Cargill still proving their PIA to deal with!!!!

I had something happen today that never has happened with a grain sale before. My son delivered a load of contracted soybeans to Cargill in Cedar Rapids Monday. The soybeans had been sold through River Gulf Grain of Davenport Iowa. He told them at the grain probe that the soybeans where sold through River Gulf and the farmers name. This was all through the CB radio. He then had to wait three hours to get unloaded.

How it works to unload at Cargill: You pull on the scale and wait on a green dump light. You back up and dump. Then you pull back on the scale. They flash the green lights at you to pull of the scale. You then pull off to the right of the scale. You then walk back to the office beside the dump pit. There you sign and get your copy of the scale ticket.

When my son got back to the office he found out the ticket was printed as sold through the wrong elevator, River Valley rather than River Gulf. My son told the guy at the dump about the mistake. The guy told my son he would correct the ticket in the computer but that he could not print a new ticket as he was locked out of the load number once the ticket was printed. Son did not know any better so he agreed and left.

Today I get a call from the farmer we hauled the grain for. HE is hopping mad. It seems that the guy at Cargill told my son the wrong thing. Cargill WILL NOT correct any ticket once you leave the property without charging a fee to change the ticket.

The fee is $25 plus a "penalty" of 10 cents per bushel on the load. That makes this work out to $108.20 to have the ticket changed and the correct elevator credited with the load. WHAT THE HECK!!!!

I called Cargill and got a hold of the plant manager. He told me that since WE had made a mistake they charged a fee to correct OUR mistake. I asked him how WE made a mistake when we do not get to see the ticket until after it is printed. HE told me HIS employees don't make those type of mistakes. I told him that I am not satisfied with this and I am going to check with the State of Iowa Department of Agriculture to see if this fee was legal. He laughed and said go right ahead. Quote" We have lawyers on staff just waiting to go to court on these type of things"

So I told all the drivers, that we have, that if a ticket has any wrong information at a Cargill plant they are to not to leave the plant until it is corrected and the plant manager signs it stating it is corrected. The truck is not to be moved until the ticket is resolved. If the grain dump line is blocked then so be it.

Cargill screwed over a bunch of livestock producers when the 2008 flood closed down the starch plant in Cedar Rapids. Cargill canceled the guys wet feed contracts as the plant was flooded and therefore an "Act of God" caused it so they did not have to honor the contracts. It was funny that these contracts where all under the current cash price at the time they where canceled.

Cargill stated that they would roll the tonnage over to the Eddieville plant but the new contracts would be at the current cash price.

This cost me personally a few thousand dollars as I had to buy feed from another supplier at the higher cash price. I have not dealt with Cargill since then on any of my personal business. After this I am really thinking about telling any of my customers that we will not haul to or from any Cargill plants. We have only been hauling a few loads each year to or from Cargill.

I could see maybe a small fee to correct a mistake but over hundred bucks to change one is robbery!!!!

Another idea is to put a surcharge on any trips that involve Cargill. Just be sure to let your customers know ahead of time and be sure to tell them the reason why.

Cargill in my area is an outstanding company and I have nothing but high praise for them. I've had tickets mislabeled and have had no problems getting them fixed. No charges or anything.

Sounds to me like the manager and the scale guy have a little side business going on here, if you ask me.

Had a problem with our local grain elevator--not operated by Cargill. We had a really dry year and a lot of guys couldn"t fill their contracts, me included. Elevator was rolling the contracts into the next year gambling the grain prices would move in their favor, I said No I"ll buy out since I was only short 1 or 2 hundred bushels. They tried to cheat on price and i did a little internet searching and printing AND I suspect they talked to their lawyers we got it straight. The next year and every year since the prices at harvest have been higher then contract prices in January through March and I do not contract--why take a lower price with the hassle. One more thing; if you don"t contract you can take it anywhere. In my case that includes the port at Norfolk which is always $.50 bushel higher.

Cargill will get you where they can.

I signed a minimum price contract for 5000 bu of soybeans with them back about 10 years ago.

In March the price was set at 5.60 a bushel for fall delievery.If the average price was higher June thru Aug i would get 1/2 the increase and they would get half.

The average was 25 cents higher so I should get 12.5 cents more,right? Wrong

In fine print at the bottom of the contact it stated that they got the first 20 cent increase for writing the contract. Which was never mentioned at signing time. So I got an extra 2.5 cents.

There were 25 or so guys at this meeting where they explained the contract and everyone of us got screwed over. None of us knew about the 20 cent writing fee when we signed.

Gary

When you deal with a Rattlesnake you shouldn't be surprised when you get bit and the more you fellows depend on these outfits the worse it'll get.

I will tell a different side to the story. We sell our waxy corn to Cargill corn in Cedar Rapids. They let us reduce our contract due to "act of God" this year with the drought.

You gotta follow the rules.

I"d be tempted to write a nice well mannered letter to head office, ask them to explain why the charges and why it couldn"t be sorted out more fairly.

Managers make elevators as in a great manager will always get more business for the company, so take it over his head..

Leave the empty rig on the scale until you get an accurate ticket.

I think I would call the managers bluff and file in small claims court for the $108 and $25, plus filing fees. If it is less than $500 I don"t see a corporate lawyer want to leave his office for that. (John T may have better info though)

I like your idea of leaving the truck on the scales until you get the right ticket.

I always make sure the truck driver has the right paperwork when he leaves here.

Probably just the opposite they'd love to make an example of you.

Cargill deals with enough people, they have rules and procedures.

I would bet your guy is a poor listener.

Verbal promise by employee is worth the paper it"s printed on. Lesson learned perhaps-- but years back when I was delivering auto parts the protocol was any problems, question, claims- make a dated written memo and get a signature with the signees job title- do this with the reciept book so 2 copies, take back original and leave copy with signer. Did it a couple times for engine short block delivery, defective claim and had no problems next week when supplier questioned claim- memo taken and settled same day. Driver should park and make out memo of possible clerical error, get the weight man to sign it before leaving. If can"t get memo, don"t leave, call the police as another driver did on a questionable delivery, police come and suddenly the owner appears and makes it a COD acceptance with actual cash instead of doubtful check. Sometimes got to get picky about accepting "word" of correction of a "minor" error. RN

It is possible that the driver made a mistake and said River Valley rather than River Gulf. It is also possible the Cargill employee made the mistake. For a manager to tell JD, "our employees don't make those kind of mistakes, is just plain stupid. Anyone and everyone makes mistakes, even Cargill employees. Now that everyone knows how they operate, the driver should go in the office before leaving the scales and look at the computer screen to make sure everything is correct. If not correct, don't leave the scales until it is corrected. If this happens enough maybe Cargill will start printing some kind of slip and give to the driver before he proceeds to the dump.
It's nice that the manager sticks up for his employees but to say they don't make mistakes shows he's an idiot.
My take on this,
Dick

I haul beans there, been doing it for 38 years. I have had a few bad ticket's, the two elevators get the tickets right after a while. They might have changed the policy in the last year. It is a bad way to do it, ADM dose the sameway with cb . Some of them don't work to good to under stand them. JD the other night you said you go to ADM for wetfeed. You can't go to Dyersville, Ithink it would closer with out so much hasel Ha.

Was the corn priced on the contract? Or just a bushels contract?


Gary

At the river port Cargill elevator at Mt. Vernon In. You put a ticket in a air tube and you keep a copy. So there is no doubt how you want to sell the load. Also there is a sign where they blow the real ticket to on the out-bound scales. The sign says to effect. Pull of the scales to the side. Read your ticket, if there is any thing wrong with your ticket, bring it in and we will change it. Do not leave with your ticket wrong. You unload there and never see or talk to anyone.

heavyhaulertoo: The feed is very different from ADM verses Big River at Dyersville.

The wet feed at ADM is wet gluten and it is 65% moisture and about 7% protein.

The Wet cake at Big River is wet distillers grain. It is 55% moisture and 15.6% protein but it has more sulfur in it too.

Cattle will eat the wet gluten better than the wet distillers. The distillers is just a little bitter.

The ration I switched Steve's cattle to needed the wetter product to bind the tub ground hay to the corn. Also I have had issues with the wet cake feed not mixing well. You end up with balls of the wet distillers in the ration. They can be as small as a gulf ball or as large as a baseball. The larger ones will freeze and the cattle will not eat them. So I use very little wet cake.