I’ve been saying that trucking has slowed and rates aren’t as good as what we were getting last year. Recently, my dispatcher came in to open our warehouse on a Saturday so I could unload. Without the usual interruptions we had a pretty good discussion trying to figure out what is going on. I’ve known my dispatcher for several years and we’ve gone from one company to our current company together.

He gave me a tour through parts of Internet Truckstop, I don’t usually visit when I’m looking for freight. We looked at broker and carrier complaints and credit reports. Several brokers had a lot of outstanding payments and several had their bonds canceled, but were still posting freight.

No Authority? No Bond? No Problem.

There are complaints on carriers hauling freight with no insurance and no authority and still had trucks posted waiting for freight. No wonder we are getting underbid.

We hauled some Christmas trees back in November and our carrier was paid six months later. We looked and that broker’s bond is canceled and has over $18,000 in outstanding complaints. And that’s only the people that complained to Internet Truckstop. Our carrier was one of the lucky ones that got paid in full even though it took six months of calling their office trying to collect this entire time.

There were brokers who had chosen business names that were almost the same as a large company. There was a Lanstar, as opposed to the big company of Landstar. Someone who might not look close or whose English may not be that good, might think they were dealing with a large reputable company, but would end up hauling for someone that may not exist tomorrow.

Focus on the Real Problem

Everyone is concerned about the Mexican Truck issue, including us here at Life on the Road, but how about more enforcement on our own carriers and brokers? FMCSA can’t keep up with all the trucking companies and who is supposed to enforce brokers? Enforcement is lagging and everyone knows it. How swamped are they going to be when we add Mexican Carriers to the picture? Brokers and carriers will be able to operate at peak efficiency to rip the people off that are doing things by the rules and no one will be around to stop it.

Spend Money to Save Money

Credit and carrier reports are a premium service on Internet Truckstop. Our company like a lot of carriers has a brokerage, so he dispatches our company and leased trucks and will broker freight he can’t cover. He pays the extra money to see credit reports and complaints of people he might be dealing with.

Internet Truckstop also shows the average number of days a broker pays. Most were out to forty days or more. The ones that were under thirty days usually have a “quick-pay” where they keep a percentage to give you your money sooner than thirty days.

Most load boards on the Internet have some type of credit reports for brokers. This has got to be a requirement even if you’re starting out and may not be able to afford the extra monthly payment. But, can you afford not to?

As Mark was saying in his post - if you’re core customers can’t keep you loaded both ways all the time, you will be using a broker someday. Be careful out there by getting as much information that’s available.
Has anyone noticed the number of carriers or brokers going under increasing? If so, this might sound harsh, but it’s a good thing. Does anyone know why? The answer is so obvious I may not even have to do another post on it.