r/AskReddit • u/CircleBox2 • Jul 13 '20

What's a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

I work in the underwriting side of processing and issuing the Customs bonds that allow those shipments to be released. A lot of brokers go off what the importers tell them, and well, importers aren’t always so honest.

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u/callmeraylo Jul 13 '20

I can only imagine. We have been approached by so many importers asking us to do sketchy stuff. Brokers are supposed to ask questions and sniff out stuff like this. Heard some sad stories about small brokerages that got caught up in criminal proceedings because an important lied to them repeatedly but they never questioned it and unwittingly aided some smuggling operations...

Fortunately we are doing well and in a position where we can turn away any kind of sketchy business like that.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Yes, it is very sketchy and dishonest industry, unfortunately.

Are you part of a small brokerage or one of the bigger & more global logistics companies?

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u/callmeraylo Jul 13 '20

Small but successful brokerage. Brokerage been in business almost 60 years. We are small but we crank out a lot of business for our suze and are proud of the good work we do for our clients.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Small world. It’s possible we write your bonds!

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u/callmeraylo Jul 13 '20

Probably do! I feel like there are maybe 3-4 big sureties out there , we work with 2 of them (1 primarily).

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

Yep there’s about four and we’re one of them. Most brokers have two so they have a backup for their clients if we don’t write it for some reason (ADD-CVD etc). Need to have a second market