Late fee's and why ratings matter

Hello, I've been hauling bulk for roughly 3 years now. I've used BulkLoads to make the majority of my contacts. All in all it's been a positive experience. I have a handful of brokers that I prefer to do business with, and then a few that are of last resort. Within the past 6 months I've had to fight 2 brokerages (that I won't name) for payment. My terms are listed at the bottom of every bill, DUE UPON RECEIPT, A 3% CHARGE WILL BE ADDED TO ANY BALANCES NOT RECEIVED WITHIN 30 DAYS. My terms are pretty much industry standard, I'm not a bank. Both brokerages, who have been in business for a long time and post a lot of loads here originally declined to include the late fee after 50 days without payment. I had to threaten listing them as non-payment on BulkLoads in order to be paid in full. It shouldn't come to that. I pay for the equipment to run the load, I bought the fuel to run the load, I paid the insurance, and God forbid I get paid for my time. Outside of filling on a brokers bond, the only other way of getting payment out of some of these people may be threatening a negative rating. Nobody wants to haul for someone with 3 non-payments or someone who averages 100 days to pay. Ratings matter. If you don't know how to rate a shipper, get in touch with Bulkloads admin, they usually respond quickly.