Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/947211
March 2018 | Overdrive | 31 that broker – or any similarly situated – again. Ask the tough questions There's plenty truckers can do to avoid getting involved with the crooks. "Ask more questions," says indepen- dent owner-operator Chad Boblett, also founder of the active Rate Per Mile Masters Facebook group for rates/busi- ness discussion. "I see that being such a problem, mainly for relatively new carri- ers." Such questions flow freely from any carrier that's been burned a few times. Consider any response from a bro- ker that raises a red flag an invitation to double-check the broker's credit information, whether using the metrics provided by load boards or independent sources. You'll know a broker's on the ropes when days-to-pay measures creep higher over time, says Boblett. With rates such as they are in today's post-electronic logging device mandate market, "a lot of brokers are hurting right now," he says, because their pre- negotiated contracts with shippers are below today's market rates. They're going to "continue to hurt through April" and beyond as stricter enforce- ment of the mandate is set to come into play. From a rate-negotiation standpoint, he adds, "we might be able to squash them like a roach on the floor" then. "Thirty-five days [to pay] seems to be an average" in load boards' metrics for brokers, Boblett says. "If days to pay shows up with a 4 in front of it, ask yourself, 'How big of a broker is this?' " He's seen some larger brokers hit or stay a long time at higher numbers, but if the middleman is a household name, they're unlikely to go out of business. Not so a small broker, and business failure is exactly what you don't want when deal- ing with a small operation. 1-800 GET HOWES (438-4693) • www.howeslube.com From the trusted makers of Howes Diesel Treat, the nation's #1 selling Diesel Conditioner & Anti-Gel. Howes Vehicle Organizer when you purchase 2 gallons of Howes Oil Enhancer. Visit www.howeslube.com or call 1-800 GET HOWES Offer ends: 3/31/18, available while supplies last. Howes Vehicle Organizer TURN BACK THE CLOCK! Howes Oil Enhancer makes your engine run like new. The superior fluid technology works around the clock to extend the life of your engine. Prevent thermal breakdown, lower operating temperature, and stretch out the time between oil changes with every bottle. It works like clockwork … in reverse. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K HowesOverdrive_HalfPageIsland_W17_OE.pdf 1 11/2/17 12:04 PM Untitled-3 1 11/13/17 11:38 AM Small-fleet owner Scott Jordan, like many opera- tors cheated on a brokered load, decided the costs and hassles of going to court would not be worth it. Todd Dills