We have a major customer that we work with picking loads up out of an east coast port. I manage all the lanes going to one specific state. Coming into Q1 this year, we understandably had to lower rates and talk with our regular carrier base who hauls these for us about coming down. No one wanted to in January, so we took losses on these lanes with the anticipation that the market would rebound in Q2 and we'd make up the difference. Started to become apparent that wasn't going to happen. My boss still talked the customer into increasing our rates in Q2 because of the somewhat white glove nature of these deliveries (long wait times at the port, ID requirements, trailer requirements, etc). Instead of leaving our regular carriers' rates where they were, we decreased them again coming into Q2, which all carriers agreed with. About a week or two ago, my boss wanted to increase those margins, so I had to do another round of pricing talks. All carriers accepted again. Now this week, the spot market for these lanes is even lower, so my coworker wants to post them out and try to win them at lower rates since the volume isn't quite there. I started this job last November and was trained on this account to cover these lanes with our regulars whenever possible, but the volume was also much higher last year. I covered all these lanes out, now my team wants to bounce these carriers, re-post them, and see what we can win. I understandably have upset carriers now calling me and seeing my loads being posted on the board.

I can understand wanting to make up for a shitty quarter, but isn't it also shitty in practice to go back to our carriers every week to lower rates? Wouldn't this be considered contracted pricing (we bid on these prices with our customer every quarter), and thus, these would be contracted lanes? Or do we need to sign something with a carrier for them to be considered a contracted carrier? Is it me or is this bad business?