Being an approved carrier for landstar, is it a blessing or a curse?

[Mike]

After avoiding Landstar successfully for over two years as a motor carrier, I found myself down south and in a bind to find a load on a Friday after being screwed over at the last minute by another broker.

Called on a Landstar load that was posted at a decent rate getting me back into the midwest. I had on-boarded with them when I first got my authority, so the only thing I needed to do to become approved at this point was to update my insurance with them. Minutes later, I received a rate con, and a link to download their tracking app. All went smooth, headed to shipper, and was gone from there soon after with my first Landstar load.

Upon reading through the rate con today, I found no option other than physically mailing paperwork to their office in Jacksonville. Really? Are these folks that far behind the times?

Not satisfied with that option, I searched and found their carrier website. In a couple minutes, I was signed up as a carrier and searched for more options there. I did manage to find that you can download their scanning program and upload directly from your computer. But it is going to cost you either $1 or $2. Not sure which it is because the information is conflicting. In the end, didn't matter because the download link is messed up and it's not sending all the files for proper installation. Transflo is another option, at the price of $2.00. Sounds like a bunch of BS to me, but it's the option I will use rather than mailing paperwork to their office. Stamp is $0.55, envelope is about $0.10, then the cost of printing copies because they will not get the original. The cost of paying to transmit the paperwork is justified in my mind over mailing the paperwork. Annoying that they charge, but it is what it is.

Then, I seek out options for direct deposit. Once again, they charge you for this as well. And from what I read, rather than direct deposit to your bank account, they deposit to come cheesy card which you need to connect to your bank account. Screw all this, I will wait for a check in the mail from these guys.

I heard that as an owner operator leased to them, they wear you out with all sorts of fees. Looks like they do the same thing to carriers.

For such a large company, they sure seem backwards in their ways.

[HASH=108]#landstar[/HASH]

 

[Ruthless]

After avoiding Landstar successfully for over two years as a motor carrier, I found myself down south and in a bind to find a load on a Friday after being screwed over at the last minute by another broker.

Called on a Landstar load that was posted at a decent rate getting me back into the midwest. I had on-boarded with them when I first got my authority, so the only thing I needed to do to become approved at this point was to update my insurance with them. Minutes later, I received a rate con, and a link to download their tracking app. All went smooth, headed to shipper, and was gone from there soon after with my first Landstar load.

Upon reading through the rate con today, I found no option other than physically mailing paperwork to their office in Jacksonville. Really? Are these folks that far behind the times?

Not satisfied with that option, I searched and found their carrier website. In a couple minutes, I was signed up as a carrier and searched for more options there. I did manage to find that you can download their scanning program and upload directly from your computer. But it is going to cost you either $1 or $2. Not sure which it is because the information is conflicting. In the end, didn't matter because the download link is messed up and it's not sending all the files for proper installation. Transflo is another option, at the price of $2.00. Sounds like a bunch of BS to me, but it's the option I will use rather than mailing paperwork to their office. Stamp is $0.55, envelope is about $0.10, then the cost of printing copies because they will not get the original. The cost of paying to transmit the paperwork is justified in my mind over mailing the paperwork. Annoying that they charge, but it is what it is.

Then, I seek out options for direct deposit. Once again, they charge you for this as well. And from what I read, rather than direct deposit to your bank account, they deposit to come cheesy card which you need to connect to your bank account. Screw all this, I will wait for a check in the mail from these guys.

I heard that as an owner operator leased to them, they wear you out with all sorts of fees. Looks like they do the same thing to carriers.

For such a large company, they sure seem backwards in their ways.

[HASH=108]#landstar[/HASH]

If you have less than a $1m cargo policy, they’ll back charge you $1.75 on your payment check as well.
Even thought they don’t have a million dollar cargo policy and very little of their freight is valued at or over $1m per shipment.

 

[Mike]

If you have less than a $1m cargo policy, they’ll back charge you $1.75 on your payment check as well.
Even thought they don’t have a million dollar cargo policy and very little of their freight is valued at or over $1m per shipment.

I'm over insured, so no worries, there, LOL

I'm hearing a few things that make me leary as to whether I will haul anymore freight for them. Spoke with @mndriver about this, and he told me that they will hold pay if the address of the BOL doesn't match the rate con. This actually has me a bit nervous because my shipper address is not the same on the BOL. It's the same shipper name, same load number, same warehouse name, same city, but the physical address is different. I've emailed the agent for verification that this won't be a problem, don't figure to hear from them until Monday though.

Seems like a lot of nit picky stupidity though from what I am seeing and hearing.

 

[Humble pie]

I’ve worked with them a long time. Some agents are good some are crap. Never had any issues with getting paid that I remember.

 

[mndriver]

The information we received on landstar....

This is just an FYI on Landstar. ALL Landstar companies are requiring the bol’s to have the shipper and receiver address on a BOL that matches the rate confirmation.
If the bol/ pod you are given from Landstar does not have both addresses or does not match the rate confirmation you must create a short form bol.
If you create a short form, it does not have to be signed, just has to have shipper & receiver address filled out and submit it with paper work.

We will not fund any loads that don’t have the required information. This is crazy but it’s the only way to get paid.

 

[Duck]

Why? they gonna hunt me down and kill me? LOL

Tracking has to be reset anytime you close the app. That said, i have a dozen apps on my phone now that track me 24/7. And that is just counting the trucking apps I use daily.

Like if they're tracking you as you haul for other brokers or direct customers, using that information for their own benefit. Knowing who's freight you're hauling and where it's going. Even if it's just for statistical purposes.

I dunno.. Not trying to derail your topic.

 

[Ruthless]

I'm over insured, so no worries, there, LOL

I'm hearing a few things that make me leary as to whether I will haul anymore freight for them. Spoke with @mndriver about this, and he told me that they will hold pay if the address of the BOL doesn't match the rate con. This actually has me a bit nervous because my shipper address is not the same on the BOL. It's the same shipper name, same load number, same warehouse name, same city, but the physical address is different. I've emailed the agent for verification that this won't be a problem, don't figure to hear from them until Monday though.

Seems like a lot of nit picky stupidity though from what I am seeing and hearing.

Yeah I got payment held up on one I did the day after Christmas on that- just found out the other day. Apparently the bol didn’t have a delivery address on it? Was on one of the other pages however. So I circled it for them and resent that page in.

Cross it off n write one that matches before you send it in: bout all that matters on your end I expect.

 

[Humble pie]

Yeah I got payment held up on one I did the day after Christmas on that- just found out the other day. Apparently the bol didn’t have a delivery address on it? Was on one of the other pages however. So I circled it for them and resent that page in.

Cross it off n write one that matches before you send it in: bout all that matters on your end I expect.

Yes they are sticklers about bills of lading. It needs to say bill of lading on it. Keep a stack of blank ones if you don’t already.

 

[Ruthless]

Yes they are sticklers about bills of lading. It needs to say bill of lading on it. Keep a stack of blank ones if you don’t already.

I do, just didn’t happen to use one for that run. It was a whole bunch of pages and apparently I missed a page on there. $4k they better not **** up my shit. I’ll make that shit up all together to get it back squared away

 

[Mike]

Yes they are sticklers about bills of lading. It needs to say bill of lading on it. Keep a stack of blank ones if you don’t already.

I do, just didn’t happen to use one for that run. It was a whole bunch of pages and apparently I missed a page on there. $4k they better not **** up my ****. I’ll make that **** up all together to get it back squared away

Do you two run many Landstar loads?

I'm set up to run intrastate in Texas, which would make it much easier to narrow down my operating area, but Landstar tends to have a ton of that freight locked up. Being able to work with these folks without it being a pain would be beneficial.

 

[Humble pie]

Do you two run many Landstar loads?

I'm set up to run intrastate in Texas, which would make it much easier to narrow down my operating area, but Landstar tends to have a ton of that freight locked up. Being able to work with these folks without it being a pain would be beneficial.

I run a fair bit of it, but mainly with about 3 agents.

 

[Humble pie]

They offer quick pay and I think you can even transflo the bills to them now. They are not hard to work with.

 

[Mike]

I run a fair bit of it, but mainly with about 3 agents.

Looking at the BOL nonsense you are all talking about.

If the BOL doesn't match exactly, do you just send in the actual BOL and send in an additional BOL with the correct addresses on it? Not a big deal for me as the software on my computer generates a BOL for all of my loads with the click of a button.

 

[Ruthless]

Not at this point: I think something like $10/12k for the year 2019.
Pretty easy to work with if you work with someone knows what they’re doing; like any brokerage id imagine/though I don’t use brokers much at all.

Paperwork is pretty straightforward; don’t take my recent experience to be the norm, definitely just an oversight on my part on something where there’s lots of extra paperwork and lots of addresses throughout.
No excuses: spose it had been so long since I done one for them I didn’t look it over like I normally would have.

They’re straightforward otherwise: 27-30 days from date of invoice if you mail paper with no quick pay. I’d suggest only putting one bol/freight bill per invoice. Sometimes more than one and only the first one gets scanned correctly, a few years back happened to me a couple times.

 

[Humble pie]

Looking at the BOL nonsense you are all talking about.

If the BOL doesn't match exactly, do you just send in the actual BOL and send in an additional BOL with the correct addresses on it? Not a big deal for me as the software on my computer generates a BOL for all of my loads with the click of a button.

For me I generally make a proper bol and then send all the paperwork in. It’s not a big deal for me, as I generally have just one machine or piece on the truck.

I would suggest you make a corrected one have both signed and send both in.

 

[ironpony]

We've had Landstar double book a few loads on us. There's plenty of freight out there without having to deal with that nonsense.

 

[Mike]

Called and got the transflo code, and submitted the paperwork that way with the first load. Hopefully, the payment process goes smoothly.

Also, ended up on a 2nd load with them. I played around with their load search, entered everything in, and ended up with a load offer going to Texas that came in $200 above the DAT 15 day average. Since that average is currently dipping down, I consider that good. It pays well enough that I can do the load, then take a cheap load out of there to get home on Thursday and will average out above $2/mile.

 

[Mike]

One thing I am not seeing on their online portal is the ability to check payment status on a load. Am I overlooking it, or is it just not there?

 

[Humble pie]

One thing I am not seeing on their online portal is the ability to check payment status on a load. Am I overlooking it, or is it just not there?

I can’t answer because I’ve never looked for it. I’m not a big fan of their load board because it wants you to change the password every 45 days. I probably haven’t used it in two years.

 

[mndriver]

We've had Landstar double book a few loads on us. There's plenty of freight out there without having to deal with that nonsense.

Had too many instances of that.

Along with the nonsense that we got from the factoring company, we've just decided to not use them unless absolutely needed