Roll with it or spend your time being frustrated over something you do not have to power to change. The other option is get your own authority and then you will know the reasons.
We once arrived at a shipper to find the load we were there to pick up had been double-booked and another truck had already been there and taken the freight. The couple-hundred miles and day of wait time we invested in the load went for naught. In cases like this, the solution is not for us to get our own authority. The solution is for dispatch to get a clue.
If contractors should get their own authority instead of getting upset with shippers and dispatch when they screw up, FedEx Custom Critical would have no contractors left.
Contractors have every right to feel however they choose when they are harmed in very real ways by shipper and dispatch errors. Our carrier is big enough to realize that, which is why NO ONE in the office tells contractors to get their own authority instead of voicing a complaint when legitimate grounds exist.
It is surprising how much complaining and whining people at the office are willing to listen to without telling contractors to take a hike. Why so? I think it is because if you fired 100 people tomorrow for complaining too much, the 100 who replaced them would complain the same.
And why is that? It is because there are realities in this business that result in contractors being unfairly or unjustly treated, with the contractors paying the price. A company that is unable to listen these things through and try to minimize them is a company that will not keep its contractors long.
Diane and I are as good as anyone at rolling with the punches, but there are times that, to protect our own interests and financial well being, we punch back. If we instead ran off and got our own authority so everyone in the office could be happy and our carrier cheerleaders would not be irritated, the carrier would not benefit from the feedback and the problems would not be addressed.
Dispatchers and agents who repeatedly do contractors wrong, should be the ones to pay the price. If they don't, the carrier will lose good contractors, gain a retention problem, and the errant people will remain free to do the damage they do.
The same applies to shippers. There are some loads out there that experienced contractors have come to avoid because the shippers are known to cancel the loads after ordering a truck. The price they pay to dry run a truck is for them an acceptable cost of doing business.
Should we willingly serve such shippers at dry run pay? Our carrier is happy to send us in and then pay us next to nothing when the shipper decides the truck is not needed that day. They order the truck to have on hand but happily cancel the load if it suits them.
What is the solution there? Should we just "roll with it" and pretend it is OK to donate our time and truck to people who take full advantage of the fact that canceling loads costs them almost nothing? Should we show up, get screwed and then get our own authority if we don't like it?
Self-motivated, self-empowered, intelligent, independent contractor business people don't act like that. They run their business like a business and put their own best interests first. After rolling with it once or twice, wise contractors use the power they have to change the situation.
Having learned their lesson, they decline load offers from shippers that are willing to unfairly exploit them. They tell their carrier their reasons why. They offer to cover the load in return for a guarantee that full pay will be made if the load goes or not. That puts the problem back on the carrier and shipper, leaving them with the choice of what they want to do. And it protects the contractor from getting screwed.
The solution is not to run away by getting your own authority. The solution is to use your power to change things for the better.
Whether you have your own authority or not, the same shippers are willing to take full advantage of you if allowed. If you are unwilling to put your own best interests first, it doesn't matter what kind of operating authority you run under. You will get screwed again and again until you can no longer afford to remain in business.
Customer service has its limits. A restaurant group could serve fantastic food and provide outstanding customer service and thrill its customers, but if they cannot do so at a profitable price, out of business they go. So too with truckers. We can delight shippers by donating our trucks but only at our peril.
