You keep to your East Coast time zone when out on the road?

I suppose that makes sense to keep to one time zone....you just shut the curtains tight in the sleeper, throw some ear plugs in, turn the phone off, and snooze city here you come.

lol....Ya, I keep East Coast time. I really like it when heading out West because I keep getting back hours. I sleep like a rock for 7 hours and nothing keeps me up. I don't need ear plugs and the light doesn't bother me although I do have the privacy curtains closed but the window is uncovered.

I'm gonna watch Every Which Way but Loose for the millionth time. One of those feel good movies. The Black Widow motorcycle gang cracks me up.

Google "Carmack Amendment". And, you need to carefully check every broker contract you sign to make sure you are not waiving your rights under Carmack.

You HAVE to keep the time zone that you are based out of, FMSCA regulations :), atleast as far as log books go.

That's all good info above. I'll add some.

1. Try not to DH in the wrong direction or into a bad area to load a broker you haven't used before (you may get there and find out there is no load).

2. Don't be afraid to call the bond company to check on a broker to see if they've had any claims.

3. When things go bad at the drop and they won't play ball with detention, tell them you're taking the load back to your yard and they can pick send a truck in to get it. You will have your revised rate sheet shortly after the consignee sees you chaining up. This only works if you're close to home (they know where you live). This is like Kryptonite to brokers., It's hilarious to hear them play tough guy and then do a quick 180 when you play that card. Why? Because it can be embarrassing for them when the shipper/consignee finds out that they aren't in control of the freight because they brokered it out for substantially less than the shipper/consignee paid. That's leverage. :)

4. Stay away from Canadian (especially Quebec) brokers. Canadian brokers don't have to post a bond and Qc even hads a diffrent legal system. That means they only have to pay you if they want to (i.e. if you have leverage).

rank,have you had any problems with alberta,ca brokers? i've hauled quite a bit into alberta but not out. i'm thinking of getting my paps and start hauling freight into the states for my backhauls. thanks.

I AWAYS read every word in any contract BEFORE I sign my name. Some people just sign what they send without reading everything. If there is something that I don't agree with, I mark it out, make changes as needed and initial before sending it back. If they don't agree then I don't take the load. I have had some who said that what I read wasn't what they meant. I respond that if they didn't mean what they said then they would not have put the words in the contract. There is a broker who also has a trucking company who wanted me to haul one of their loads. The pay was good, but the way their contract read I could not take a load for any other broker after I hauled one for any account of theirs. I changed the wording where I could haul for another broker. They refused to accept the changes so I won't do business with them. I could have been on the hook for 25% of any load I hauled for another broker if it was from a shipper of theirs. They told me that what I read was not what they meant. Since they made such an issue out of it, apparently it was important to them. I won't put myself in that situation. I only made 2 small changes in their contract. They didn't want to accept it with my changes so I don't expect to ever do business with them. They won't change the contract, I won't sign it the way it is written. Most brokers don't have an exclusive agreement with shippers.

I also check out EVERY broker before doing business with them. Not long ago, there was one whose credit was "iffy." I told him that I would take it either prepaid or COD with a comcheck. We agreed on a comcheck on delivery. He wanted me to allow the receiver to unload before paying me. When I do a COD, I make sure to have my money in hand before taking the tarps off or loosening any straps or chains. There is no point hauling freight for free. When you don't get paid you are hauling for free. I usually don't haul for a broker unless he has been in business for at least a year unless it is either COD or prepaid. Most businesses fail in the first year.

I used to get a kick out of throwing addendums onto contracts, small time brokers would get all sputtery and take a who do you think you are driver attitude, the bigs of course never signed em, most of the time the small outfits did.

Addendums to contracts are a polite way of letting all parties know that you aren't going to roll over when things get hinky.

I tried that in the beginning but didn't work out too well. They will get your contract then tell you it will have to be submitted to their lawyers for review which could take weeks. In the meantime we will have to find someone else to do the load. Needless to say, very few will sign your custom contract. Especially the big boys.

If you say so, I never had any trouble with my add ons. I said I never bothered with the bigs, I never had any smaller outfits mention anything in regard to attorneys, they either signed it or they didn't.

My addendums addressed non payment, dentention and accessorial charges, they were plainly written and straightforward, which meant there was no need for an attorney.

Either way, the nastiest clause in a broker contract regards who the broker claims to be representing. If you actually read these docs you'll find a statement usually buried in the contract that states the broker is your sales agent and that the responsible parties are to be held harmless in the event of a non payment.

Most indies out here today don't even realize how much the laws favor them when it comes to payment, they go after a bond that is long exhausted and leave it at that. There is more that you can do but it requires time and effort on the part of the trucking co. to collect from the responsible parties.