I need your help and input !

I am working with my congressman to make a broker and agent license harder to get by :

Raising the fee from 300.oo to 5000.00
Raising bonds to 100,000 been sitting 6 years in committee
Education and testing much like the CDL if you screw up an looses it it is gone forever .

Accountablity so they can not start up agine under a new name

What would you like to see?

Why should it be harder to get a brokers license, then to get an MC number?

The bond should however be raised.
Carriers need at least 1,000,000 dollars in liability insurance, to operate.

A 10,000 dollar bond is a joke.

I don't see how raising the filing fee is going to accomplish anything but allow the larger brokers to take over the freight hauling business. I have gotten my best rates from smaller brokers. Frankly, I don't see that the bond really does much to help the business, either. If you check out a broker then you will know whether he is honest or not. It makes it difficult for the new broker to get started, but the bond doesn't really protect those who are not willing to do their homework with new brokers before doing business with them. Most companies will lose a little money on receivables every once in a while. It is a cost of doing business. I have only had to threaten to file on one broker's bond since I have been running my own authority.

Raising the bond will only put many good brokers out of business. Just check them out and you won't have to worry about the bond. To me raising the bond makes about as much sense as the government requiring a performance bond be put up for those who want to do business with them. There is no need since we carry cargo insurance. I can not support any bill which would make it more costly for someone to go into business. I think the government already gets more of our money than they should. I am not in favor of any legislation which would restrict competition. Only today I committed on a load which would pay me $1,900. One broker had the same load for $1,300 and another for $1,100. Rather strange that all three had the same load for such a wide difference in the rate.

What if the brokers decided that it should be more expensive for people to get their authority? It was rather expensive at one time. Previously it could cost thousands of dollars to get your authority or rights. Now anyone could do it for $300. What if brokers insisted that we have performance bonds like the feds do? All either would do is restrict competition. Perhaps that is what we should do with those wanting to get their authority. We should require them to pay $5,000 to get their authority instead of $300.

I would like to see the late payment penalty become automatic. I am not sure about you guys but construction trucking brokers are notorious for 90+ day pay and you have to fight even sue them for interest and late penalties. I have a couple of brokers who treated me well in the past that have strung me out from Dec. 07 till now and I have little recourse other than court and that is a long painful process.

If I have a problem collecting from a broker then I don't do business with them. I need my money just as they do. It should not make any difference whether they get paid from their shipper or not. My agreement is with the broker. That is what they get paid for. If they want to broker freight then they need to be in a position to pay the truck when the bill comes due. I recently took a load from a new broker that paid very well. I checked his credit and he had one company that he failed to pay for 50 days. I called him back and told him that I could not take his load due to his credit situation. I told him that the only way that I would do business with him would be either prepaid of COD. He agreed to pay me with a comcheck upon delivery. He wanted me to unload and then he would pay me when I faxed him the bills. I informed him that I would not loosen the straps until I had a comcheck for the entire bill. It took a few minutes, but I got my money without any further incidence. If he gets his credit situation straightened out I may extend him credit. I am not a bank and won't finance any broker or shipper's business for them. If they cannot pay me as agreed then I don't do business with them unless it is either prepaid or COD. You don't have to put up with slow paying brokers. By the way, if a broker has you sign an agreement that you won't back solicit his shipper and he fails to keep the terms of payment, he has breached the contract with you and you are free to solicit his shipper without recourse. You can also contact the shipper for payment if the broker fails to pay as agreed. By the way, if I had to resort to court action to collect my money I would also name the shipper as co-defendant.