Senate Bill Targets Broker Fraud

[Scuba]

There is a whole lot of mis-information floating around about what a broker is, and what they really do. A lot of anti-broker sentiment is based more on truckstop gossip than actual experiences. Unfortunately, the image of a broker remains this mysterious guy in a sleazy part of town, taking advantage of truckers, by lying, cheating and stealing.But hey, no one needs to believe what I say.

I know that freight off of the east coast isnt being booked for a buck a mile to the shipper but those scumbag brokers sure as hell offer you loads for .65 per mile to get out of there because they know that there are enough idiots that will take it to cover fuel costs. I would love to see both of them go out of business the stupid drivers and that dirtbag broker that is booking 2.50 per mile loads and selling them for .65 per mile while i don't begrudge a person from making a fair dollar but. The brokers are using the glut of trucks as a reason to steal most of the loads money for making a phone call. The last time i was out east i called on a load it was over 700 miles the scumbag broker told me it paid $425.00 i asked him do people really pull those loads ane he laughed and said every day. I just dead headed out and never went back. I brokered a load out of Salt Lake once agreed on the price told BH how much we agreed on and while i was rolling i got a call the thief sent it the paperwork for 100.00 less that agreed. I called him and he said someone found another driver that would cover it for 100.00 less so he had to cut it and as he put it the 100.00 came out of my end because he wasn't going to take food off of his family table. I didn't bother to tell him i wasn't going to pick up the load Panther never sent the signed contract so when it hit 1600 he calls me complaining that i wasn't there yet he could lose his customer if i didn't make it and i told him i was taking the whole dinner off of his family's table and i hope they starved to death. I hope he lost that customer he really felt i should have run that load for less than agreed on he was shocked that i didn't go get the load. Screw him

 

[jelliott]

The concept is good, but I don't think it is really an effective answer. A small broker may do that much business in 2 months, while someone like CH Robinson does that in less than a day. Does that make the small broker bad, or does it just create an unfair and inequitable playing field. The 10k bond would not cover my company for one day based on sales. The 100k bond would be better, but in the real world we would burn that up in a little over a week at most. Would anyone realize that a company was having a problem in a week, probably not. It really comes down to relationships, due diligence, and credit monitoring.

While we are a TIA member and were an early P3 Performance Certified Broker, I am not sure I agree with the TIA on this subject. On one hand it will squeeze many small (and good) brokers out of the market. Ideally this will help the larger brokers. This may sound great, but it is not how the system should work or how companies should rise or fall. A truly fair system would be one that requires a % of sales to always be in a trust. While this would be impractical and impossible to monitor it is fair. On the other hand, why should our industry be regulated vs other industries. Should every shipper be required to do the same every time they ship a load with a carrier? Should a carrier be required to do the same every time they dispatch a truck on a load?

Sounds to me we are continuing to move away from the concept of a free market.