Is this illegal or considered double brokering?

A lot depends on whether ABC and XYZ are working under a co brokering agreement. While lots of people frown upon such a thing it is still a legal way of doing business. Both sides of the equation have to maintain documentation of such and agreement and both have to abide by the terms of that agreement. There isn't a carrier out there or a broker for that matter who is going to know where each and every load is or who is the original owner of that load. If you want to bypass this scenario, then you have to get on the phone or e mail or instant messenger and do your due dilligence to get as close to the source of the freight yourself. Just be sure you haven't signed a broker/carrier agreement with either the broker or carrier and they have a back solicitation clause in their contract. You can be sued and if back solicitation is proved, you can be liable for damages and it will cost you more than the lost money going thru the broker. The best thing to do is to decide if the rate offered meets your standard of operation. If it doesn't walk away and say no. You have the power to decide what works and doesn't work for you.

There is no such thing as a backhaul. Any load can be someones headhaul out of home. The person that coined the term back haul should have been lumped in with the same guy that came up with pallet exchange and with the same guy that invented the necktie. They should have been taken out behind the barn and dealt with appropriately. I bid my rates between 2.75 and 3.25/mi depending on location and how tough it is to get out of the area. Most of my arguement revolves around if the merchant has checked where his health insurance and car insurance have went over the past year. Has the cost of repairing his personal vehicle gone up or down, has replacement cost of his personal vehicle gone down. What about cost of your homeowners insurance?. Mostly I hear crickets chirping in the background when i ask that and the response is usually that one thing has nothing to do with the other. Then I ask if he is taking less of a margin because the cost of his product has gone down or is he maintaining his margin at a level he can make a profit. By this time they have usually slammed the phone down on me. It appears that rates have dropped because "fuel costs are down". How much are they down from last year. Not a heck of a lot. They were paying better rates a year ago at similar fuel prices but this year, the 8-12 cent difference in fuel is astronomical and rates must drop. I better shut up on this or it could end up being an all night sermon. What it boils down to is the difference in philosophy of a trucker vs the philosophy of a merchant. I have dealt with this issue for many years having been on both sides of it, both as an owner operator and a trader or merchant. We will never solve the problem until drivers understand that they have to make a profit and they need to know their cost of operation. Learn to say no. I heard that word a lot when i was in highschool looking for a prom date and I have found that the same word can be applied equally effectively in the freight game. Never give up the fight and if you look hard enough and kick over enough rocks you can find the good rates out there. You just may not be able to go 100 mi away from home and be home by 4pm in the afternoon.