'Thinking Outside The Box'

[AccountsReceivable@DRC]

I'm not big on rants...I monitor...moderate...make necessary comments...and correct spelling/grammar. Mostly... I 'learn' - take in what others are posting in various threads and hopefully be able to apply some of that new found knowledge in my place of work.

But today...well...today...was a "breaking" day. When you've simply had enough of stupidity. People who are incapable of "thinking outside the box" - jumping to argue. Rather than come to an amicable resolution - suitable for both the broker and carrier.

Long story short....emailed A/P for an overdue payment - under $500. A one off load - new customer - nothing out of the ordinary. The email went like this....

Me: As per attached...account overdue...please confirm cheque sent & provide details
A/P: Invoice never received - please send copy
Me: Is the address on the invoice correct?
A/P: Yes...please email and I will process...never received in the mail
Me: Here is the full copy & please mail a cheque next week
A/P: Nope - will pay you 30 days from today - that's when I got it
Me: This is a small amount...we shouldn't have to wait another month for it. The address is correct & no one from your company contacted our billing for the POD. So you have waited all this time also then to bill your customer? You wait 60+ days and then realize you never received the carrier's invoice to bill your customer? Is that what you are saying?
A/P: (with her back up now) We don't keep tabs on our carriers - it's your responsibility to get us the paperwork (totally ignoring the original questions I asked)
Me: Fine...I've noted 30 days from now to expect the cheque

Here's where the NOT "thinking outside the box" on her part - comes into play. I looked at the rate for what we charged the broker. As a carrier - it was a good one. No service issues...no delays. Mailed paperwork to the right place. Basically - what is expected of us. Good start as a new carrier to them. But...our expenses pertaining to their load was covered & paid long ago. We will now get payment on an invoice under $500 in 90+ days from this broker.

By the broker not seeing the value in having a good carrier to work with again in future, holding our payment when already overdue and likely billing their customer without needing the POD - they have set off a negative chain of events...which will go something like this....

The broker's name (once we are paid) will land itself on this site, they are blocked in our system and on Link, their credit status will be reported to Equifax and lastly - I'll ask Sales to make a stop over to the shipper noted on the bill. For one load...shipper likely won't remember us anyway - and we will get a new account out of it. Because...our rate was good...it will be even better now...and the broker is 'nixed' out of the equation completely.

If A/P had just taken a few things into consideration & thought "outside the box" - before sending her brash emailed reply - this scenario would have taken a totally different turn.

Always think "bigger picture" where you can - value relationships in this industry & help each other out. Do what you can....where you can....good things will come your way.

If you approach your job from the 'in the box' viewpoint - I guarantee...someone will seal that lid shut. Good luck to you then...

 

[whatiship]

Good rant.
I have always tried to follow the rule that as a carrier it is not right to solicit business from a shipper that you learned about though a 3PL. A deal is a deal and I respect the relationship that can be mutually beneficial to all providing both parties live up to their end of the bargain.
Having said that, If the 3PL does not pay me, or dicks us around to the point that we don't care any more, all bets are off.

 

[theman]

Agreed. There is an implied contract and part of that is agreed upon payment terms. If those aren't respected or at least measures of good faith haven't been employed, then it's not much of a partnership.

 

[whatiship]

And now we wait....................
Should be some interesting post's tomorrow from friends in the 3PL biz who may have a different opinion.

 

[RK in AB]

Without painting all brokers with the same brush... some don't see the other side of the agreement. As said by theman, terms work both ways. If I deliver a load on time damage free and the broker takes 100 days to pay me why do I have to abide by the "contract"? The way I see it, if you don't want me talking to your customer you should be eager to pay me when I deliver on time!

 

[chica123]

DRC, was this one of "those" brokers that don't accept emailed invoices? On another note, there have been times with us, like I'm sure with many others that by mistake I have emailed an invoice to an old/incorrect email address. When I call the company and they say they have not received the invoice, even if it has been my own fault, they have always paid me on their next cheque run. I've not run into a company that holds your payment for even longer due to a small mistake like this. You gotta know they already collected on their side.

 

[misto27]

As both an asset based carrier and a 3PL, if that situation would have occur with me/us, I would have make sure a check would have been cut by the end of the week or even right away! Would never do this to one of my carrier, regular or not. Doesn't make any sense at all.

 

[loaders]

Unless the AP person was also an owner or director of the company, then as an employee, he/she was probably not permitted to deviate from company policy, regardless of how illogical that might be. Did you try to speak to someone higher up in the company who might have been able to step outside the box and resolved this?

 

[ShawnR]

Yes, they should be paying a bit faster, you could also escalate and ask for their supervisor to get this fixed faster.

As a broker, I'd like to be given a heads up if my payables are doing something wrong or missing information, but the result that you will go after their account is not the right way to go about it.

At least talk to them again, give them a second chance or try to come to some sort of agreement, simply bashing them here and going after their customer after 1 load is not really how I would handle this situation.

Then again it depends who this broker is and if he's a repeat offender with other members on here.

We're missing some vital information to know how to handle this and how to move forward on the issue at hand.

 

[whatiship]

Yes, there is always a proper protocol to follow but once emotion and money get involved protocol can go out the window real quick.
Bottom line is this, both parties win when both act in a professional manner, it is in everyone's best interests to do so.
Most people are loyal to their employers because they care and their families livelihood depends on their income.
If your employer say's payday is Thursday but sometimes pays you Friday or Monday or a week late it is not going to take you long to start looking for another employer.
The moral of the story is this. It is better to deal with someone who say's upfront that their terms are 90 days and pays you in 90 days than it is to deal with someone who say's 30 and pays you in 60. At least the 90 day guy is being honest.

 

[hunter]

I agree with DRC:
Terms are terms and they should be adhered to and if there is a small misplace of an invoice then I am of the opinion that it should be taken care of right away. It is the same story if I go to my fuel company and state I cannot pay you because I have not been paid then I would not be running for long. How long would your monthly insurance bill take before you are told that you no longer are insured for non payment and on and on. The cost of everything in this industries go up and rates still go down. Then on top of that you wait for 90 plus days to get paid. If I was under terms for 30 days I expect to be paid then, I would give a 10 day grace and then start calling and it would be the last time I hauled anything unless it is COD. Relationships need to be worked out, maintained and open. A good relationship can go sour so often due to terms and payment but if a carrier and/or broker has an insight of an issue then things can get worked out hopefully and you move on

 

[chica123]

Hi all. I do hear all the folks that mention that because the terms were not adhered to, all bets are off. But I am getting the feeling that I, myself might have tried to go above the A/P clerk in this particular case before considering approaching the customer for business. I say this because I don't know which company we are speaking of. So not knowing, I might be leaning towards seeing what someone higher up has to say. If the person higher up completely blew me off, I would know that I did my part to be sure that it was not just a lazy employee behind the delayed payment.

 

[loaders]

Chica you're correct. Not to minimise DRC's troubling experience, but a rude, brash A/P clerk sitting in front of a computer acting like God within the anonymity of the e-mail universe, is not the same as speaking directly to a manager, supervisor, or even better, an owner. I wouldn't jump to conclusions until I had actually spoken to someone with a bit more authority. If they display the same type of behaviour, then do whatever you wish!

 

[chica123]

Thank you Loaders. I am not trying to minimize the situation at all, just like you said.

 

[loaders]

Oh no Chica, I didn't mean to imply that you were minimizing the situation. I just wanted to let AccountsReceivableDRC know that I wasn't trying to minimize her experience with the AP person.

 

[whatiship]

We are hearing a lot about "going up the ladder" to make sure that the employee truly represents the company's payment policy.
What if it was a dispatcher who said that he didn't care if the service provided took 3 times longer than the service promised.
Would we "go up the ladder" to ensure that the employee truly represents the companies service policy?
Or would the carrier be instantly added to the DNU list?
Interesting...........

 

[mad dog]

Don't ever believe a freight broker will wait more than 2 weeks to bill their customer , with or without a POD .
The ' I didn't get your mail or email ' at 30 days is BS .
Show me a freight broker who would wait 30 days for a POD and ignore until your A\P phones , and I'll show you a $ 100 skid to CA .
Bottom line , they got the POD and invoice within a week of delivery , billed their customer , and you wait until they want to pay .
Send by email with confirmation , or registered mail , only way you'll ever know for sure.

 

[loaders]

I was going to make that exact comment in a previous post whatiship. I can't count the times that I have been lied to (purposely or not), had my legitimate concerns dismissed, or been generally ignored by some junior dispatcher having a bad day. Did I automatically place that carrier on our DNU list? No. If the incident was severe enough, I placed a call back to the carrier and spoke to either the owner (if I knew them) or the manager and suggested that they might sharpen that dispatcher's customer service skills. In the very few times that my concerns were ignored at that level, well, that carrier just didn't get anymore of my freight. I guess what I am trying to say is, perhaps it's not good to judge a company by the behaviour of just one of the employees. Again, I can appreciate DRC's frustration, I too have experienced that type of foolishness and short sightedness when trying to get paid for services rendered. This is a good topic to initiate a review of customer service for all of us.

 

[AccountsReceivable@DRC]

I've read over all the replies - and thanks to those for posting and putting in your 2 cents. I knew - when composing that tidbit - I was opening myself up to potential target practice. Knew it full well...but did it anyway - after pondering awhile and letting my emotions revert back to business. I still felt the same way with time passing - so off I wrote.

In this case - it's basically a 2 person operation. A/P is either the wife or daughter of the owner most likely - so in regards to 'authority' - she had it. And based on her emailed replies - I also took away that she is familiar with the industry. Waiting another month to cut a lousy cheque for under $500 was just yet another 'dumb move' - that I also determined - is how this broker does business. We are not the first carrier this broker has strung along for payment citing "invoice not received" excuse...certainly not. I get a pretty good read on A/P people right away - this is likely the norm for them. I've been doing this job for too long...And anyone else in A/R knows exactly what I'm talking about. After a 10 second phone call - you just know who you are going to keep credit open for - and who's your closing...

The account was setup eons ago in our system - but no load transpired at that time. So the account was 'active' - well before we all started utilizing electronic paperwork methods. Billing mailed the invoice as no email was on file. We do still have some customers that will only accept paper copies - in the mail - for non payment delay reasons. So be it. It's what that particular customer needs so we allow for it. Regardless if the broker didn't receive it - they would have been looking for their POD to bill their customer - if in fact their customer required one. But they didn't make the necessary inquiries - hence were likely paid for the service WE provided - long ago. So why not take another 30+ to pay us?

There are so many other scenarios we can all 'believe' transpired here. Could be this....could be that...could have just been her...so on and so forth....Bottom line is - outside of the box works much better - than working inside one. The repercussions on the brokers end - far outweighs the carriers here. Seems there are more and more brokers doing business in this manner - which by no means contributes or supports the industry as a whole.

As carriers we all like to knock the BIG BROKER names out there - the ones with offices all over town chalk full of agents - just channeling & selling freight thru the nose - with no overhead. We hear the billions of dollars they make across North America every year. We all hear it. But I tell ya' - I'd much rather work with 'those guys' - with the half decent rates - electronic invoice submission and payment 40-45 days when the job is done....over a broker who doesn't hold up their end of a simple and more than fair bargain. It just ain't worth it.

Perhaps some of us are overdue for eliminating these kind of customers which just don't compliment the business, the dedicated staff and overall 'business motto' we work hard to convey - to those customers...which do matter to us.

Something further to ponder.

 

[whatiship]

Glad to hear that loaders.
As much as we hear about horror stories from both sides I still believe that a good carrier and a good 3PL will usually result in a positive transaction.
It is usually a result of both of them simply "doing the right thing" so going up the ladder is not necessary.

Good weekend to all!!