Not Here – There
It happened to me this week. With bills in hand I knocked on the door to make my delivery. The man at the 
door told me that they wanted the product at their warehouse. We were at their production facility. It was the address on the bills. My appointment was for 07:00. It was about 06:30. He said that I would have no problem making my delivery on time since the warehouse was only 2 blocks away. He would have someone there at 07:00. He told me to open my doors and back in. I communicated to the office the change of delivery address and requested my $25 stop fee. I don't know yet if I will get my $25 or if my company will charge the broker.
This is a pet peeve of mine. It was not a big deal. They had me unloaded by 07:45. It bothers me. I won't make a big deal out of this one. It is worth mentioning, but not worth fighting for. I have a good relationship
with my company. We would all like to keep it that way. Maybe they will call the broker and mention it. Then will the broker call the consignee? It is not a regular customer of ours. Chances are that I will never go there again.
Where is the line? I remember back more than 10 years ago. It was a broker load out of Monroe, MI. The broker gave me an address and I went to it. They said not to back in and handed me a stack of paperwork and sent me to their warehouse 5 miles away. The original location was in town and was a chore to get a truck there. The warehouse was right off the interstate. The warehouse had a fax machine on the desk. I asked why they sent me to the main office to pick up the paperwork and not just fax it over. The man said that every time they fax the stack of bills it cost them $5. The trucks could go get them for free. They loaded 40 trucks per week and this saved the company $10,000 per year.
My relationship at that time with my carrier was not good. It was a lot of nickle and dime stuff that was adding up. I called the company to request $25 for the extra pick up. They refused and said that I was being a jerk. I 
insisted and threatened to pull the pin when I got back to the terminal. They told me that would be a violation of my contract and that they would keep my escrow. I pointed out that it was within my rights since they had just violated my contract. They refused to pay me for a pick up. “You did not pick anything up, we don't have to pay you.” “I picked up the paperwork.” OK-we will pay you. I got this load again about 6 months later and was sent directly to the warehouse. The warehouseman of course did not remember me. I inquired about no longer having to go downtown to get the paper work. He was not pleased and said do you believe it some @#$%@^* insisted on getting paid $25 for getting the paperwork.
Yes, I was patient and waited to get out to my truck before I laughed. My insistence made a difference. The idea should always be to send the driver to the right address. The question is how to respond to it.