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E-Transport Newsletter |
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Fall, 2006 |
Volume 3, Number 2 |
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*************** As your board
members and NACM of South Texas are busy finalizing our Fall Conference in
San Antonio, I wanted to extend a personal thanks to the TRMG board and NACM
South Texas for their combined efforts to bring together one of the strongest
credit and revenue management groups in the country! I also would like to
take this opportunity to welcome our new members to the TRMG Group that have
joined since our Spring meeting in Covenant Transport Estes Express Lines Jevic Transportation Scully
Transportation Services Our theme for our
fall meeting is “Driving Transportation Revenue – Deep in the Heart of I look forward to
seeing each of you in Your Chairman, Ron Pagoota Southeastern Freight
Lines, Inc. 1-803-939-3294 rpagoota@sefl.com National
Transportation Revenue
Management Group Phone: (281) 228-6100 Fax: (281) 228-6122 nacm@nacmsouthtexas.org We’re on the Web! www.nacmsouthtexas.org ©NACM Houston, 2004 |
News from Transportation Revenue Management Group
Oct. 8-11, 2006
At the Beer and Browse on Monday evening you
will have an opportunity to interact with the Associate Members of the
TRMG group and let them know their sponsorship is much appreciated
toward supporting this conference.
Exchange groups are meeting on Wednesday and Thursday
immediately following the conference.
If you are not a data exchange group member and you are interested in
visiting one, please contact BENCHMARKING
SURVEY OPEN NOW! This year,
we have expanded the survey to allow comparisons of key elements across
transportation modes – truck, rail & air, as well as key indicators from
3PLs! REMEMBER! Results will ONLY be shared with participating companies, so be
sure to log on and fill out the simple survey today if you haven’t already: Take me
to the survey!
The following is now in effect, and it affects you! The “Junk
Fax Prevention Act of 2005” (JFPA) proved necessary due to new rules
developed by the FCC in 2003 that would have prohibited the sending of
commercial faxes without the prior written consent of recipients. The JFPA maintains the “established business
relationship” (EBR) exception that allows associations and businesses to send
unsolicited commercial faxes to their members and to other recipients with
whom they have an established business relationship. In
addition, the law requires that all unsolicited commercial faxes include an
“opt-out” provision on the first page of a fax; that the sender provide a
cost-free, 24-hour means for the recipient to request to be removed from the
fax distribution list; and that fax numbers (other than those in the
possession of the sender prior to the enactment of the law) be obtained
either directly from the recipient or from a public source to which the
recipient gave the fax number for publication (i.e., a website,
advertisement, or directory). The JFPA
authorized the FCC to determine the “shortest reasonable time” that senders
must comply with an opt-out request, and establish whether a time limit on
the EBR was necessary, among other things. The
FCC’s rules also clarify the term “unsolicited advertisement” as “any
material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property,
goods, or services which is transmitted to any person without the person’s
prior express invitation or permission, in writing or otherwise.”
Informational pieces such as an association’s newsletter or legislative
updates do not constitute unsolicited advertisements so long as the primary
purpose of the communication is informational, and not to promote commercial
products. The FCC has found that even “an incidental advertisement contained in
a newsletter does not convert the entire communication into an
advertisement.” Visit the FCC
website to read the FCC’s rules in their entirety. Some interesting credit Q & A
from a recent Covering Credit Bulletin: Q: What interest
rate can we charge on past due accounts? A: You did not mention what State you were
selling to. This link provides usury
rates State by State. It is a free site:
http://law.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/interest-rates Q. Our terms are
Net 30. The customer’s Purchase Order
showed net 60 when I pulled it. Is the
invoice due in 30 days or in 60 days? A. Probably 60. Even if your invoice and your credit
application indicate that the terms are net 30 days, when the customer
modifies this arrangement by presenting a PO with net 60 day terms and that
PO goes unchallenged there is little that you can do after the fact to
correct this problem and accelerate the customer’s payment plans. The key is the proverbial ounce
of prevention. Someone must be responsible for and accountable for reviewing
customer purchase orders and rejecting those with unacceptable terms and
conditions. Q. How do you
develop an appropriate bad debt reserve? A. I recommend a three step process. The first step involves developing a
general reserve based on historical bad debt write offs. The second step involves creating a
specific reserve for accounts in bankruptcy, placed for collection, in
receivership, etc. The third step is
to create a high risk reserve for accounts that the credit department is
currently concerned about. Source: Michael Dennis, Covering Credit Bulletin Thanks for all your work! 2005-2006
Chairman: Ron Pagoota, Southeastern Freight Lines |
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Transportation Revenue Management
Group
National Association of Credit
Management – Houston