I think we should probably make a separation between those disputes that involve a legitimate inspection—for example, the strawberries weren't as red as they should be, so what we really are looking for is an adjustment service—as opposed to cases of somebody who just doesn't want to pay.
I would hate to put a percentage on it. I will tell you the percentage is low and currently has been, but that's because of what you hear us call the “big stick”.
When I was at PACA, when I'm at the DRC, most of our work is done on the telephone. The person wants to know what they should do and whether they are going to win or lose, because both PACA and DRC provide default rules.
When there's a problem over payment, there is a maximum time to pay. There is a way to handle claims. What normally happens is they know they are going to lose. They call me. They want an opinion. They open a dispute file. Once they see they're going to lose under the rules, they pay the bill. It's the same in PACA.
That's actually one of the big concerns about having lost reciprocity. The U.S. buyers will now have learned that when Jocelyn makes a call to PACA, they can say, “You know what? I think we're going to wait and see if Jocelyn can come up with that $100,000 to file this $50,000 complaint.” It's no skin off his teeth. Then if Jocelyn comes up with the $100,000, he says, “Oh, you know what? I made a mistake. I do owe that”, and he writes a cheque.
One of the big fears of the reciprocity isn't about the number of complaints filed today; it's about the fact that as the buyers learn there is no more big stick, that's going to change. Without an easy way to file a PACA complaint, it's really easy to clip a dollar or two. Jocelyn's a busy guy. He can't chase some guy down in Louisiana over a dollar or two per package.
I hope that answers the question.