Trucking: payment of fuel surcharge, cash flow problem, eia doe

Question
Mr. Bowers, I lease to a nationwide carrier and their only customer at my terminal pays a pretty good fuel surcharge but,the carrier says that the customer only pays them the fuel surcharge once per Quarter. (i don't beleive it) Additionally the carrier says it takes them 3-5 weeks to pass it on to me. Is this leagal or is it customary for carriers to set their own policy as to when they are to distribute fuel surcharges? Can you provide some guidelines or resourses that i can access? Yhank You, john

Answer
John, the first thing is to look at your contract to see if they specify how the fuel surcharge is calculated and how often it is paid.  I understand there are about a many ways to handle this as there are carriers out there.  I know that most large shippers with market power are dictating the FSC and not always compensatory.  I also know that some want to be billed monthly on a seperate invoice rather than on each freight bill.  I had not heard of the quarterly billing but I suppose anything is possable if they have enough power to dictate the terms.  In any event your carrier should not make their collection and cash flow problem yours.  You are fueling your truck when you are handling their business and should be compensated in a reasonable time frame.  There is competition out there for good owner operators and carriers who want to get and keep the best will traet them fairly.  Whether they are paying a percent of the load or cents per mile they need to traet you as a business partner and the terms should be spelled out and agreed in advance in the contract.  To my knowledge there is no current legal requirements in this area so it all comes down to contract law and good business practices.
A good resource is http://www.ooida.com/
For weekly fuel index prices check: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/wohdp/diesel.asp
This is the site that virtually avery fuel surcharge program is tied to although if you have the opportunity to buy discounted fuel direcvtly from the carrier they may use a different scale.

Hope this helps a littel.
JIM