>I would argue that since you signed a BOL, which is a
>CONTRACT, that freight is yours until you make it to the
>destination on the BOL.
As I understand it, a bill of lading is not a contract between the driver and the shipper, it is between the shipper and the carrier. As a driver operating under a different contract with your carrier, you are acting not on your own behalf when you sign a bill of lading but as the carrier's agent.
That means if they decide too late
>to send it by plane, too bad. Yes, the customer is the
>customer; but once on your truck, his freight becomes yours.
It actually means that if the carrier/shipper contract permits it (yet anothe document incorporated by reference in the bill of lading), the shipper can indeed interrupt the load. The freight is never yours. What is yours is responsibility and liability for the freight.
>At that point, I would give them a choice... the freight
>goes all the way, and I get paid what was agreed upon, or I
>take it to an alternate destination and get paid what was
>agreed upon according to the original destination.
You can give the shipper that choice if it is in a contract between you and the shipper, as in an own-authority relationship. You could write a contract that included the provisions you seek. Call it "Truck ordered but not used" or "Truck diverted" or some some such thing.
Then go out and try to sell the idea to your prospective customers. "Hey, Mr. Shipper! If you put your freight on my truck, you owe me for the full run no matter what."