It's interesting to watch you wander from one rambling topic to another.
Contractors have a degree of control of how much they'll take on. I'm sorry if you have to ignore that in order to justify more rambling. Oh, and kudos for finding a way to work in "no governing legal authority" talking point that still doesn't make any sense.
Let's talk about a concept that even a guys whose education involved cereal boxtops can (possibly) grasp. If the freight levels are rising as much as guys on here say they are, then Ground has no choice but to fork over more money to get it delivered. You always act as if all components of the business are static and everyone is stuck with no other option but to get screwed.
Let me help you here. Let's suppose a contractor does refuse a new mandate set forth by the company and there's no language in the contract to support it. he' s given one of three choices eat it and smile, quit or try to take them to arbitration.
Now let's say he decides to use the arbitration method. Now guess who reserves the right to choose who will sit on the arbitration board? Let me give you a hint. It's not the contractor. And I can assure you that the people on that panel are in no way shape or form unbiased and independent. It's over even before you the contractor walks into the room .....except for paying the bill for having lost a process for which he had no real chance of winning. In fact the judge in Estrada vs. Fedex pointed out how vague, ambiguous and "cleverly worded" the contract was.
Go get a copy of one of those contracts and read it for yourself. Rest assured regardless of what that unilaterally drafted and implemented, one dimensional, one sided one year cocument says, if they believe that you're not keeping up or will not be able to keep up they simply do not offer you a new contract.It's as simple as that. That's how much control a contractor has in reality. Essentially nothing.