Wait time Rates

Shit ... why didn't I think of that ????
Next time I get hung for some waiting time at the border, being as we're going with the 50/50 plan, I'll just give Wells Fargo a call and let them know I'm only making half a payment this month, and while I'm at it, I'll drop a line to CRA and let them know I'm only paying half my payroll taxes this month.
Geez Rob, now I just figured out why they call us dumb truckers.

I expect it isn't a customs, as in CBSA, issue. If it were, the carrier would have been cleared manually. (I am assuming this is a Canada bound load. CBP does not have these issues.) Takes about 30 minutes. It could have been a CFIA issue, but they're never that far behind. My guess is that it was a customs broker issue, and that is a much bigger problem. Carriers have no stick to hold over customs brokers, but their clients certainly do. Asking the client to pay the waiting time and in turn getting it from the customs broker only seems fair. It's what I do, and my customers don't seem to have a problem with it. 99.9999% of the time the issue is usually a communications problem between the customs broker and the client anyways.

If it's not your fault, and it's not my fault, why should you, or I, pay any part of the price ???
 
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Why is 50/50 not fair? Not your fault.. not my fault.. its a cost that needs to be covered (and likely is unrecoverable from customs/shipper/receiver.. so lets go dutch.. be happy and on to the next load. And in the highly unlikely event that another party agrees to reimburse the cost then all the better. would love to meet the shipper who would do that.. :)
 
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Why is it even being considered ... it's neither of our faults.

You, me, and Rob are out carousing one night, and I'm driving. I am smoked up, coked up, and three sheets to the wind on vodka tonics. We round a corner and knock a little old lady off her bike, run over her dog, and pile into the stoplight. There's no doubt I'm going to do a nickel upstate. Now I know it's not your fault, and it's not Rob's fault, but, you were there, caught up in the mess. Are you going to split the time with me ???
Let's go dutch ... be happy next time we go partying.
 
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OH! So you're saying the carrier should eat the entire cost in this scenario.. sorry.. I misunderstood. Putting liitle old ladies aside for a minute.. I would split the cost with my carrier in the interest of preserving the relationship I have with them. I recognize its a cost.. and if realistically that cost cannot be recovered then it seems reasonable to split it. No? Not splitting the ocst would likley put the relationship in jeopardy, and my loss as a broker would over the long term be greater.. so splitting that cost would be the cheaper option.

Now about you driving your car and running over someone.. well.. that be your fault..Just as it would be MY fault if your truck got hung up at the border because of a mistake I made. In such case there would be no splitting of cost.. I get to eat 100% of that because I made the mistake.
 
You're correct that typically in these situations there is no winner. From a carriers standpoint "Okay, I didn't make any profit today, but at least I should be able to recover my fuel, driver's wages, and a little to the driver for his/her aggravation.". From a brokers stand point "Crap, I hope his driver isn't too pissed.". And hopefully from the customer standpoint "I better chime in here to keep everyone happy.".
Ahh .. if we all live in a perfect world ... LOL

BTW ... I don't drink :)
 
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When the customs broker indicated a 'system issue', did they mean their network was down? If so, they should be held to account by their customer, no? They're being paid to provide a service that gets the customers goods across the border. If they can't do their job, they should be accountable.
However, if they really meant 'that importer is on credit hold we can't clear the shipment', which happens sometimes, then the exporter/importer is accountable. In either case, the monies are going to flow from customs broker (if applicable) to exporter/importer to freight broker to carrier and then a little piece of that goes to the driver.
This isn't rocket science, but ya, we're missing some details.

Keep well,
Mike
 
No perfect world sadly.. hence we compromise. Would be bad business on my part to expect my carrier to pickup the entire tab.. I would only do that if they straight of the gate expected me to. Personally I would rather pay the cost than lose the carrier.. the wait time would be the lessor of the two evils.
 
Freight Broker said:
No perfect world sadly.. hence we compromise. Would be bad business on my part to expect my carrier to pickup the entire tab.. I would only do that if they straight of the gate expected me to. Personally I would rather pay the cost than lose the carrier.. the wait time would be the lessor of the two evils.
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Well I was going to stay out of this one but then you had to say "my carrier to pickup the entire tab" if the carrier did everything right then their should be no question they get waiting time, I think it would be a layover as you would not pay by the hour for that, in a layover situation $450 to $500 is now the norm for this.
 
In all my years, I have never understood how a negligent customs broker gets the free pass of playing “stupid bugger” in situations like this, leaving the carrier and freight broker and customer to fight it out over the waiting time. I appreciate Freight Broker’s opinion about trying to smooth things over and move on, but, shouldn’t the party at fault step up and assume responsibility for their mistakes?
 
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Yes, the party who is responsible for the delay SHOULD pay. But how often does that happen in real life? In any event we've come to the same number.. carrier was demanding 1050.. we seem to agree that 500 is likely the more appropriate amount. We just got there differently.
 
I see it in a different light here. Let's not use customs as the bad guy what if it was the truck got to the receiver and there was say a wildcat strike or power outage or one of a hundred different reasons? What is at stake here is a carrier lost a complete days work with a driver, truck trailer, insurance, office staff, building overhead, building etc that the bills still have to be paid on and the $500 really does not cut it. I see the brokers side that going to a customer and asking for 1050 bucks for something out of their control is a tough call but Loblaws etc has no problem in fining trucking companies for something out of ours...
 
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My own customers don't pay detention.. for example.. a crane goes down and the truck is delayed 8 hours.. I get nothing. I approached one of my accounts about this and this is how they explained it to me: We do alot of business together.. over time things will go wrong on your end and things will go wrong on our end.. if you like we can ammend our agreement to include an hourly provision so that when things go wrong the party that's caught waiting around is compensated by the other. I got to thinking about that and came to the realization that the current arrangement was probably fair. And upon further thought.. maybe a little less risky too..i.e. what if bad luck favors me over the course of a year? So here's what I do: even though my customer doesn't pay me anything for wait time I nevertheless compensate my carrier. I figure that's the best solution as it keeps my customer and my carrier happy.. I move alot of loads for them so the occasional wait time expense due to an unexpected event like a crane going down is a cost of doing business, and I eat it. I guess I could stand on principle and DEMAND full compensation.. you know, why should their crane problem come out of my pocket? But as so often happens in business and in life we've got to compromise and give up a little to keep the boat from capsizing altogether. I could push hard and get the detention pay but would probably antagonize my customer in the process.. being right is fine.. but being DEAD right is often worse than being wrong.
 
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Cell phone bills... you late with payment = you paying more money!
Bell/Rogers do NOT care on the late reason OR from where those money coming from! They DID advised you what is the "RATE" for late payment. Pay for IT!

So going back to trucking company... same rule apply....
Problem/delays with LOAD = broker paying more money!
Does broker get reimbursed for it? based on his agreement and his communication skills with HIS client.

Border delays because something went wrong with the truck? NO. OR ....Is there loading / offloading delays because something went wrong with the trailer / truck? NO.

Will client/broker split 50/50 repair cost that happened on the way to delivery destination? NO .... So why should carrier split 50/50 for "broker / client poor agreement that works for THEM" or "poor maintenance of client's equipment/facility" or "lazy employees" etc ????

From my personal experience: If broker respects carrier and willing to work with him again and again, he will pay full asking price and deal with his client on his own later.
 
Cuts both ways.. carrier messes up and I lose a customer that is worth a million a year to me.. carrier going to compensate me for that? Nope.. of course not. Bell/Rogers negotiate too.. my wife makes a game out of it.
 
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