Click Here for Available LoadsIn the Top 100 of all Freight Brokers Nationwide - by Inc. Magazine

Authorstevev

Agents Liable for Customer Bad Debt?

Should Agents be 100% liable for their customer’s Bad Debts?

Imagine one of your largest customers going belly up… and they owe you and your Broker company $50,000.00…

You soon learn there is no hope of collecting any of the money owed…

Who should pay for that bad debt?

It should be split the same way your commission was paid out between you and your Broker. If you are on a 50% / 50% split with your Broker, then you should both pay $25,000.00 of the bad debt.  If you are on a 60%/40% split, you would pay $30,000, and the Broker would pay $20,000.

Why?

Its fair. Its ethical. And both parties always have great interest in doing business with customers who will pay you.

I’ve heard of Brokers paying 100% of any bad debts from their Agents… They are CRAZY !

Lets me share a story with you…

I know of a company who practiced the policy of paying 100% of any bad debts from their agents. They did it because they thought it would lure agents into their company, and you what? They were right! They did lure a lot of agents into their company!

A few years down the road, they were hit for a $400,000.00 bad debt from one customer, then another one for 109,000.00, then another one for $55,000.00. The agent (who’s customers they were) didn’t care… he didn’t have to pay any of that $500,000.00+ back. No worries for him…

But there was great pain and anguish for all the other agents, and the broker. The broker was not in position to handle these rapidly mounting bad debts (there were more that rolled in). The broker tried to work things out… but the hole they were in got deeper and deeper too fast.

The broker quit paying the carriers.

The carriers sued all of the customers (and I mean EVERY single customer).

The customers had to pay all the freight bills again. (after already paying the broker months ago).

The customers were very angry.

The customers no longer trusted the agents they had worked with for years.

Good agents and several other good people lost their customer base – and their jobs. They could no longer provide for their families.

Agents now had to start over – their previous customer relationships were ruined because their broker ended up going belly up and not paying the carriers.

The criminal thing behind it all was this: There was a rotten apple agent who PURPOSELY did business with companies he knew were at risk of not paying their freight bills for one reason or another. Because he was paid his commission each week – he knew he would be paid before the bad debts hit the broker.  One bad apple spoiled the bunch… Actually, he put them out of business.

1 Mar 2018 Continue Reading

Shippers Can’t Be Too Careful in Qualifying Carriers

This is a True Story.  A carrier calls our office to book a load we had shared with our network.  We start our Carrier Qualification Process and find out that the Carrier wants to use an owner-operator.  We advised the Carrier that we needed to see their federal operating authority, Certificate of Insurance, W-9, and a signed copy of our Broker/Carrier Agreement.  When we receive everything back, we find that the Certificate of Insurance shows CARGO LIABILITY INSURANCE ONLY.

So, we called the Carrier back and asked if they had a separate Certificate of Insurance for Auto Liability.  He said, “No. Our owner operator carries Auto Liability Insurance.  All we provide is Cargo Insurance on the load and trailer.”   When we talked to the Owner-Operator, he forwarded to us a Certificate of Insurance showing Auto Liability Insurance.  At this point, most companies don’t check any further.  But our Carrier Qualification clerk, Kellie, called both of the insurance agents to verify insurance coverage.  This is what she found:

The Owner-Operator only had “Non-Loaded” Auto Liability insurance commonly referred to as “bobtail” insurance.  HE WAS NOT INSURED IF HE WAS HAULING A LOAD!!! The company for whom the Owner-Operator was hauling DID NOT HAVE AUTO LIABILITY INSURANCE.  Therefore, if we would have given this Carrier our load, our Shipper and we would have had a huge public liability risk since nobody was insured to protect the public. Imagine what would have happened if this truck was involved in an accident while hauling a load for one of our shippers.  The injured parties would have sued everybody—including our shipper and us—for damages.  The trucker and the company probably are “judgment proof” as all of their operating assets are most likely heavily financed with little or no equity.  That would leave only Freight Tec and its shipper liable.  As a result, we would have had to pay.  Freight Tec carries Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance (the same insurance as medical doctors, lawyers, CPA’s, and engineers carry) in the event we make a mistake.  Fewer than 50 property brokers out of over 15,000 carry this insurance to protect their shippers.  Freight Tec is one of a select group of brokers who does.

BOTTOM LINE: You cannot be too careful in Qualifying Carriers.  Freight Tec does this every day on a FULL-TIME basis to protect our Shippers and ourselves from potentially devastating lawsuits.  To further protect our Shippers, we also carry Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance.

2 Jan 2018 Continue Reading

Brokers, Acid Reflux, and Nylon Stockings

Jobs with High Stress can easily help create Acid Reflux Disease.  Clearly, Brokers are in a high stress career and are just as prone to Acid Reflux issues as anybody.  If you don’t have Acid Reflux problems yet, chances are that you will sometime in the future. 

What is Acid Reflux Disease?  This is the painful condition where your stomach builds up excess stomach acid and it attacks your esophagus where it enters into your stomach and other areas.  It can be severe enough pain that most hospital Emergency Rooms will run an EKG to make sure your not having a heart attack.  Although there are some good medications that can help deal with Acid Reflux such as Nexium, Prilosec, and a host of others, many times Acid Reflux can be controlled by diet.  In fact, to avoid side effects from taking medications to reduce the pain, it makes sense to determine what in your diet is causing Acid Reflux.

Since this is such a common ailment, both doctors I have visited over the years automatically pass out a pre-printed sheet of paper with a list of common foods NOT TO EAT to avoid these problems.  The list includes:

            Carbonated beverages such as Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, energy drinks, and others.  Carbonation causes your stomach to produce excess acid.  But to complicate the problem, these beverages also contain caffeine which also stimulate acid production.  To make matters worse, if you drink diet sodas, the artificial sweeteners can also cause excess stomach acid production.  Sometimes, these problems can be handled just be taking a couple of TUMS tablets.  But as the disease progresses, TUMS will no longer work.

            Beer & Alcoholic beverages can cause bloating and slow digestion.  The stomach reacts by creating more stomach acid and so more acid reflux issues result.

            Chocolate is a big acid stimulator as are citrus fruits like oranges (including orange juice) and lemons (including lemonade).  Where possible, eliminate chocolate and O.J. 

            Hot drinks such as Coffee, Tea, and Hot Chocolate all attack the stomach lining and may contain such things as caffeine and chocolate which stimulate acid production.  So the “hot” plus the substances of caffeine and chocolate can hit your stomach with a “double whammy”.

            Sugarless chewing gum is also a problem in that the sugar substitute creates excess stomach acid and when you swallow, you also swallow excess air that causes your stomach to bloat which also creates additional stomach acid.  Since many gum flavors are peppermint, spearmint, etc., these flavors also can create stomach issues.

            Avoid peppers of all varieties, tomatoes, and onions.  Avoid salsa, hot chile, hot soups, and large quantities of ketchup!  Anything that puts acid into your stomach is not your friend when you have acid reflux.  You want to reduce acid, not ingest more.

            Finally, avoid greasy foods as they cause excess stomach acid to build up.  Eat lean meats.  Avoid peanut butter and excess mounts of butter as they require more acid to digest.

BIG QUESTION:   What can I drink and eat?  You can avoid a lot of problems by just drinking water for your primary beverage.  Low-Fat milk is fine for cereal.  Substitute peaches, pears, and apples for oranges.  Although these fruits have some acid it is much less than Oranges or Orange Juice.  Eat vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate ice cream.  Use common sense.

IS THERE HOPE THAT I CAN EAT OR DRINK SOME OF THESE ITEMS ON THE LIST?  Yes!  If you can go “cold turkey” and eliminate your acid reflux than you can consider adding a small amount of one “bad item” in your diet to see if you can tolerate it.  Only add one at a time and if it is food, be sure to eat something else with it to dilute it in your stomach.  Sometimes, you can tolerate a food on the list if you eat it sparingly and avoid Acid Reflux.  If by chance you do get Acid Reflux after eating that one food, then you know that you need to eliminate it from your diet.  Period.

One other big problem concerns certain pain killers such as ibuprofen, Aleve (for arthritis pain), and aspirin.  If you need to take these pain killers, always take them with food and always take the minimum amount your pain will tolerate.  Each of these pain killers is tough on your stomach lining.  Modern medicine has recently come out with some hybrid “dual medications” that combine the pain killer ibuprofen with the compound found in Nexium that decreases stomach acid so that people can control their pain and also get the benefits of ibuprofens anti-inflammatory properties.

What do nylon stockings have to do with Acid Reflux?

One medical doctor told me that we should compare our stomach that is under attack from acid-stimulating foods and pain killers to a pair of nylon stockings.  If the nylons get a hole in them, the hole will gradually expand.  The same thing happens to the damage done to the inside of our stomachs when they start creating too much acid.  The stomach lining can heal to some extent, but the damage is done and it is important to take care of what we have left with a little common sense.

The whole purpose of this article is to help Brokers and others in this industry with high stress jobs to be able to work pain free from Acid Reflux.  This is in no way a substitute for visiting a doctor or medical professional who is familiar with the medical issues you face.  We are not medical professionals.  See a doctor when you need to.

27 Oct 2010 Continue Reading

Interesting Times for Transportation

Transportation systems are very dynamic.  During the last few years the railroads have become more competitive with rapid service from Chicago to Los Angeles in order to out-compete trucking companies.  With this kind of service available, the large trucking companies have put more and more of their freight on the railroads double-stack container trains.  Truckers are countering this competition with requests to be able to run heavier trucks on the Nations highways with weights up to 97,000# as opposed to the current 80,000# limits on most roads.  This would drop the cost of transportation per ton for the shipper.

But as the railroads have gained market share, they now face an interesting test:  The peak Christmas shipping season is upon us but so is the need to absorb a huge fall harvest of corn and soybeans that must be moved to market.  Will the railroads be able to handle both peak seasons at the same time with their available capacity of equipment and people?  Time will tell but the railroads claim they will be able to handle the heavy volumes of freight.

Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern Railroad, Norfolk Southern Railroad, and CSX Transportation are all bringing on furloughed people who had been laid off during the recession.  Union Pacific is bringing on 900 locomotives and a vast supply of hopper cars and containers to meet the demand.  The locomotives had previously been in idle storage during the recent recession.  Other railroads are doing much the same including bringing on line much new equipment that they were anticipating they would need.  In addition, railroads are hiring new people and matching them with experienced people and moving them to specific areas around the country to deal with the logistics of moving long trains on a timely basis.  So, hopefully, the Nations railroads are up to the task of meeting the demands of two peak seasons.

Meanwhile, the trucking industry has taken its hits from the Recession and many small carriers are now out of business creating a capacity shortage in some areas.  Adding to their troubles are the new CSA 2010 regulations coming into effect on Nov. 1, 2010 that will target driver safety issues as never before.  CSA 2010 will help to eliminate the unsafe drivers over a few months.  The Winter months are normally slower for trucks and the loss of 3% to 5% of the nations truck drivers may not show up until Spring when freight demand picks up.  But by then, trucking rates will increase due to the capacity shortage that will ensue due to a shortage of qualified drivers.

How does this all affect the shipper?  Generally speaking, from a cost point of view, railroad container freight is less expensive for lanes exceeding 1300 miles between cities where both the pickup and the delivery from the rail terminal is within the Commercial Zone.  Trucks are typically more cost efficient when the mileage between two cities is less than 1300 miles or where multiple stops are required along the route.  Trucks have the advantage of being able to drive directly from the shippers dock to the receivers dock.

Property brokers are finding they must also be more creative to provide the best value to the customer.  Larger Brokers move freight both on trucks and container railroads to meet their customers needs.  The brokerage business is unique in that the largest broker in the U.S. only has 5% of the market share.  According to the U.S.D.O.T., there are over 21,000 property brokers registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.  Brokers continue to grow as they provide the best value for their customers.

Another facet of the transportation industry are the freight forwarders—specifically those that are international in scope.  Several years ago it was predicted that the large multi-national freight forwarders would gain more and more market share.  Even though these large companies have grown, so has the market share.  But the gains in market share have been by smaller freight forwarders who provide incredible service to their shippers.  Why?  Shouldn’t the bigger multi-national forwarder be able to drive costs lower for shippers?  Yes, they do.  But many shippers would rather be Number One with the forwarder they use knowing that that forwarder will do everything possible to get their shipments to their customers on time as opposed to being customer Number 273 with a large multi-national forwarder.  The price is slightly more expensive with the smaller company, but the service is great and the shipper doesn’t need to worry about what would happen if the big multi-national has a conflict with the service needs of multiple shippers and the resulting costs and problems that would create with missed deliveries.

Transportation world-wide continues to be dynamic, competitive, and both service and cost oriented.  Different modes of transportation compete with one another to present a better value proposition to the shipper.  This is good!  Despite the rough economy during the past few years, business is picking up!  Shippers have more options than ever.

7 Oct 2010 Continue Reading

Shippers Beware!

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued a final rule that will eliminate Cargo Insurance requirements for freight forwarders and most motor carriers.  Only household goods carriers will be required by law to maintain Cargo Insurance.  All other motor carriers and freight forwarders will no longer be required to maintain Cargo Insurance as of March 11, 2011.

What is the logic of this?  The FMCSA originally proposed eliminating Cargo Insurance in a proposed rule dated May 2005 along with the then new unified registration system.  The FMCSA has noted that motor carriers typically carry Cargo Insurance in excess of the regulatory requirements ($50,000 Minimum).  Most Shippers require the carrier to have cargo insurance as a condition for doing business.  Shippers also have the option of buying their own cargo insurance policy.  As a result, the FMCSA felt that since Shippers and motor carriers negotiate their own contracts, the FMCSA did not need to regulate Cargo Insurance.

Big and Medium Shippers understand this and have mechanisms for verifying that the motor carriers that they use do have Cargo Insurance.  But smaller, infrequent Shippers typically assume that the government regulates motor carriers and that a motor carrier automatically carries all the liability insurance necessary to protect the public—including Cargo Insurance.  As of March 11, 2011, this will definitely not be the case.  Any Shipper who ignores verifying the kinds of insurance that it feels is necessary to protect them and their freight from liability issues with a motor carrier will do so at its peril.

One Solution to this problem for Shippers is to use a freight broker such as Freight Tec to move their freight.  Freight Tec qualifies every single carrier and verifies that each carrier has Active operating authority, Cargo Insurance, Automotive Liability Insurance, and appears to be reasonably safe according to the information available from the federal government.  This is a great service for Shippers who do not have the budget or do not want to do a carrier qualification process by themselves.  In addition, Freight Tec carries its own Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance Policy (same as Doctors, CPA’s, and attorney’s carry) to protect its Shippers from loss in the event Freight Tec makes a mistake and fails to properly qualify the carrier.  Less than 100 freight brokers out of 15,000 nationwide carry this insurance. This provides added Peace of Mind to Freight Tec’s Shippers.

19 Aug 2010 Continue Reading

Protecting Carriers from Bad Brokers

Excellent article we wanted to share from Truck’n HotNews, by Utah Trucking Association, June 21 – June 27, 2010

LAWS TO PROTECT CARRIERS FROM BAD BROKERS

Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have
introduced the “Motor Carrier Protection Act of 2010” (S 3483), in response to
concerns about unscrupulous brokering practices that continually take advantage
of small business truckers. “If passed, this law would put a stop to a system that
allows rogue brokers and scam artists to operate unchecked,” said OOIDA Executive
Vice President Todd Spencer. “Too often, we’ve seen bad brokers get
away with collecting payment from shippers but leaving truckers holding the
bag.” The “Motor Carrier Protection Act of 2010” would:

  • Increase the broker bond from $10k to $100k and expand that bond requirement to freight forwarders
  • Increase requirements and disclosures for any person or company seeking to obtain broker or freight forwarder authority
  • Establish significant penalties for violations of broker regulations, including unlimited liability for freight charges for conducting brokerage activities without a license or bond
  • Create a requirement for brokers and freight forwarders to renew their operating authority annually and require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to revoke operating authority that is not renewed annually; revenue generated from the renewal fees will be dedicated to FMCSA’s oversight and enforcement of broker regulations
  • Establish strict guidelines on companies that provide brokers with surety bonds and on how they administer bonds
  • Clarify that trucking companies must have a broker’s or freight forwarder’s license and an appropriate bond in addition to their motor carrier operating authority to arrange freight for another carrier for compensation.
21 Jun 2010 Continue Reading

Shippers Giving One Load to Multiple Freight Brokers

What happens when a Shipper gives one load to multiple freight brokers in order to find a truck? Market Distortion, and it’s Expensive for Shippers.

An interesting Market Distortion occurs when Shippers call multiple Brokers to move their load(s).  When a Broker receives a call from the Shipper to move a load on a particular lane, he will post the load on the various load boards unless he already has a truck available.  If a Shipper thinks that they are going to have better coverage for their load at the lowest price, they are mistaken.  Brokers pretty much use the same load boards.   Here is what happens when the Trucker sees 15 load postings for the same   lane.  Truckers subscribe to the same load boards as the Brokers and they will notice that there are 15 loads for one lane and that he is the only truck in town to move 15 loads.  Immediately, the Trucker thinks in terms of “supply and demand” economics.  If there are 15 loads to move he can easily raise his price as he is the only game in town.  The Trucker will call several Brokers.  The Trucker raises his price to move that load to a higher level—sometimes a much higher level.  The Broker receiving the call from the Trucker can’t move the load for the price the Trucker is demanding so he calls the Shipper to advise that he has found a truck but that they will need more money to move the load.  The Broker isn’t going to move the load for free so either the Shipper pays more money or the Broker backs off the load.   Then, the process repeats itself until the Shipper pays more to move the load.  That is a Market Distortion!  Yet it repeats itself many thousands of times each day.

As trucks become tight, this Market Distortion due to multiple postings of the same loads by multiple Brokers will cause the prices required to move the loads to rise at a faster than normal rate.  The best solution for the Shipper is to only use one or two brokers and reduce the redundant postings to counter this Market Distortion.  Using multiple brokers will only create higher prices for the Shipper as the false signals for supply and demand are broadcast through the load boards.

15 Apr 2010 Continue Reading

Oil Speculation

In January of this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed a new rule that would set limits on who can trade futures in the oil market.  The CFTC has rightly determined that the sudden increase of oil contract futures in Mid-2008 was caused by speculators who did not have a “legitimate commercial interest” in buying oil contract futures other than to enrich themselves by playing a market.  As a result, oil contract futures shot rapidly upward to $150/barrel.

Under the CFTC rules a Speculator is defined as an individual or group who is trading in a commodity that has no legitimate commercial interest in that commodity who is purchasing that oil contract future as an investment with no real intention of taking possession of the oil.  As an example, those who do have a legitimate commercial interest would be trucking companies, airlines, ship owners, taxicab companies, etc.  A trucking company may choose to buy oil contract futures at a given price to hedge against a future rise in prices.

What happened in the Summer of 2008 was rampant excessive speculation set the price in the oil contract futures market causing irreparable damage to thousands of trucking companies who were forced into insolvency since they could not afford to fill their tanks with fuel as the price rose faster than they could collect on their accounts receivable.  This affected the balance of loads vs. capacity and shipping rates rose dramatically.  Airlines that were on the verge of profitability (for once) suddenly were hit with quickly rising fuel prices that they could not pass back to their passengers who had already prepaid for their tickets.  Everyone suffered—except the Speculators! So the proposed new rule by the CFTC would put position limits on the amount of trading that speculators are allowed to make for a given commodity such as oil.

This is not a new law but only a proposed rule.  Some people are saying that it is about time.  Others are concerned because the comment period for everyone to submit their comments to the CFTC ends on April 26th and the proposed new rule has limits that would only affect the top ten traders and leave a host of smaller traders untouched as long as they did not speculate beyond certain limits.  When asked by critics why the limits were so high, a spokesman for the CFTC said that the reasoning behind keeping the limits high was the concern that by setting the limits low, most traders would go to the unregulated markets.  This, of course, poses the question:  What will keep the top 10 speculators who the proposed new rule is supposed to keep from over-speculating from doing the same thing in the unregulated markets?

The system is still broke! Oil contract futures are also bought and sold in the international market place.  Although the proposed new rule might help if the top 10 speculators agree not to go to the unregulated markets (ie, the unregulated world markets not controlled by the CFTC), we are still at risk to the same thing happening again and oil suddenly rising to $150 barrel in the future.

24 Mar 2010 Continue Reading

Container Rates from China Surge 24%

Capacity is rapidly tightening up on ocean containers from China. How will this affect the U.S. domestic market in 2010? How will these containers be utilized in the supply chain?

Fast-paced change buoyed by surge in demand, shortage of containers.

Ocean container spot freight rates on the key export trades out of China to Europe and the U.S. east and west coasts soared by an average of 24 percent in the past three months.

The rate of recovery is much faster than expected, buoyed by a surge in demand this month, according to Alphaliner, the Paris-based container shipping consultant.

Continued high vessel utilization rates on certain trades, especially on services to Europe since Christmas, have also created shortages of empty containers in a number of locations, which in turn, has underpinned the higher freight rates.

The Far East-Europe trade posted the strongest performance with spot freight rates surging by 50 percent since October from $2,500 per 40-foot container to $3,700 based on rates filed with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

The steep rise in rates resulted from successive rounds of rate increases imposed by ocean carriers since October and the extension of the peak season surcharge until February.

“It remains to be seen if the rates are sustainable as the Lunar New Year holidays in China in mid-February could lead to some weakening in freight rates,” Alphaliner said.

Spot rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast have risen by 26 percent in the past three months and are 17 percent higher on shipments to the U.S. East Coast.

Asia-Australia and Asia-Africa spot rates also have risen over the past three months, but rates to the Middle East, especially to the Gulf region, remain under pressure.

The high spot market rates on the major trades from China to Europe and the United States have come at a key period as contract rates for 2010 have also strengthened, Alphaliner said.

Twelve-month contract rates for the Far East-Europe trades starting in January or February 2010 are reported to be about 200 percent higher than last year, reflecting renewed optimism about trade prospects.

by Bruce Barnard

The Journal of Commerce Online

26 Jan 2010 Continue Reading

Comprehensive Safety Analysis – CSA 2010

Excellent article taken from Transport Topics, Jan. 04, 2010.

In Pursuit of Accurate Safety Ratings –

CSA 2010, as it is known, is the agency’s revamping of a flawed and oft-criticized safety rating system based on the unreliable SafeStat database.

Freight Tec pays close attention to Safety Ratings and strives to only use safe, qualified carriers in order to protect our shippers as well as public safety.  Our rigorous qualification process has always been somewhat weakened by the often skewed SafeStat and Federal reports.

FMCSA, to its credit, recognized the need to change the way it evaluated motor carriers when it launched CSA 2010.

The data is getting better and more reliable – and thus, it will give us all much more accurate safety reports.  A major difference now will be that a carrier’s ratings will be based on MILES TRAVELED, and not just the size of their fleet.  This is “the real measure of a carrier’s exposure to potential accidents”.

12 Jan 2010 Continue Reading