He called them "gameplayers". That is pretty light considering the topic..IMO.
Well, I dunno. Dave said that he,
"wouldn't waste [his] time with a carrier that their apparent focus is on foolish game playing." And he stated,
"I have little patience for gameplayers. "Both are pretty broad statements, both valid, directed at no one, and doesn't call anyone a name, except those who do, in fact, play games. Describing what someone does isn't really the same thing as calling them names. I don't get upset when someone calls me a truck driver, or an expediter, for example. Many people play games and are often called "gamers" or "game players" because they, like, you know, play games.
I also see where he noted that,
"People always tend to be nice when they are picking your pocket," which is also true, but it's not really calling anyone anything. I suppose one could possibly make the argument that a motor carrier /slash/ broker who uses their contractors to finance interest-free short-term loans of 30, 60 or 90 days is akin to a pickpocket, as it's the same as taking money out of the pockets of their contractors, but it's still quite a stretch to label that as name calling.
Then he notes,
"You either pay in a timely manner or you don't. 30 days to pay a contractor is pathetic." Again, not really name calling, but more of an assessment of reality.
He did use the word "foolish", but used it to describe an action rather than to call someone foolish.
"The excuse of delayed pay because a broker/shipper doesn't pay for 60/90 days is foolish." I do agree with that, as making excuses for not paying within the contracted time frame is at best shortsighted and foolish, because that kind of thing reflects negatively on the business and the business owners. It shows not only a reckless willingness to break a promise, to breach a contract, but a willingness to pass along an uncompensated burden to the contractor, thereby causing damage they are unwilling to repair.
If the contracted rate is, say, 85% of the line haul, then that's different, as the contractors are paid to share the risk of late paying customers and receivables collections. But if the line haul contract is substantially less than that, then the contractor is paying that additional percentage expressly for the service of not having to factor and collect from the customers.
I have no problem with them paying in 30 days, if everyone agrees to it upfront.
Franky, in this modern age of electronic house bills and the scanning of paperwork, 30 days is ridiculous. It can take a couple of weeks to get everything in and billed out, including the lead time for any freight claims and such, and then get the settlement processed, but 30 days plus 5 is a Commercial Paper Loan, except it's interest free and requires no paperwork. That raises some business and moral ethics concerns. The contractors who agree to it are being taken advantage of, plain and simple. They aren't fools for agreeing to it, but they are ignorant.
That's not where the problem is. The problem begins on day 31 when the money isn't in my account as agreed to. It gets a whole lot worse every day afterward, unless there is a valid reason. There are few valid reasons I suppose, but very few and they don't happen every month.
Well, according to Mr. Hannah,
"there are any number of reasons pay may be slightly delayed." It would be interesting to see the list of these reasons, because I can only think of a single reason why pay would be delayed, and it's not a very good one. Everything else is just excuses, or incompetence.
What really crack me up is how we read,
"I want to make it clear I am not making excuses," yet everything he posts is about justifications and excuses. The reality is, unless they are paying a contracted rate of about 85%, then a 30 day pay period is quite ridiculous to begin with, and they apparently can't even live up to
that. Sheesh.
Kinda like the McDonald's here. Seems the lunch hour rush sneaks up on 'em every day.
An excellent example of incompetent management.
