FMCSA’s broker vs bona fide agent guidance is why we ask for your MC — not your cousin’s Gmail

What the notice actually said

The call still comes in: no MC, a Gmail address, and a load in Joliet that “needs to move today.” The answer is the packet page, not a handshake. FMCSA’s final guidance on broker versus bona fide agent is the cleanest federal sentence we have on that fog, and it is older than the 2026 scorecard — which is why it still belongs on a working desk.

Congress told the agency to define the line in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the FY2023 appropriations. FMCSA issued interim guidance in November 2022, took more than 130 comments, held a listening session at a trucking show, and then published the final guidance. Administrator Robin Hutcheson’s point still holds: a carrier should know whether the person in the middle has broker authority and the financial responsibility that goes with it.

Dispatch services and “I’ll find you a truck” shops are not automatically legal brokers. A bona fide agent represents a single carrier or a defined principal. An independent freight shop that is arranging other people’s trucks is in the authority-and-bond world. Shopping a Pride USA tractor across a group chat does not make the shopper our agent.

Double brokerage is how freight disappears and how invoices become archaeology. We pass. That is not a vibe. It is how you keep a 53-foot box attached to a tender you can actually collect on.

If they are arranging freight for multiple carriers and they are not your agent, ask for the MC and the bond. A Gmail and a first name are not a tender.

What it changes on Monday

PRIDEUSA tenders from brokers who can send W9, COI, and authority. We are asset-based — MC# 875229 — not a double-broker remix. See For Brokers for the packet. Same day on a workable lane, not after the truck is already at the shipper.

Monday’s quote still wants origin, destination, commodity, and drop versus live from a person we can identify. If you are booking through a dispatch service, they need to be a licensed broker or your actual agent. We still need a real tender. We will not take a load from a cousin’s inbox and hope the paying party appears later.

Shippers who want the truck, not a mystery network, can go straight to Get a Quote. That is the point of an asset-based shop in Lake Bluff. The guidance exists because too many people were standing in the middle without the bond that is supposed to sit there.

NCCDB now takes property-broker complaints. That is a different tool for a different problem. This page is the definition so we do not need the complaint form. Complaint database if you are already past the handshake stage.

What we will — and will not — do

We will ask for your MC. We will not apologize for that sentence. We run the trucks; we do not rent our USDOT to a fog machine. Double brokerage is a pass, every time.

We will not become your bona fide agent by answering a phone call, and we will not let a dispatch service speak as if they are Pride USA. If they represent you, say so in writing. If they are shopping the street, they need broker authority.

Packet and freight: For Brokers or +1 (847) 702-8181. Shippers who want the iron: the quote form. We are MC# 875229, not a Gmail thread.