The Other Side of the Steering Wheel was MUCH easier!!!!!
Before I get on MY soapbox I need to say i AM NOT pointing fingers ay anyone because you know who you are, and before long so will the rest of the industry. Here lately once things got rather thin in the bulk freight business I've noticed an uptrend in a certain underhanded, dispicable, deplorable activity. It has been touched on here in the forum by some of you who watch this sort of thing much closer than i do. I have made a point of watching MUCH closer the last 6 months to how often I witness it happening, presumably due at least in part to the lack of decent paying freight, cheap shippers, crooked brokers and whoever else is responsible there is more freight being stolen (for the lack of a better term) then I can remember. Pulling on only my own experience I have lost 11 lanes to the aformentioned group of "people". The ones going behind our backs to bid lanes we do at anywhere from $1 - $15/tn cheaper just to get something to keep their trucks rolling is bad enough, then when it turns out they dont even have a bond or broker authority is just simply sad. I'm aware of the actions to take upon this happening but the fact that they caused me to lose a good lane is where it hurts. I'm not sure there is a proven way to stop this but I can tell you I WILL do everything I can to make sure the ones doing it DO NOT just keep getting away with it. When you take this problem in addition to the many topics you have all brought up such as Mega-Brokers moving freight thats been passed through multiple brokers before we ever see it, brokers keeping 20%+, companies without the proper licensure brokering freight to damn cheap, trucks hauling to cheap just to have something to do etc... I understand why the trucking industry can not attract new talent. I strayed a little off subject here as I aften do, my main point for this post was to vent about the problem with companies finding out who we haul loads for, getting contact information and making a few calls, offering to do it for less, then when they cant get to it brokering it out WITHOUT the proper licensure that the rest of us obtain to ensure we do business legally. I'm all for competition as our great country was built on the backs of hard working competitive people, BUT, this is getting out of hand and gone beyond competition to "Dirty Ball". Not that I need it to prove a point but I have one example. Loaded a feed ingredient at Point A 2-4 times per week, my rate was $34/tn + FSC & Washout paid, FSC at that time was 23% or $7.82/tn making $41.82/tn, total trip was 343 miles making $3.05/mi Which I considered to be VERY good so we were always willing to "bend"a little as conditions and circumstances chaged on both ends. Well, recently we quit receiving this shippers trailer requirements so I called to see what happened, turns out the shipper received a phone call from another broker asking for the opportunity to bid their lanes and gauranteed he could save them money and do it cheaper so low and behold they placed a bid 40% cheaper than my rates so of course the shiper took it with dollar signs in his eyes, the following week I saw a load posted eerily close to the one I'm talking about and took the chance and called on it, my suspicions were well founded. Turns out they didn't have the capacity to cover the quantity required by the shipper. Not only did they take the lane they did not even have brokerage authority nor the big bond required. This not only further emphasises the problem with the aformentioned group of people but also sheds light on shippers who take lower bids for a lower level of service just to pad their pockets. I know many of you may take issue with certain parts of this post of bear in mind this written as I SEE IT. I welcome all comments and suggestions.