Trucking: truck base plate & fuel mile tax, fuel surcharge, iowa resident

Question
I'm an independent contractor looking to lease on with a company. I'm an Iowa resident and the company is in Iowa.  I don't have my own license plate and this company charges $200. to register a plate for me to rent and an additional rental fee of $62. a week.  I've never heard of renting a plate. Is the "rental" verbiage a racket to charge what would be excessive interest on the purchase of a license plate? In addition, they charge 8.98 a week for figuring fuel and mile taxes, and will only refund an overage if it is more than $25. They also want .05 mile of the fuel surcharge on all loads for the first 90 days. I've been a truck driver for 33 years and I've never seen such corruption and dishonesty in this business as I have in these past few years.  Many brokers have found a niche in this industry and are getting rich off the hard working drivers who transport the freight.  I understand the networking and development of relationships requires time and effort, and therefore, compensation; However, not as much as they are taking.  I made more money in the 70's and 80's, and am still working 70 hrs a week making a living just a bit above the poverty level.  What will have to happen to change things back to a proper prospective in the trucking industry?

Answer
Timothy, I have not heard of renting your plate from the company.  How much would it cost for you to provide your own plate and eliminate this expense? At $62/wk plus $200 that adds up to $3424 per year and if you leave them they still have the plate.  $8.98 a week to handle your fuel and mile taxes might be worth it if it saves you an hour or more of your time.  The FSC deduction just sounds like another way to take a little bigger cut.
I'm a little confused as you are an independent contractor but then mention Brokers.  Who has the actual operating authority with the FMCSA?  Are you contracting to a Motor Carrier who also has Broker authority?
Unfortunately in these economic times he who controls the freight has the upper hand and since so many drivers are struggling to make ends meet they can usually find someone to sign on.  Any contract you sign will be binding so read all of the terms carefully and question or refuse to sign what you can't live with.  If they need your truck bad enough they will compromise and if not you might be better off searching out another opportunity.  If you can, try to find a direct carrier to contract with who is a trucker first and broker second, rather than a broker that strings together a bunch of contractors.  
Here is a list of carriers to consider:
   1.  HEARTLAND EXPRESS
   2. (American) TRANSCORR
   3. BARR-NUNN TRANSPORTATION
   4. Celadon Trucking Services
   6. Core Carrier
   7. Crete Carrier
   8. CRST Malone
   9. CRST Van Expedited
 10. Davis Transport
 11. deBoer Transportation Inc.
 12. FFE Transportation Services
 13. Gordon Trucking Inc.
 14. Hill Brothers Transportation
 15. Hunt Transportation
 16. Interstate Distributor Co.
 17. J & R Schugel Trucking
 18. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.
 19. K&B Transportation
 20. Knight Transportation
 21. Landstar
 22. Melton Truck Lines
 23. National Carriers
 24. Paschall Truck Lines
 25. Perkins Specialized Transportation, Inc.
 26. Safeway Moving / United Van Lines
 27. SCG The Select Carrier Group
 28. Schneider National
 29. Sharkey Transportation, Inc.
 30. Sisbro, Inc.
 31. Spirit Express Trucking Inc.
 32. TransAm Trucking, Inc.
 33. Transport America
 34. Van Wyk, Inc.

Most of these carriers will use both company employees and Owner Operators.
Here is a link: http://www.classadrivers.com/index.php?method=CompanyListing&StateID=IA

Best of luck.  Jim.