Would a dispatch service be considered a broker

T

Thefriendlybroker1

Active Member
Jan 31, 2013
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Could someone advise on whether a company which promotes themself as a dispatch service finding loads for owner/ operators would be considered a brokerage and still be required to have the surety and MC # or this a legal workaround. Also taking into account they are using Loadlink to find the loads.
 
So many questions all rolled into one - I'm sure you'll get a variety of opinions that all will have valid points (and weak points too).

"...whether a company which promotes themself as a dispatch service... " - I'd say broker

"... whether a company which promotes themself as a dispatch service finding loads for owner/ operators ..." I'd say carrier (if the owner ops ONLY take loads from the dispatch service.

"...and still be required to have the surety and MC # or this a legal workaround..." I won't argue the requirements for a brokerage, I'll just say they are discussed at length in other threads.

"...Also taking into account they are using Loadlink to find the loads...." Loadlink has 2 groups of clients. Carriers and brokers. As long as the package the client has is demonstrative of the business they are handling using it then all is well. If a company is misrepresenting itself, I'd call in and complain!

Keep well,
Mike
 
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Thanks Mike always sound advice from you.

They are using a carrier co. they are affiliated with to find the loads on Link from what i can see. I am trying to get the MC/ surety, etc from them but they of course are being uncooperative which leads me to believe they most likely don't have this and if this is the case, they won't have a leg to stand on. LINK is now aware of them and are looking into this as everything about this disp. service co. looks a little dodgy.
 
I think it depends on who does the billing. If a dispatch service simply finds loads for a carrier or an owner operator who has their own authorities then it is more of a "sales agent" then anything providing that the carrier actually invoices the freight and in return pays the "dispatch service" their cut for finding them the load.
I doubt that is the case, and tend to agree with Mike Jr. Promoting yourself as a "dispatch service" seems to infer that you are not a broker but merely a service that helps independent operators find loads. This gives the impression to the unsuspecting shipper that you are dealing with the "truck" directly and are cutting out the middle men and can offer better numbers.
If you have trucks, you are a trucker. If you don't you are a broker, simple as that. "A rose by any other name is still a rose"
 
The one I know of and had had dealings with runs about 15 trucks and they are 15 different companies. If they do a load for me they send me Joe Blows package next time it might be Jack Smith and so on. The bills comes from Joe Blow Trucking or Jack Smith trucking etc. That to me is a dispatch service and over the years I have known lots of small guys that use them. I used to do it for a buddy that had 3 trucks. He was running mine and other peoples freight. If it was a brokers freight I told them the deal out front and sent the carriers paperwork.(most did not want it)

The service I know that is still running out of the Waterloo area is ok by me.
 
for a long time we dealt with Tim & Leon and they always told us which carrier was actually hauling and the bill came in from that carrier. This seems fully legit, the dispatch service is just to get them the best loads possible for the lane they need covered with their own truck so they can drive and not have to worry about finding the next load.
 
any I have dealt with they supply all the carriers authorities and collect a commission from them
 
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this is a BC based dispatch service and ontario trucking co. they sent everything from the carrier email inc. package, but never identified them as a dispatch service. I found out half way through the load. This disp. co also owns trucks under another name and used that co. as one of the references...
 
A dispatch service can be considered as a broker or carrier representative depending how they portray themselves.

If they say they find loads for owner-operators but don't disclose who they are, then definitely they are a broker. And you know what ... early in my days in brokerage we used that line all of the time.

There are dispatch services out there such as who are known as 'the girls in the shack' where they tell you who is actually hauling the load, and you have access to their insurance, authority etc to vet them out. That's when you can't call them a carrier but you can call them a carrier representative.

The only way the scenario with owner-operators are being dispatched by an outside company and that company is considered a carrier is when those owner operators lease on with the actual carrier and run under the carrier's authorities and insurance. And that probably involves nearly half of the trucks on the road.
 
In this case, the dispatch service represented themselves initially as the carrier using the carrier email, sending me the carrier authorities and in the references they gave us , i later found out one of them ( the references ) was one of the co. the owner of the disp. service owned which is a little sneaky to say the least. Seeing as they didn't disclose that they were the disp. service until recently, i am not sure how the billing will work as I haven't received the invoice yet. I only came to find all this out as i was able to get the driver's # and he informed me. My curiosity is whether they require an MC, surety, etc... From what i've read below, this would depend on how they are paid. I am guessing the invoice will come from the carrier, in which case they are not involved anymore.
 
If they supplier the MC etc of the actual company they are representing, it's OK. It's actually no different than a salesperson who is not exclusive with any one company using the company's email address to communicate about services provided by that company.

It is though ... pretty complicated if you ask me.
 
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