Guide
The rules for emailing and calling new carriers
Contact details from FMCSA filings are public records, but the way you use them is regulated. A plain-English summary of what applies, with the primary sources. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice.
Email: CAN-SPAM
The FTC is explicit: "The law makes no exception for business-to-business email." Every commercial email to a carrier must:
- use accurate From, To and routing information and a subject line that is not deceptive;
- identify itself as an advertisement;
- include a valid physical postal address;
- tell the recipient how to opt out, and honor opt-outs within 10 business days.
Each violating email can cost up to $53,088. Source: FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business.
Calls and texts: TCPA
The feed includes the cell phone number a carrier filed. Many new carriers are one-truck owner-operators using a personal phone. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the FCC's rules:
- Telemarketing calls or texts to a wireless number using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice require the called party's prior express written consent. Source: 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2); the written-agreement standard is in 64.1200(f)(9).
- The National Do Not Call Registry and your own internal do-not-call list apply to residential subscribers, and a personal cell phone can be one. Source: 47 CFR 64.1200(c) and (d).
- A manually dialed call from a person to a business number is the lowest-risk path. When in doubt, email first.
Never impersonate FMCSA
FMCSA publishes fraud alerts about callers who pose as the agency or its Motus system to sell "required" services to new carriers, and impersonating a federal officer is a crime (18 U.S.C. 912). Say who you are and what you sell in the first sentence. Source: FMCSA fraud alerts.
How the feed helps
- Emails shared by three or more carriers are flagged as a filing service's address, so you do not mail the wrong party.
- The CSV separates the office phone from the cell phone so your team can treat them differently.
- Our terms make each subscriber responsible for consent and compliance, and we never contact carriers ourselves.
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