Short-Paid

  • Thread starter Thread starter ranger_dispatch
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In reading all the posts on this discussion.....a thought came to mind....

Why was the driver waiting over 6 hours for only 1 skid? How long does it take to get 1 skid ready? Why couldn't he be loaded ahead of others - if for any reason - just to get rid of him.

How could the driver say "nothing" about that"? A perfect example comes to mind - totally unrelated to trucking....

If you are going out for a fancy "night on the town" - and your wife is taking way too long to get ready - 2 hours later she is ready to go and comes downstairs...looking pretty much "the same" as she did 2 hours prior. The normal response is "what the heck took you so long?" (of course never mentioning she looked the same as she does every other day). Likely compiled with a little frustration and undertones....

The driver waited all that time on a full load - to get 1 skid? I would think there would be a little more "heated" discussion and frustration from the driver which would result in an immediate irate call to his dispatch....

Just my take on it...
 
As I read it from the first post there was communication between the driver, dispatch and the freight broker while the driver was waiting to load. What I'm talking about is the fact that the driver called dispatch when he was loaded with one skid, not the full load that was contracted and dispatch told the driver to come home without calling the broker. We all know it sucks to have to wait to be loaded, unloaded, clear customs whatever, and we are never compensated to our satifaction. But for the carrier to assume and just come home with one skid without a simple phone call in my opinion is just plain stupid.
 
Simplify this!!!

Simply remove the truck and driver from the equation.

Either the shipper or receiver is paying the freight.

1) If the shipper is paying , then he knew what he was sending.
2) If the receiver is paying, then the shipper had to let him know that he could not ship what he said he would and sent out what he could.

This is not a guessing game!
 
ranger_dispatch,

Lots of different "takes" and comments here....

Please post a follow up to the original thread and let us know how you made out.

It would be appreciated.
 
Your right, this is not a guessing game. For a dispatcher to tell a driver to come home with one skid when he was supposed to get a F/L without a phone call to whoever is paying their bill is the biggest guess in the world. End of story.
 
Communication is always a two way street, the broker should have been following to get the driver out and you would think be aware of the reduction in freight. The carrier should have contacted the broker to let them know they only have one skid. Was there an after hours number for the broker? Most have one. I think this should be worked out with both parties coming to the table. Communication is everything, it's called CYA.
 
"I think both parties are wrong and there should be some happy medium on this."

Amen to that.
 
As a broker, I would have to say that I would expect a carrier to contact me if the order changed from a full load to 1 skid.
If carriers want to think that the onus is on the broker to know what is going on, that is up to you, but as you can see, you will be taking a big risk by not communicating.
What I would have done with this load, is worked out a deal to pay for a truck furnished but not used, and the waiting time, then moved the skid as ltl.
However, if no one communicated to me, (and the driver picking up has the first hand knowledge of freight changes) then it would be very difficult to make things right after the freight has already been delivered.
As someone earlier in this thread mentioned if the freight changed from 1 skid to a full load, you wouldn't expect to do the full load for the 1 skid price. Why does the same not apply when the reverse happens?
I think it was very poor communication on the part of Ranger, and that is why you are in this challenge that may have to be settled in court.
 
Contracted carrier

There are basically two distinct versions of carriers in this industry.

There are those that do full loads and are they are not usually set up to carry out LTL.
Then, there are those that are LTL carriers and they do the oposite, they frown upon full loads.

So no matter how you look at it.

In this instance;

Every other party involved in this move, expected a full truckload carrier to produce enough LTL to fill this truck at the end of the day and get their freight to the destination on time.

Is this realistic?

There was a 6 hour delay here, do you sincerely believe that there was not enough time for the parties to communicate.
 
Ranger, have you re-visited invoicing the brokerr for the demurrage @ $75/ hour and seeing how that pans out for you? Just a suggestion as to how you can squeeze the most blood out of an apparent turnip. I suspect you took their meager offerings as you were already there, had time invested in the load and the TL rate would offset the time wasted.
 
I agree with Alx on all points. This same situation happens over and over again in trucking. Usually it begins with the truck arriving and being told the freight is not ready and to go and wait in the truck. So, the driver does as told, and perhaps calls dispatch to inform them of the wait after a short period of time passes. A call is placed to the broker to get things moving. The broker and the carrier are strung along by the shipper for a couple hours. Then by noon, another call is placed and the shipper assures everything is still in production and just to please have the driver wait a bit longer. By now, the driver has missed his/her lunch (because drivers don't all have a mini-mart inside their truck) and is gettting hungry and tired of waiting. But dispatch is assured by all parties the freight is being wholeheartedly worked on. We have almost all been strung along in this fashion many times. If luck is working against you, it's Friday afternoon and you know if you bail on this nonsense, you'll never find anything else to pay your return home and there's no way you're going to ask a driver to lay over until Monday for more freight. So you wait. The driver is probably at one of those places where the driver isn't even allowed in the building and just has to wait in the truck the whole time. Now the final call is placed around 4pm and the broker is assured the truck is going to be loaded any minute now. By the time the truck is finally loaded at 6pm the driver tries to call someone and let them know there is only 1 skid on board, but everyone is gone for the day. Even if a dispatcher is available, the broker is likely gone. Even if the broker is available after hours, the customer is likely gone. So the truck comes home with 1 skid exclusive use and delivers as promised. And then all of a sudden, it becomes the carrier's problem, because the broker has such a fragile relationship with this customer that if they ruffle any feathers they are afraid of losing the business. The only instance in which I would side against the trucking company is if there was no communication at any point between the dispatcher and the broker. It seems to me here that the truck is being seriously shortchanged. Broker, charge your customer for a full load and see if this nonsense happens again!!!
Sorry to ramble on so, but as you can see, I am getting a little heated remembering a couple of times this has happened to us to! Luckily, we were paid!
 
I think a lot of people are missing one important comment: "It was 6 PM and no one was at the broker's phone".
So, do you A) spend the night sleeping on a 'rush' load you have already spent all day at, or B) feel that if the broker cared, he would have had an after hours number. Trucking doesn't quit at 5:01 PM eastern.

I'm glad I wasn't the dispatcher...I would be flippin' a quarter too. I do know I wouldn't be so eager to throw Ranger or his driver under the bus. The broker earns his percentage how?

On an entirely new note, ALX, I don't know where you are from or who you are, but if I ever run into you, beer is on me. From all of your posts I've read, you have a really balanced, grounded attitude and are pretty eloquent to boot!
 
Dave in London you are completely right............I'm not sure how truckers are always at the very bottom of the hill in every situation but I for one am getting tired of it....after close to 30 years in this business I don't take sh*t from no one unless I deserve it..........which by the way I will be the first one to own up to a screw up.
 
You know what I find funny is that in all the years I have taken calls after hours, and at all times of the night. I always get a call if there was more freight than contracted but have never got one if the load decreased in size.

In the end you were contracted to pick up a full load so you should be paid for a full load. If your a broker and you can't tell your client that" I paid for a full load as you requested and that's what your paying for" than it's not really your customer.
 
Thanks for everyone's support and criticism as well, which is well taken by the way, because we always try to do what is expected of us. But since we're all human we're bound to make mistakes.

There are some thing I would like to point out to clear the confusion.

1. Driver did his job to inform us about the decrease in freight, and yes we're available after hours.

2. OUR MISTAKE .. we didn't have all the confirmations at home so we could call the broker after hours. The next day being a friday, since fridays are hectic to say the least, it completely slipped our mind to call the broker.

3. My biggest concern is why we're hearing about it a month after the fact. They've probably billed their customer for the full load, otherwise I would have heard about this a lot sooner.

I'm now going to wait for their check to arrive and then will be getting in touch with their clients to try and resolve this.
 
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