The screw you factor of trucking
This in one way or another will directly coincide with many of the topics already posted on here. That being said heres the story. I have many dedicated customers with trucks assigned solely to them. Most of these customers like many are very adimant about verifying your operating status, insurance, and so on. I have a driver picking up a load at one of them and notices an o/o picking up there as well. I have no problem with competition as long as your playing fair. My driver ask's the other driver how did he get in here and he responded "Through a broker". Ok, all is well and done. My truck scales out and heads down the road. Because we operate frequently in Canada my trucks are all governed at 65mph. A little bit of time goes by and that o/o is knocking on my trucks back door. Now they are on a 2 lane with heavy traffic on the other side when this "Cowboy" decides to pass. As he does so going around a slight bend an oncoming vehicle appears and he swerves hard back to the right. My drver swerves to avoid the impending collision and puts the truck on it's side in the ditch.
Unfortunately my driver had to be hosptalized with some very serious injuries because of this reckless moron. The truck is a total loss and managed to spill 25tons of wet alluminum shavings onto a farmers front lawn. Now heres the screw you part. I have dash cams that have a 30 second pre-manuvere recording that will play the moments leading up to any hard breaking or steering. Just before my driver was passed he warned the other driver of oncoming traffic. My driver did what he could to avoid endangering other people and is now paying the price. So now here we are trying to get this resolved and guess what? Not only did this other driver not have authority he also has no insurance to speak of. So I call my customer and ask why did they load this truck in the first place? They are constantly scrutinizing me and checking my status's. Why not this guy? I get the response that he was verified through the broker the used to fill the loads we were unable to do. Ok, So who is this broker I ask? Come to find out it's some unlicensed nobody operating out of his apartment claiming to be a bigshot company. Before anybody asks and for legality sakes I cannot give this guys name and can confirm he is no longer in businness.
Now here I sit with an injured driver, wrecked truck, and a monster clean up bill as well as a lawsuit from the owner of the property where the accident occured. I have the dash cam video from the incident which is now in the hands of my insurance co as well as the police who are trying to figure out how this reckless idiot was even on the road. Luckily the law caught up with him and finds that he did not even possess a cdl. So the guys in jail, Great. But I am the one who is really getting punished here. He at best will serve a little time with his broker buddy but that doesn't heal my driver, or fix my truck, or for that matter even cover my deductibles. I do believe I will be out of this business very soon. It's just not worth it anymore. Best wishes to all,
Scott
Unfortunately my driver had to be hosptalized with some very serious injuries because of this reckless moron. The truck is a total loss and managed to spill 25tons of wet alluminum shavings onto a farmers front lawn. Now heres the screw you part. I have dash cams that have a 30 second pre-manuvere recording that will play the moments leading up to any hard breaking or steering. Just before my driver was passed he warned the other driver of oncoming traffic. My driver did what he could to avoid endangering other people and is now paying the price. So now here we are trying to get this resolved and guess what? Not only did this other driver not have authority he also has no insurance to speak of. So I call my customer and ask why did they load this truck in the first place? They are constantly scrutinizing me and checking my status's. Why not this guy? I get the response that he was verified through the broker the used to fill the loads we were unable to do. Ok, So who is this broker I ask? Come to find out it's some unlicensed nobody operating out of his apartment claiming to be a bigshot company. Before anybody asks and for legality sakes I cannot give this guys name and can confirm he is no longer in businness.
Now here I sit with an injured driver, wrecked truck, and a monster clean up bill as well as a lawsuit from the owner of the property where the accident occured. I have the dash cam video from the incident which is now in the hands of my insurance co as well as the police who are trying to figure out how this reckless idiot was even on the road. Luckily the law caught up with him and finds that he did not even possess a cdl. So the guys in jail, Great. But I am the one who is really getting punished here. He at best will serve a little time with his broker buddy but that doesn't heal my driver, or fix my truck, or for that matter even cover my deductibles. I do believe I will be out of this business very soon. It's just not worth it anymore. Best wishes to all,
Scott