Here's an email I received from a Kamloops area company, a small company with only two trucks, who really can't afford to work for free, but when a slow pay shipper turned into a no pay shipper, there was little left for the owner of this small company to do. Now with the possibility of not only not getting paid for the load, he may end up having to pay the jerkoff shipper a sizeable amount of money or face further legal action. This type of scumbag bull$&#! used to happen on a regular basis, and apparantly is starting to happen more and more. So for those of you considering getting your own NSC number and trying to find your own loads, keep in mind, while you may be honest and up front, MANY shippers and accounts recievable clerks for these shippers are not paying their invoices, and the first to get bent over is the independent small operator, as these scumbag shippers feel, because of the size of the small companies, that we don't have the resources they do to attempt to collect what we rightfully, honestly, and safely earned.

This is the condensed version of a true story:

Back in December 2006, I started hauling loads of plywood for a local manufacturer in Kamloops (NOT Tolko)
The first 3 or 4 loads were invoiced and paid for within 60 days
After I was paid for those loads I resumed hauling for the mill again
After another 3 or 4 loads were invoiced and not paid, I stopped hauling for them again
Phone calls and requests for payment resulted in story time.............

I was asked to come in for a meeting and was told that if I resumed hauling for them that they would pay me for anything April 1st forward on time and the outstanding amount would be cleared up by July.
Well, the first part of that story was true; by the time July rolled around I was told that it would take to the end of August to clear the old invoices up
You guessed it, in August they said September / October..............

I like to think that I am a pretty reasonable guy, but given my experience with losing money to bad freight bills, I tend to adjust my attitude somewhat
Given that I have sued and won court cases 3 times in the past and the result in each case was the same: "I never received a nickel for my trouble"
I booked another load of plywood and after loading it, I went home and called the mill, telling them that I would be more than happy to deliver the load after they paid me for the outstanding invoices.

This is where it gets weird
They guy on the other end of the phone said "Oh Yeah"
(He was supposed to say "What's your bank account number")
Instead, they hired a lawyer and sued me............
OK, I had to give the plywood back "without" being paid.......... Just under 2 weeks I held the product

It is now March 12, 2009 and we went to a settlement conference today
Settlement conferences are meant to try and mediate without going to trial

Here is what the mill offered to settle for:

They owed me $4800 (undisputed)
They claim that the price of plywood dropped while I had their load and that they lost $3800 in sale value
Their initial lawyer cost was $2200

So they figure I now owe them $1200

Based on this, their rational is that they are being generous by saying that I could just walk away paying $0

The trial is set for July 24, 2009

If I lose, I will have to pay the $1200 plus both lawyers and court costs


Unsecured credit runs rampant in the trucking industry
Because of this; shippers not only decide "how much", they decide "when" and "if" they will ever pay you

What price would you be willing to pay to challenge this ridiculous system?

I would start to look for other carriers who are waiting for funds from this outfit, then go to court with all the statements from said companies showing the attitude of the plywood company.

How about hiring "one eyed Phil" to put a bag on his head and pay said shipper a visit. I'm sure that I could not stand for that. Is there no other avenue like Better Bussines Bureau,Ombudsman (do they still exist?) or MLA? Some one? This kind of S#*t needs to be stopped at ANY cost. Plenty of ideas in my head.

The problem is that most one - two truck companies don't have the legal resources that the mills do, so once you get a scumbag accounts payable group who feels it's no big deal to screw the smaller operator, 9 times out of 10, the small operator figures it's cheaper to take the hit, and not haul for these dirtbags in the future.
Dirtbags load gets moved and there's extra revenue to pay the other creditors they have been screwing. Steal from Peter to pay Paul.

Loggers quite often get screwed like this for logs hauls with smaller shows. The problem is most guys feel dumb that they got ripped off and don't let many people know about it. Either that, or it's so prevailent that people just chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

Here is an update from the company in question who was getting screwed, and got their day in court, as is reasonable, the judge found in favour of the little guy!!!! Good Job, and thanks to the courage of this small company to get what was rightly theirs to begin with!!!

With all the goings on and the hectic pace over the last few months, I didn't get around to telling you this story:
Mid March of this year, I sent out a letter called "David and Goliath" outlining a situation I had with a local plywood producer and how that company had not paid me for services rendered from the previous year
After waiting patiently for far too long, I commandeered one of their loads and stuffed it my shop until I was forced to give it back by a judge
It ended up that I was being sued by these folks and the trial date was set for this July (past)

The issue of disclosure proved to be the final downfall for the mill owners and manager because once they finally got around to giving us their evidence of losses, it turned out that they were making up in-house invoices between companies that they own; suffice to say that these guys didn't even have the balls to see it through to the end
After a year and a half of screwing me over, they finally paid up; yes I had to pay my lawyer but after 10 years of losing money to bad freight bills and companies that disappear, I will gladly pay my lawyer before I will allow thieving sons of .............'s to steal from me.

For the record, I have sued successfully 3 times and never received a dime
I have captured loads 3 times and been paid 100% the same day
This plywood mill proved to be more of a challenge but I prevailed nonetheless.

If I am trying to tell you anything, it is:
Don't let "anyone" take advantage of you - stand up for what is right.

Thanks, Larry.

I'm really really surprised that some operator hasn't gone "postal" over this kinda thing.
I really hope some kinda legislature comes into effect where the invoice must be paid before the load comes off the truck when it arrives at it's destination. That would clear up any issues and make it so that everyone gets their money right away.

sigh... if only we lived in a perfect world.

Congrats to the owner/operator.