slow.....
- Thread starter Zoli
- Start date
Yesteryear
Expert Expediter
Actually, in our experience, the slow period starts with Thanksgiving and runs through the 1st of March. This is the time of year a driver better take what they can get and forget about the cherrypickin loads. Sometimes ya land lucky but for the most part its gonna be s l o o o o w ! 
underdog777
Seasoned Expediter
hang in there i heard panther is working on some new customers.if they get them you will be moving again,and probably pretty steady
Zoli
Veteran Expediter
hang in there i heard panther is working on some new customers.if they get them you will be moving again,and probably pretty steady
It would be great! I hope is not a truck stop talk...
Yesteryear
Expert Expediter
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You have to be a bit careful here. Depending on who your carrier got the load through, it can be viewed as back solicitation. This is normally stipulated in the contracts and the carrier, broker or 3pl, can cut your carrier off or take legal action. So always exercise caution. When in doubt check with your carrier first.
A very good and honest point John . The owner of the small company i worked for the last 4 years i was in the business told me the same thing. You might have good intentions as a driver such as leaving business info on your company , but it could cause legal problems down the road. MY suggestion it is better to arrive a little early to the shipper in CLEAN clothes , FRESH breath , CLEAN vehicle, and a POLITE and POSITIVE attitude.
Sometimes frieght is ready early , sometimes late, just ask where to park and remember a POSITIVE IMPRESSION is the best thing you can do for your company. I M O:
Sometimes frieght is ready early , sometimes late, just ask where to park and remember a POSITIVE IMPRESSION is the best thing you can do for your company. I M O
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CharlesD
Expert Expediter
Yep. Have to be careful there. The safe thing is if your company uses delivery receipts you just have one signed by the consignee and they usually keep a copy. This is pretty standard industry wide and as long as the driver doesn't actively solicit you're fine. If the consignee calls the carrier later, I would think anything goes at that point, but I'd still be careful. If there's a broker I get a lot of business from I don't want to jeopardize that relationship. But if a shipper or consignee gets the phone number off the signs on the side of one of our vans and initiates contact with us, I won't turn it down.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Charles, John,
There is a serious problem to that for the driver/owner, the carrier has to make it clear that there is an agreement or this is a 3pl load. MOST if not almost all carrier do not communicate these arrangements with the driver/owner at the time of accepting the offer and if an driver/owner solicits a shipper or consignee for more work and it breaks any agreement that the carrier has, without any communications that there is an agreement that limits the solicitation directly to the driver/owner, they are not liable.
FedEx, especially the cheerleaders, seem to think that they need to promote the company but the company does not provide any sales material nor has a direct channel to the sale department from the driver/owner. They do this because of the above statement working the other way to protect the carrier. If a driver/owner steps into the position of sales person and screws up another arrangement, FedEx can claim they do not allow the driver/owner to represent them as a sales presence.
There is a serious problem to that for the driver/owner, the carrier has to make it clear that there is an agreement or this is a 3pl load. MOST if not almost all carrier do not communicate these arrangements with the driver/owner at the time of accepting the offer and if an driver/owner solicits a shipper or consignee for more work and it breaks any agreement that the carrier has, without any communications that there is an agreement that limits the solicitation directly to the driver/owner, they are not liable.
FedEx, especially the cheerleaders, seem to think that they need to promote the company but the company does not provide any sales material nor has a direct channel to the sale department from the driver/owner. They do this because of the above statement working the other way to protect the carrier. If a driver/owner steps into the position of sales person and screws up another arrangement, FedEx can claim they do not allow the driver/owner to represent them as a sales presence.
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transporter
Expert Expediter
underdog not being cute but i would guess panther never stops trying to get new clients.
greg i have to disagree with you on this. if a carrier's driver is caught corting the orignating carriers customer. at the very least they wont be partner carriers anymore
greg i have to disagree with you on this. if a carrier's driver is caught corting the orignating carriers customer. at the very least they wont be partner carriers anymore
I think that really sums it up. We do freight for 3pls, and a number of carriers. FedEx or Landstar may not sue me for my driver soliciting their customer, but more likely they will refrain from using us.
transporter
Expert Expediter
being a partner carrier is about building relations. there is a thing called doing busness honorably/ethically.
i am sure john would have a stoke if one of his new and happy drivers without being asked to, started corting a shipper and in process losing him nlmi, landstar or maybe ch robinson.
i am sure john would have a stoke if one of his new and happy drivers without being asked to, started corting a shipper and in process losing him nlmi, landstar or maybe ch robinson.
CharlesD
Expert Expediter
For a company our size losing a good partner agreement wouldn't be worth it and most of the drivers understand this. On the other side though, if a company were to contact me simply because one of our trucks was there but nobody from our company did any active solicitation, it would be hard to turn away business. The kicker is that a good partner carrier can be a source for a lot of good freight down the road and the loss of that freight might not be completely offset by whatever business might come from that contact.
transporter
Expert Expediter
yes charles that can be sticky. you deliver for another carrier. you later get a call out of the blue from that shipper for consistant work because they dont like the orignating carrier anymore. ethically nothing wrong with doing so because you didnt solicit them. but do you do it risking your relationship with that carrier.
transporter
Expert Expediter
wimpy adsolutely write. that is the best advice
While I've never solicited freight from a shipper or consignee as a driver, I will answer questions if asked with a general response. Usually the questions are along the lines of what areas does your company operate, how many trucks do they have, etc. If they ask about rates or anything more specific, I suggest they contact the company to get their questions answered properly.
That said, I have bumped into situations where the load has been brokered from another carrier. Most just say ok, and load the truck. One that didn't became quite adament that he had called XYZ company and that's whose truck he expected to show up. He wanted to know why I showed up instead, and that he wasn't comfortable loading his freight on a truck from a company that he didn't call. I told him that his concern was completely understandable. I did explain that XYZ company probably didn't have a truck available and they contacted our company, as a partner carrier, to cover his shipment and get it delivered on time. I suggested that he contact XYZ to confirm that, and I would be more than happy to wait until he was satisfied. He calmed down apparently satisfied with what I said and loaded the freight. He did say he would contact XYZ later and ask why he wasn't told that the load was brokered.
Should I have been told by dispatch that it was a brokered load? Maybe, but I should be prepared for that on any load. Should I have called dispatch immediately when the shipper became upset? No, not in my opinion. The shipper did not refuse to load me, he was just confused as to why I showed up not an XYZ truck. Calling dispatch immediately would have given him the impression I was as confused as he was making him more upset. Not to mention the fact that involving more people could have made it worse. Of course if he had become more upset or refused to load the freight, I would have contacted dispatch and let them handle it from there.
Should I have solicited him to use our company? Absolutely not! Chances are that on a future load, the same situation would arise if we didn't have a truck in his area. Let him call XYZ and have them explain what they did and why. If he calls us first on his next load then fine. Sometimes you can solicit freight merely by presenting yourself with a good attitude and show that you're knowledgeable in what you are doing.
That said, I have bumped into situations where the load has been brokered from another carrier. Most just say ok, and load the truck. One that didn't became quite adament that he had called XYZ company and that's whose truck he expected to show up. He wanted to know why I showed up instead, and that he wasn't comfortable loading his freight on a truck from a company that he didn't call. I told him that his concern was completely understandable. I did explain that XYZ company probably didn't have a truck available and they contacted our company, as a partner carrier, to cover his shipment and get it delivered on time. I suggested that he contact XYZ to confirm that, and I would be more than happy to wait until he was satisfied. He calmed down apparently satisfied with what I said and loaded the freight. He did say he would contact XYZ later and ask why he wasn't told that the load was brokered.
Should I have been told by dispatch that it was a brokered load? Maybe, but I should be prepared for that on any load. Should I have called dispatch immediately when the shipper became upset? No, not in my opinion. The shipper did not refuse to load me, he was just confused as to why I showed up not an XYZ truck. Calling dispatch immediately would have given him the impression I was as confused as he was making him more upset. Not to mention the fact that involving more people could have made it worse. Of course if he had become more upset or refused to load the freight, I would have contacted dispatch and let them handle it from there.
Should I have solicited him to use our company? Absolutely not! Chances are that on a future load, the same situation would arise if we didn't have a truck in his area. Let him call XYZ and have them explain what they did and why. If he calls us first on his next load then fine. Sometimes you can solicit freight merely by presenting yourself with a good attitude and show that you're knowledgeable in what you are doing.
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