Wait, isn't this a bid deal? Seems like it could be a big deal:
Wyświetl załącznik 9004764
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that federal law does not shield freight brokers from state negligence lawsuits when they hire unsafe trucking companies. I wonder if this could also apply to individuals suing?
Full Opinion here:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1238_1b7d.pdf
OH MY FUCKING GOD... WHERE THE HELL WAS THIS RULING LIKE 3-4 YEARS AGO?!?!?!
I
really need to avoid PLing too hard here, but you have
no fucking idea just
how deep the goddamn freight broker (aka truck broker) rabbit hole goes. Allow me to talk shop for a moment here:
a) Within the broader context of freight
forwarding,
truck brokerage, warehouse storage, and the broader import/export economy here in America, margins are
thin across the board. You get an RFQ (request for quotation) for a big customer, but all your vendors are quoting an extra $0.05 per pound (~$0.11 per kilo) because the routing is a pain in the ass, you'll probably lose out on that RFQ unless your branch either eats the loss (unlikely) or try in vain to pressure your bestest of the best trucker of all time to lower their quote (far more likely). It's a game of
price gouging at
all levels of the supply chain, to paint with an extremely overbroad and uncharitable lens. Don't feel too bad for the truckers because they're literally charging like 50% fuel surcharges at the height of the 2022 gas crisis plus jacking up detention charge rates and narrowing the window you have to recover the freight without getting dinged.
b) Asset-based trucking companies like A. Duie Pyle, Old Dominion, and Southeast Freight Lines aren't your only option. If you're in dire need of a competitive price and your reliable, trusted vendors aren't willing to eat a loss for
your RFQ, then that's where truck brokers come into the picture. They're basically middlemen between your branch and the huge swathes of owner-operators across the country. You need good rates, they'll give it to ya, but then their subcontractor is the one who's moving your shit from point A to point B. Do you see the problem here? If not, lemme spell it out: you're going through such lengths to secure an RFQ, but the only way you'll get it is by using a dodgy third party and trusting their subcontractor of the week. If you're lucky... you'll get some chainsmoking boomer who started trucking in 1983 after his wife divorced him.
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT... you get subcontractors who'll be liable to not set the load bar and crack the crate's side panel, then completely cease all contact once the time comes for a cargo claim.
c) Ignoring the variable subcontractors, truck brokers are, without exaggeration or hyperbole, the most infuriating people to work with. You
never use truck brokers for standard freight for your regular customers. Their "services" are often necessary because the sales rep that everyone hates overpromised with neither your team's knowledge nor consent, and now you're left holding the bag to make sure that you can find
some way to save face. So basically, an entire workday's worth of productivity is sapped because now we're heckling the warehouse guys downstairs to let us take before and after photos, photocopies of the subcontractor's ID and signed copy of the delivery order, and manically refreshing the goddamn real time status tracking page that every goddamn truck broker has, and
praying to Thor, Zeus, Satan, or whatever other God or God-like figure you worship or otherwise believe in that the subcontractor
doesn't fuck your shit up.
d) Good luck filing cargo claims with truck brokers. It's a goddamn nightmare because you as the freight forwarder who issued the delivery order have the relationship with the truck broker, but then the truck broker is the one who intercedes for you on their subcontractor. Yeah there are blacklists and stuff like that, but they're pretty much interchangeable when you're dealing with unethical trucking companies who disappear and reappear every other year. You're never gonna get that cargo claim actioned because the truck broker's not willing to take accountability since your contract terms have that obscure clause where subcontractor is liable, and the subcontractor went completely and totally dark. Do you trust that person's ID? I'll tell you this much: phoney commercial driver's licenses
do exist... and you
never wanna be the one
mailing cargo claims through snail mail to a phoney address that gets marked "return to sender" 3-6 weeks down the line.
I applaud this ruling so goddamn much. I just wish it happened sooner.
