mine was "the shipper said you were only there 45 min" bro i literally have my ELD showing i was there 3 and a half hours. you think i sat in that parking lot for fun?? lmao
i know yall got some good ones drop em
Everybody's got one. The load that looked good on paper and turned into a nightmare. Maybe the rate was right but everything else went wrong. Maybe you learned something about a lane, a broker, a shipper, or yourself.
I'll go first. Took a load going into NYC thinking the rate was too good to pass up. Didn't factor in tolls, the hours I'd lose in traffic, or the fact that the receiver had zero truck parking and I'd be circling blocks in a 53 footer at 6am in Manhattan. Never again.
What's yours?
I'm a founder building a service that recovers unpaid detention fees for independent truck owner operators.
Quick context for those outside trucking: when a driver shows up to a warehouse and gets stuck waiting 4, 6, sometimes 10+ hours to load or unload, they're legally owed compensation. Most never collect. Brokers hold all the leverage, and drivers who push back risk losing future loads. It's a $1.3B+ problem that everyone in the industry knows about and nobody fixes.
We handle the entire claim process on contingency. Drivers pay nothing upfront. They keep 80%.
The service works. The problem is trust.
I've done 150+ in person interviews with drivers at truck stops. Every single one confirms the pain. They know they're owed money. But when it's time to sign up, they freeze. They've been burned too many times by people promising to "help" them. And honestly, I can't blame them. In an industry full of scams and empty promises, some guy showing up saying "let me recover your money for free" sounds like the biggest red flag of all.
What I've tried so far:
Showing up in person at truck stops and rest areas across the country. Partnering with a trucking rights law firm. Posting in driver Facebook groups and forums. Getting referrals from a few early drivers who used the service.
Traction is growing but slow. The gap between "this is exactly what I need" and "I'll actually sign up" is massive.
For founders who've sold into low trust, blue collar, or historically exploited markets: what actually moved the needle for you? Not generic advice, but specific plays. A channel, a tactic, a trust building move that made the difference.
Appreciate any insight.