Tools of the UCR Trade - Part 3

Unregistered Carriers on 10/02/2009 - 1930
Unregistered Carriers on 10/05/2009 - 1918

Tool #3 - The "Troll List"

Today's UCR tool is what we lovingly call the "Troll List". Not the kind of troll that lives under the bridge and jumps out at unsuspecting travelers, but more like "trolling", or searching, for stuff.

Essentially, the Troll List generates UCR applications out of our system every day to potential UCR carriers that have been added to or changed in our system since the last time we "trolled" for them - usually the day before.

The Troll List is important because it relieves us of the burden of trying to figure out who has been contacted about UCR and who hasn't. At the same time, the Troll List ensures that everybody gets contacted at least once. This is particularly crucial for "sideways" additions which are much harder to keep track of than new USDOT number additions.

The Troll List criteria is fairly simple: if there's been a change to the DOT number field - usually a DOT number added - and they haven't registered for UCR (we sometimes do both at the same time: get them a DOT number and register them for UCR), we send them a letter and an application.

This tool has evolved - and is still evolving - from the days when we were using the Troll List to look for people who were likely candidates for UCR - exempt carriers, etc. It's also a great follow-up tool for solicitation emails that didn't result in a UCR registration.

Speaking of UCR emails, tomorrow I will discuss the UCR-Link Emailer - one of our favorite UCR tools here in Illinois.