Late fees
Hello, everyone. I've been a broker for a couple of years now and would like to share my side of things as far as late fees go. We as brokers apply late fees to avoid being personally penalized by our customers for a carrier delivering late. My question to all the carriers is, why fight over it? If it's clearly stated on your rate con, you've been informed from the moment you booked the load. In my experience, A LOT of carriers don't tell the broker they're running late and don't answer their phone or email. I don't get it. To build a good relationship with brokers and customers, why not tell them what's going on? The customer is ultimately the one that decides whether or not the rate is going to get cut and if no one can get a hold of the carrier, it's almost definitely going to be cut. This also hurts my relationships with my customers. I've actually been asked why I "couldn't get my carriers under control". I've had to take a lot of the blame when it comes to unresponsive carriers and I'm seeing a lot of forums on here badmouthing brokers.
My husband is an owner-op so I see the carrier side of things as well. I'm so on top of him with his paperwork, I will read over his paperwork completely because I don't want any surprises when it comes to rate reductions. If we're late ever, I tell the broker RIGHT AWAY. They can always get in touch with me or my husband for updates. I would never not respond and put us in a position where the broker will take money off. To date, my husband has NEVER had any money taken off. Communication is so important.
One other thing that nags at me and I wanted to put out there....Late paperwork submission fees. I always put this on my rate cons and the carriers sign them easily. But when I'm waiting a month or so and the carrier STILL hasn't sent in their POD after several attempts on my part to obtain it, I've put in time that goes unpaid trying to track the carrier down. Just as carriers want to be paid for their time, so do I. I shouldn't have to spend hours trying to get someone to answer their phone or email to get paperwork that I should have already received. Carriers try to bully me and get nasty when there are rate reductions and it is so uncalled for. It's no different than paying an overdraft fee from your bank or owing more on your rent for paying late.
I would love to see everyone work together and stop badmouthing each other, carriers and brokers alike. There's no reason EVER for people to be calling up and screaming and cursing at each other. Totally unprofessional.