to customer knowing, and they don't want to pay...
What would you do?

Anyways, why would drivers take more or less freight they agreed?

Just really confused as what other people do in that kind of situation

Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...

The most important detail is the "...The carrier picks, without calling us..." I understand how a driver could leave a shipper without verifying the correct footage of freight vs. what was dispatched. It does happen.

The ethical thing to do (for all parties) is take the original rate agreed, divide by 25 and multiply by 32. You have your new rate.

Again, it's WAY better to negotiate when the driver is on site as the option to offload the entire shipment is still an option (with a missed pick of course).

Good luck, keep well.

Mike
 
we ask they call on site if they get more than agreed.

but very often they will leave with it and ask for more money, then they have you by the balls... you sometimes end up eating it to stay on good terms with the carrier if the client won't pay...

they SHOULD call from shipper if any discrepencies occur, but we all know how the shoulda coulda woulda goes down...
 
Consignee can measure to confirm then do the math like suggested. I'm sure city drivers have better things to do then spend an afternoon measuring your customers freight for you then fighting for fair compensation. It's on the trailer after all so if you don't like the 32ft rate vs the 25ft rate which you did like factor in the $400 charge for wasting their day should you have decided to unload it and im sure it will work for both you and your customer. That's 3-4 skid spots of revenue your customer is trying to steal from the carrier and since you figured this would happen you must have a per ft rate in place regardless.
 
MarkD said:
Consignee can measure to confirm then do the math like suggested. I'm sure city drivers have better things to do then spend an afternoon measuring your customers freight for you then fighting for fair compensation. It's on the trailer after all so if you don't like the 32ft rate vs the 25ft rate which you did like factor in the $400 charge for wasting their day should you have decided to unload it and im sure it will work for both you and your customer. That's 3-4 skid spots of revenue your customer is trying to steal from the carrier and since you figured this would happen you must have a per ft rate in place regardless.
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doesn't always work that way. a lot of people think it should this way, but it isn't. 8ft price ratio vs 32ft price ratio, not the same, some carriers have good pricing at ~8ft vs carriers that have good pricing at ~32ft.

just my two cents...
 
Question?

Look at the sitation in the other hand, what if less shipped than was booked. Is it fair to reduce the rate to carrier if that was the case, when they ran, possibly off route, to pick up freight and reserved the amount of space required at booking. Based on how you would answer that question is how I would start your approach to this type of situation. I think it depends alot on what type of relationship you have with the carrier, that will determine the best resolution for all involved.

Adding to the debate: Does anyone talk to the shipper ahead of time these days to confirm what they are trying to sell?!?! (Not just the amount of freight, but the address, phone # and contact info as well). For all of the "customer service" oriented brokers out there, here is a thought; "Carrier Service", i.e. accurate information, height of skids (in case its a straight truck) shipping/receiving hours of YOUR customer etc... Food for thought. Cant think of how many times we get a call, someone trying to sell freight, yet cannot answer none of these questions.
 
It's case by case. If it's a carrier you deal with often and especially if it's a repeat lane, they'll likely work with you. But if it's one off, the carrier will blame you as much as the shipper so you kinda get screwed on it. I'm guessing if you can't figure the linear feet out then it must be floor loaded freight? Did it load after hours?

If it's a difference in skid count it's pretty cut and dry -- the BL will show the number of skids and I'm sure you have a rate scale that shows the difference in rate when it goes up.
 
No sane customer or broker is going to think as an example that $70 per foot on 25ft is a fair price but $70/ft on 32ft is way out to lunch especially when you factor in the charge you would have gotten for a truck ordered then detained then not used.
 
MarkD said:
No sane customer or broker is going to think as an example that $70 per foot on 25ft is a fair price but $70/ft on 32ft is way out to lunch especially when you factor in the charge you would have gotten for a truck ordered then detained then not used.
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so backwards mathematics would get me a skid moved for $140?
 
G Roch said:
so backwards mathematics would get me a skid moved for $140?
Click to expand...

Good point,

Of course when you are only talking about a 'small variance' a simple rate/foot rule is easy and should work. On the other hand that footage may have been another pickup that the carrier can not do and has to let another cusotmer down... That is certainly not good news.

All the more reason for the broker to verify the space before sending the truck in (or in the case where the shipper hasn't built the load yet that the driver call their dispatch BEFORE leaving if there is a discrepancy).

Keep well,

Mike
 
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Mistoe

It really is quite simple,

You are representing your customer. Your task is now simply to relay the proper information to the carrier.

Under proper information the following are critical.

1) Agreed upon rate
2) Correct pick up window
3) Exact description of goods, including exact piece count, weight and size.
4) Correct addresses at both ends.

If any of these items are incorrect you have not done your job adequately. Really, this is the major scope of your work.

In this instance you did not provide the carrier with the correct information, the reason is irrelevant to the fact that the info is incorrect. You should be questioning your client as to why they told you they had 25 feet , that was in reality 32!!

This scenario so resembles the carrier that waited all day to load a few weeks ago and ended up with one skid with a scheduled appointment.

The driver picking up this freight loaded what the shipper gave him. Realistically, this driver has most likely never been to this place before or he or his dispatch , would have known to watch out for discrepancies.

On the other hand , the fellow working in shipping has probably been there more than a day and knows full well what he is doing.

Again it is shameful to try to pin this whole situation on a driver that is simply told to pick up.

As for the extra fees. It is not a simple extrapolation.

WE are a small ltl carrier and I would be very irked by the situation that just occurred.

All of our trucks have measuring tapes because we know we have certain clients that have freight that changes. And yes we charge less when we get less.

WE generally will not pick up more than 1/2 trailer at any time as the revenue target becomes harder to achieve. In the above case we would have lost out on 8 feet of truck , hence 4 skid spots @ $400/ piece. Therefore $1600 out.

This is the reality of it. Hence it pays to be precise.
 
What a joke. Once again someone who complains the customer doesn't want to pay when they are in the wrong, If you are going to broker freight, have some kind of relationship with your customer. If the carrier loses another pick up and lost revenue because the shipper can't count skids than pay it and move on. Have control over the freight you move. Sounds like just another double brokered load.
 
Hey Everyone!

Thanks for your comments and replies. Didn't want to start a debate though! :)
As for info, we always call the shipper to confirm what our customer says, to check if it's ready, amount of pieces, exact weight, dimensions, description of the goods we are picking up. Also, we always tell them who we are sending in, and what amount of space they are authorize to take...
In the case I'm talked about earlier, we did advise the carrier that he cannot take more freight then supposed AND wrote a note on the booking confirmation as well ( as the same situation happened in the past, with the same customer AND shipper ) Even with all this, more freight was pickedup and the carrier is holding the stock hostage and wants a new confirmation before delivering....
I understand everyone points of view, as well as Carriers then brokers.
Thanks again for your comments! :)

Have a super week!
 
Michael K said:
What a joke. Once again someone who complains the customer doesn't want to pay when they are in the wrong, If you are going to broker freight, have some kind of relationship with your customer. If the carrier loses another pick up and lost revenue because the shipper can't count skids than pay it and move on. Have control over the freight you move. Sounds like just another double brokered load.
Click to expand...

Sorry Michael, you are WAY in the wrong with your comments here...
 
MikeJr said:
Good point,

Of course when you are only talking about a 'small variance' a simple rate/foot rule is easy and should work. On the other hand that footage may have been another pickup that the carrier can not do and has to let another cusotmer down... That is certainly not good news.

All the more reason for the broker to verify the space before sending the truck in (or in the case where the shipper hasn't built the load yet that the driver call their dispatch BEFORE leaving if there is a discrepancy).

Keep well,

Mike
Click to expand...

yep, calling back the broker before leaving the shipper's is the best thing to do!

and yes sometimes we can't control the customer...

shit happens, we work together, and negotiate carrier/customer to keep everyone happy and meet in the middle or so.

good thread!

p.s. I know I won't ever get 1 skid moved for $140 lol ;)
 
I'm not in the wrong. YOUR shipper loaded more freight. Pay the carrier and have the freight delivered. If I ever moved a load for a customer and they loaded more freight than I contacted and than refused to pay me. That would be the last load we ever did for them.
 
Michael K said:
I'm not in the wrong. YOUR shipper loaded more freight. Pay the carrier and have the freight delivered. If I ever moved a load for a customer and they loaded more freight than I contracted and than refused to pay me. That would be the last load we ever did for them.
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this is where you try to work with the customers, not just "THEY GOTTA PAY" type deal.

when you compromise with a client you can make more money in the long run.

what carrier are you with?
 
I'm don't work for a carrier I work for a broker. It's not a "You gotta pay" attitude it's the right thing to do. In the long run my staff doesn't have these types of problems because we go out of our way to make sure we have all the correct info on EVERY load. Like I said, just because you have some crappy client that doesn't want to pay more when they load more, doesn't give you the right to take revenue away from a carrier.
 
Michael K said:
I'm don't work for a carrier I work for a broker. It's not a "You gotta pay" attitude it's the right thing to do. In the long run my staff doesn't have these types of problems because we go out of our way to make sure we have all the correct info on EVERY load. Like I said, just because you have some crappy client that doesn't want to pay more when they load more, doesn't give you the right to take revenue away from a carrier.
Click to expand...

no, but you're taking a very negative stance on the situation.

sometimes even when you make all you check calls it can be wrong.

some clients are "crappy" they just have a set budget in mind and extra footage/cost can set everything out of whack for their business deals they have going.

anyways enough of this lol, good topic!
 
Save your time Mike, G Roch is on another planet and lacks common sense. G Roch is just trying to screw the carrier because it's the easier option then having an uncomfortable conversation with their soon to be ex customer who is in the wrong. Next step is they send the confirmation the carrier is looking for then they short pay it LOL.
 
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