If a freight broker has 50 conditions on their load confirmations, are they legally allowed to circumvent mercantile law? Can we be fined $500 if the driver walks into a shipping area AY his pick up wearing his sandals? Our guy went back to the truck and put his safety boots on but we still got a $500 fine after delivering the load on time.
Special conditions on load confirmations
- Thread starter OLD GUY
- Start date
10
30
Douchebag brokers will do all they can to screw you for every cent they can. The good ones do not have 45 page load cons with 38 pages of rules IMHO. Never been fined a dime had a broker say he was going too once until I sent his boss about 8 emails showing I had asked for the answer to the question he was going to fine me over.
10
Was the broker in person at the shipper, waiting to see what kind of shoes the driver's wearing ?
It's the shipper who imposed this fine
It's the shipper who imposed this fine
We have some rules and legal talk on our contract/rate confirmations.
I think I've threatened it twice?
Fined one guy once, but he deserved it.
I will tell you though, the sandals thing is a legit problem. This isn't my customer but someone on the floor here.
They have such a problem with drivers not wearing PPE at this one shipper, if the driver shows up with up without vest/steel toes/hard hat on, immediate $250 deduction from your line haul. They have said if you don't like, you don't have to do business with us.
I imagine the broker has a customer similar to that.
Is it legal? Questionable but its the cost of doing business with some shippers/customers.
I think I've threatened it twice?
Fined one guy once, but he deserved it.
I will tell you though, the sandals thing is a legit problem. This isn't my customer but someone on the floor here.
They have such a problem with drivers not wearing PPE at this one shipper, if the driver shows up with up without vest/steel toes/hard hat on, immediate $250 deduction from your line haul. They have said if you don't like, you don't have to do business with us.
I imagine the broker has a customer similar to that.
Is it legal? Questionable but its the cost of doing business with some shippers/customers.
30
I see them all the time with blah blah on it maybe do not worry as much about it if you do what you say and have drivers that do what they are supposed to do when going in shippers. IE follow rules it all comes back to who follows the rules does it not. Back a long time ago seen a guy kicked out of central shipping at Dofasco for showing up to load coils in flip flops and argued he did not need PPE as he was an Owner Op.
The broker wasn’t at the shipper, but the shipper must have complained about our drivers sandals.
i haven’t brokered a load in years but when I did have a carrier screw up I always paid in full but never used them again. It seems brokera these days think the are Walmart and can fine carriers for anything. and any amount. Low life’s like brokers like Lading Logistics out of Texas have 40 conditions on the rate confirmation, they work out of their houses and have no idea about trucking. Deductions are part of their revenue stream, you can’t find them because they hide behind a UPS mailbox.
5
We had a situation with a broker last week, King Of Freight, their load rate confirmation was so overreaching and threathening no to pay for the freight bill for any possiblity of what their perceived the carrier to be at fault, that I felt nauseus, actually the broker was nice but unfortunately they are part of the company culture of abusive practices, still in the US nowadays if a broker create you problems they are not able to run "Scot-free", there are a few more chances to reverse their unfair practices and make them pay.
30
Did it actually pay enough to even get a load con from them wow you have better luck than me. Never been able to get them over a buck a mile. That is in the wind empty time IMHO.
2
I think these issues usually comes to unprofessional drivers/carriers. When broker was fined once for the driver not following the requirements proposed, they will but a huge list of rules from their agreement with the customer in the load tender to catch attention of a dispatch/driver
I was on both sides of this and usually this is not coming to be an issue if there is a proper communication. Basically as always...
I was on both sides of this and usually this is not coming to be an issue if there is a proper communication. Basically as always...
5
It really works both ways, brokers trying to grab a carrier for what they can but the bigger issue seems to be carriers not following rules or procedures, things as simple as appointment times or call aheads. In the old days a driver would call ahead, ask directions and what he will need when he arrives but now with GPS a lot of drivers just show up and expect everyone to drop what they're doing.
The driver and/or the dispatcher want to call ahead but you're generally faced with no answer, needing an extension number that is unattainable, a Fort Knox phone system that nobody ever picks up, the phone gets connected to a different site, or in the last situation we had, somebody answers who knows nothing. The receptionist told the driver that they are closed at 3pm. The appointment was 5.30pm so the driver thought it was supposed to be 5.30am and didn't go in until the next morning. The classic case of two people making decisions that wasn't theirs to make. You can just forget about getting directions, most people who answer the phone do not even know how to get to their place of work or the address they're at.
It's funny how everyone has a phone now a days, but nobody answers a call, nobody responds to emails. I guess I need to download snapchat???? Or is that still a thing?
5
Oh yes, can't disagree. Good thing we really don't need directions anymore. I remember calling a company, think it was in Alabama, little receptionist girl in her southern style told me she couldn't help me with directions as she claimed she has never left her little town in her whole life..ok, thanks anyway, haa