Nationwide Transport-Brampton, Ontario

[Salma]

We are a carrier and when I need to move my truck several hundred miles to pick up a load, I always tell the broker how far away my truck is. Actually, most brokers ask me how far away my truck is from the pickup location. We always make sure that it is understood what the charge will be if the load gets cancelled. As I mentioned in another thread, "communication, communication, communication." If the broker assumes your truck is anywhere from 10 to 100 miles away but it is actually 500 miles away, that needs to be discussed PRIOR to accepting a load. AND the terms must be written on the load confirmation as well.

As a side note, I have been a member of this site for several years now and it still amazes me how many companies (brokers and carriers) operate with a "we'll figure it out when it happens" attitude. There are always going to be unforeseen variables but if the standard stuff is not addressed in the load confirmation, we don't accept the load until that confirmation is iron clad. Maybe we are a small carrier so we can be more picky but in my opinion many headaches are avoided with this policy.

 

[Jennifer R]

I see and understand and appreciate all the comments here, but I still believe their are SOME shippers/customers out there that have to be accountable for the mistakes they make which in turn usually affect the pocket of the carrier and in some cases the Load Broker as well. A shipper calls and requests a van to move freight and then cancels load because they made a mistake and need a flatbed....and they didn't know this in the first place. It is just to easy for a shipper or a customer to pick up the phone and cancel a load because they didn't THINK it through and the cost of their mistake is left to the players of the Transportation Industry. They really have us all over a barrel, as they know their is plenty of brokers or carriers they can call if someone should offend them by asking for money for their mistake. Salma that was some excellent points you just made.

 

[supersean55]

Hey everyone just to add my 2 cents from the other side of the desk.
We had a project going to a high rise job site in NY City.
We did close to 30 of these loads with Robsan.
I made sure that every hour of waiting time at the job site was paid and 90 % of the time there was.
Even when there was a job site accident, we did not just do a $250 layover we paid every hour with no question or hassle.

We had an issue with 2 loads that were cancelled by the shipper.
The first one they wanted to pay the standard $100 by Robsan said they needed $275 and I git it for them.
It happened a second time and I was able to get the $275 again.

We did everything we could and made things run smooth for Don and his drivers at Robsan, form finding areas for them to park to changing the delivery times and never questioning Don or his drivers regarding how much they needed for extra charges at the site.

Transportation is not perfect but I think we did a pretty good job taking care of Don and his drivers at Robsan.

I do find it unfortunate that because we were not able get Don what he wanted on 1 load that he chose to act in this unprofessional manner.

Nationwide is a carrier as well and we have a fleet of about 30 tractors, we treat all carrier the way we would like to be treated, with honesty, integrity and of course paid quickly.

Thank you for hearing the other side of the table.


Sean Brennan

VP Operations
Nationwide Transport

 

[duke22]

Bet that reply changes your opinion, it sure changed mine. Sometimes you can't go after a customer for almost $800 for cancelled load. I could see writing a rant like this if every load had massive unpaid waiting time, loads cancelled all the time with no compensation etc, cluster after cluster. But this response from Supersean sure paints another picture in my mind at least. I have worked these big job site loads myself, and they can be challenging. It also sounds like the shipper (probably a fabricator or possibly a painter) didn't have a handle on the size and made a mistake. Not sure if Robsan has a stepdeck but if things were handled amicably perhaps the rate could have then again been padded there in an attempt to compensate.

 

[TransAction]

We always take the approach with our carriers to say "OK, this is not the norm, but let us give it a shot with our customer by explaining the details to them". We then revert back to our carrier with the customer feedback and for the most part, we come up with an amicable solution. To be a bit of a devils advocate here, is there not also situations where the carrier benefits from a little good luck at times where they get more money in their pockets due to truck positioning, freight being smaller than originally told etc? I don't think I have ever come across a situation where a carrier calls me in those situations and says "Hey Jeff, we made some more money on this load for XYZ reasons so we are going to reduce your bill." I wouldn't ever expect that either but my point is that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

 

[Igor Galanter]

We always take the approach with our carriers to say "OK, this is not the norm, but let us give it a shot with our customer by explaining the details to them". We then revert back to our carrier with the customer feedback and for the most part, we come up with an amicable solution. To be a bit of a devils advocate here, is there not also situations where the carrier benefits from a little good luck at times where they get more money in their pockets due to truck positioning, freight being smaller than originally told etc? I don't think I have ever come across a situation where a carrier calls me in those situations and says "Hey Jeff, we made some more money on this load for XYZ reasons so we are going to reduce your bill." I wouldn't ever expect that either but my point is that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

Well, Jeff, apparently, I just did..
Not to you, though, sorry.
One of my customers quoted me on delivery to their dock, without mentioning the size of a load. Sure I gave them my FTL rate.
And when I delivered 4 skids, I mentioned to give them a break,so I did.
So far didn't here from them.
Probably still shocked, ..

 

[TransAction]

Well, Jeff, apparently, I just did..
Not to you, though, sorry.
One of my customers quoted me on delivery to their dock, without mentioning the size of a load. Sure I gave them my FTL rate.
And when I delivered 4 skids, I mentioned to give them a break,so I did.
So far didn't here from them.
Probably still shocked, ..

Igor, we all know you are a scholar and a gentlemen!