WASHINGTON — Tow truck operators, fighting allegations of rampant price gouging against trucking companies, say insurance companies should take some of the blame for spiraling costs.
The issue of alleged price gouging of motor carriers by unscrupulous towing operators was raised in a Federal Trade Commission proposed rulemaking last year, in which the FTC recommends requiring more billing transparency from tow truck operators.
In support of FTC’s proposal, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety...
In this edition: The dream that may or may not come true under the FTC’s new rule, and TFI International wants heavier freight.
Last Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission dropped the mother of all rules. The agency banned noncompetes. The ban was going to remove any existing noncompete and bar new ones provided that employee wasn’t a senior executive or higher. The rule was to go into effect 120 days after it was published in the Federal Register, which normally takes about three...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/check-call-hope-for-a-ban-on-noncompetes-heads-to-court
WASHINGTON — A proposed rule aimed at cracking down on junk fees charged to consumers has caught the attention of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The proposed rule, issued by the Federal Trade Commission last year, would, among other things, allow the FTC to seek civil penalties against fraudsters and more readily obtain financial remedies for consumers who are harmed.
FMCSA weighed in on the proposal by calling out unscrupulous towing companies that overcharge truck drivers who...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-calls-out-sham-towing-fees-charged-to-truckers
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general filed suit against Amazon.com on Tuesday, alleging the e-commerce giant used its monopoly power to “inflate prices, degrade quality and stifle innovation for consumers and businesses.”
The 172-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging.”
The...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ftc-17-states-file-antitrust-suit-against-amazon
Welcome to Check Call, our corner of the internet for all things 3PL, freight broker and supply chain. Check Call the podcast comes out every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EST. Catch up on previous episodes here. If this was forwarded to you, sign up for Check Call the newsletter here.
Inside this edition: FTC proposes to ban noncompetes; the nonshortage shortage of medicine; and Estes moves to hand down the family business.
The time has arrived. The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a rule...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/check-call-the-rise-of-nearshoring
There is a new federal government player in the raging battle on how to define an independent contractor: the Federal Trade Commission.
The involvement of the FTC in the issue of defining the legal status of gig workers does not involve a new rule. Rather it comes from a statement released earlier this month by the agency, which features this broad goal: “Protecting (gig) workers from unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive practices is a priority, and the FTC will use its full authority to do so.”
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/federal-trade-commission-joining-independent-contractor-fray
The Federal Trade Commission said Friday it is extending by 30 days the deadline for retailers, consumer goods suppliers, wholesalers and consumers to submit voluntary comments as part of the agency’s inquiry into supply chain disruptions. The new deadline is Feb. 28.
The agency launched the investigation in late November to understand how large companies have used their scale to circumvent supply chain bottlenecks and whether those actions contributed to empty shelves and soaring prices that...
Federal officials are undermining the market dynamism that allowed American businesses to flourish during the pandemic by overreaching on to curb the power of big companies and underachieving on trade policies that would open up new markets, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Suzanne Clark said Tuesday.
One of the business group’s top priorities this year, she said in her first “State of Business” address, will be to thwart the Biden administration and lawmakers from pursuing heavy-handed...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-chamber-biden-too-fixated-on-market-concentration-slow-on-trade
The Federal Trade Commission’s mission is to protect consumers and businesses against anticompetitive, deceptive and unfair business practices, but historically it hasn’t touched ocean shipping.
Overseeing competition in sea freight is the primary jurisdiction of the Federal Maritime Commission. The Department of Justice gets involved if international container lines engage in anticompetitive behavior outside antitrust immunity that allows discussion about rate guidelines for individual service...
Clarence L. Werner, founder, chairman and director of Werner Enterprises, the truckload carrier that bears his name, has reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to pay a hefty fine for violations of federal securities laws connected with his acquisition of Werner stock over several years.
The penalty assessed to CL Werner, as he is referred to in the court documents, is $486,900. Filing of the agreement with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia opens up a comment...