Roughly 80% of same-day ground deliveries in our nation are made by the myriad of Independently Owned and Operated Courier companies which, in turn, rely on tens of thousands of Independent Contractor Drivers.  This proven business model allows us to conduct our successful operations, while providing both livelihoods to those ICs, as well as the overall contributions our combined efforts make to our local economies.

But our use of these ICs is now under fire on several fronts.

State Governments, looking for creative ways to bolster sagging revenue bases, are attempting to legislate the elimination of ICs from many business models. The mindset is that if they can force Courier Companies to make these IC's actual employees by passing laws to outlaw ICs, they can then collect additional payroll taxes.

The same tactic is being considered at a Federal level, for collection of new and additional Federal taxes from your business.

Insurance Companies are also lobbying various legislators to outlaw the use of ICs as their own potential revenue stream.  If your drivers were suddenly required, by law, to become your employees, then you, as the company owner would be responsible for insuring those drivers.  In a pool of twenty drivers, for example, the insurance company could take the driver with the worst record, and base their rates for the entire company on that driver's performance.

Labor Unions have long sought to increase their membership, and thus their collection of Union Dues by targeting ICs and the companies who use them.  Under our current IC business model, they cannot approach our drivers with the goal of organizing them.  Should laws be passed eliminating the IC business model and requiring those drivers to be hired as payroll employees, it would be open season for Labor Unions to attempt to organize those employees.

Collectively, or individually, these threats from legislatures, insurance companies, or unions could devastate our industry as we know it. But there is a way to protect our right to the freedoms of Capitalism and the continued success of our day-today operations. In order to protect the IC model in our state, everyone in our industry need to establish and build professional relationships with those local and state lawmakers who have the potential to so drastically affect our livelihoods.

The MDA was created to support busiensses involved in the same-day messenger and courier industry, educate people and lawmakers about our industry and to promote the long standing reputation and business practice utilized within our industry.