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SPIOPS

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Sep 16, 2015
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This carrier accepted 9 flat-deck shipments from Mississauga, On to Marion,OH. last week from our company.
This week Load # 8 was grossly overloaded by the shipper and over weight by 13M lbs. The carrier had parked the shipment in their yard in Brampton and the line-haul driver then scaled in London. Upon discovery of the overweight the carrier demanded $500 for 3 days storage, $650 to return to Mississauga and then wanted $1000 for load permits and return transit. Thsi was over an above the agreed truckload rate to deliver. The load was brought back to Brampton and the carrier wants full payment of all nine loads immediately before returning the shipment to the shipper plus refusing to delivery load # 7.

Needless to say the final charge for this load that went down the highway 103 miles is now at $4300 plus the carrier wants an additional $400 for storage and off loading.

The second legal order that is being held hostage until payment with storage charges of an additional $650.

This company has a letter of notification on file instructing our company to pay their factoring company while now requesting direct payment. We have agreed to pay but they cannot provide PODs or send and invoice while also charging for daily storage of these two shipments and refusing to return the overweight until payment is received.

I get they are not trusting they will be paid, but they also seem highly unreasonable to resolve the issue and have taken a heavy handed approach on charges.
 
Honestly... I feel for you and the situation you are in with this; but honestly why are trucking companies expected to be responsible for everyone else's mistakes? Was the carrier advised to scale loaded? Were the bills not accurate to the actual weight of the load shipped overweight? After doing 7 loads with no issue, what caused load # 8 to be 13M over? Drivers can be creatures of familiarity and will not scale a load if the first one they did went ok on the same move (I see it all the time). Would the load need an overweight permit to get back to the GTA from London? Unfortunately even having a revised confirmation does not protect a carrier from non-payment, and assessorial charges add up quick in these types of situations. I feel that we as carriers need to take a hard line in these cases to ensure payment is made or I can assure you all 9 of those loads will not cover the extra cost of the BS with load #8. Why didn't the driver do this...why didn't you do that...fact of the matter is the customer/shipper messed up...BAD...and now they have the costs to clean it up, and yes upfront for payment when accessorial costs get involved, and a minimal pre-existing relationship with you then really what other option do they have other than to confirm payment will be received before they release. It is frustrating when someone else tells you what your costs should be, and even worse when payment does not come for all the additional B.S.

Customer f'ed up, then they need to do what is required to rectify the situation; it is your call how you handle your customer, but to the carrier this seems reasonable. Did they have to run empty to cover a reload they had committed to, at a rate based on your outbound freight to get them there? Drivers need to get paid, and wait till this mess becomes "paid by the hour" to the driver.... Its not just the current problem, its the 5 other problems your customer has created that you don't see, and why shouldn't they be paid up front based on this issue. Carriers are responsible financially for enough of their own variables, let alone ones created by a shipper that messed up big time...

If they deliver the last 2 loads, who is to say that their "additional charges" are "too high" for the customer...they dot have a leg to stand on

Again...I understand your situation sucks...but so does that of this carrier...and based on the mistake of the shipper should be paid up front when accessorial become involved...

If I had a dollar for "everyone else's" mistake that affected our operation detrimentally I wouldn't need an operation... I would be sitting on an island somewhere having drinks pored by the ocean...

Maybe some carriers are just getting fed up with being squeezed to work for less, offer the best rate payable to the driver, costs going up across all cost centers, maintain safe equipment, meet service schedules, and make a buck at the end of the day to keep the bank happy enough to keep your credit line active and justify the B.S.

is it Friday yet?...
 
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My question for the carrier is if you feel you didn't have to weigh the truck in Mississauga then why did you think you needed to weigh it in London? The charges are absolutely ridiculous, yes some compensation is definitely needed but not $4300.00. Yes I do operate trucks so I get it but this is the carriers mistake on weighing in London and not Mississauga or Milton.
 
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Was driver put out of service at Putnam scales for overweight, or scaled at a London truck stop; if they were put out of service at the scale then the driver was not planning to scale anyways. My guys pass 2 scales on the way to the hwy from our yard and they still scale in Woodstock and London...I cannot explain the logic behind it, but I see it all the time. Did this driver already handle 3 of these loads to Ohio earlier that week (?). Is there back charges if the carrier does not show up on time to unload (?) Perhaps after running 100 miles down the road the driver felt it was pushing heavier than what the bills were calling for so they stopped in London to confirm (?) Yes the driver could have scaled closer, but they did not make the mistake and load an additional 13M of product... (of the $4300 in costs, what is the linehaul portion? I total up $650 to cover the 206 miles round trip, $500 for storage (and keeping an asset worth well north of $60K tied up for x amount of days), $1000 for the permits, and/or arranging the permits because load was overweight maybe that was the cost, including admin time to arrange the permit (I honestly don't know what the cost would be for a temp heavy haul permit from the MTO). So does that mean the linehaul was $2150 to start, based on the load requirements (?) Lots of hypothetical shoulda, coulda, woulda...

Accountability has gone out the window, and we really cannot afford as an industry to allow it to continue. You think the shipper will make the same mistake if they have to talk to their boss about the extra charges versus if there is no additional costs and the shipper does not even have to explain to their boss about the issue. Give someone a fish and they eat for a day, teach them to fish (i.e. learn from their mistakes in this case) and they can eat for a lifetime....(13M# probably wont be over shipped again by that shipper...)

SPIOPS; I put this question back to you for discussion purposes, but what is fair for the carrier to charge for this situation if you feel their charges are high or unjustified? How would they be guaranteed payment for additional charges incurred from the initial shipper error?
 
When screw ups like this happen( and God knows like all of us know that they do) the most unproductive response, is for all of the parties to get their collective backs up and start threatening this, that and the other thing. Yes, the shipper messed up, so now what????? It has been my experience that when feeling the cold, hard steel of a gun pressed against my temple by someone demanding a ransom, I tend not to be very cooperative or reasonable. Sounds like everyone should take a deep breath and restart the process of finding a solution to this problem. SPIOPS, this may cost you some money if your customer doesn't want to "play ball". Your carrier, hopefully will calm down and start to negotiate in a more reasonable fashion. I would assume that his first response was somewhat similar to GStrucks, "why should the carrier always have to eat the additional cost and expense, etc. etc, etc." Sometimes after the initial rant, they realize that this business, like all others, throws the occasional curve ball and the sooner you learn to either hit it, or lay off it, the better they will be.
 
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One more thing. If you have signed a notice of assignment with the carrier's factoring company, I would be very careful about paying any invoices directly to the carrier. You should ask for a release from the factor before proceeding to pay the carrier. If you don't, and the carrier submits those same invoices to their factor, you could be on the hook to pay twice. Definitely a situation to avoid!
 
Hi all,

Does anyone else use ProLogistics? Other than this issue listed below has there been any other issues with service?
PR
 
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