Why the delivery promise was impossible

How we work

Hours of service are a ceiling

Hours of service rules exist because fatigued drivers kill people, and electronic logging means they can no longer be quietly bent. A carrier who accepts a load that only works if the driver runs over has not won anything — they have moved a risk onto the driver, the shipper's cargo and everyone else on the interstate.

So the honest answer is sometimes no. Calculating the lawful run before quoting costs a few minutes and occasionally loses the load, which is the right outcome when the alternative is a violation, an out-of-service order and a truck that should have stopped hours earlier.

The other thing worth stating before a claim rather than after one is cargo cover. Shippers routinely assume their freight is insured for its full value. Confirming the limit before dispatch, and arranging more when the declared value needs it, is the difference between a business relationship and a lawsuit.