Sister Companies

Sister Companies are partnerships on TrucklineMP that link a Virtual Trucking Company (VTC) and a Virtual Bus Company (VBC) together. Linking sister companies helps cross-advertise organizations, coordinate events, and optionally share staff members between trucking and coach divisions.

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Prerequisites

Before linking, ensure that:

1. Opposite Types: You can only link a VTC (trucking company) with a VBC (coach/bus company). You cannot link two VTCs or two VBCs.
2. Ownership: You must be the owner of the company initiating the request, and the target company’s owner must accept the request.
3. No Existing Link: Neither company can have an active sister company. A company can only have one sister company at a time.

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Linking Companies

To link with a sister company:

1. Navigate to your company profile.
2. Click Manage to open the Management Console.
3. Select the Links tab on the sidebar.
4. Under Send Link Request, enter the unique handle of the target company.
5. (Optional) Write a short message to the owner of the target company.
6. (Optional) Check Request Shared Staff if you want members to hold ranks in both companies.
7. Click Send Request.

The target company’s owner will receive a notification to review, accept, or decline the request in their own management console under Links.

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Managing Shared Staff

When sending or accepting a link request, you can configure how member accounts interact across both organizations:

Request Shared Staff

If Request Shared Staff is enabled, it allows drivers or coach operators to hold memberships and ranks in both sister companies simultaneously. This is ideal for organizations that share a community but operate separate trucking and coach divisions.

External Membership Policy

Within the Links management page, owners can set their External Membership Policy:

• Allowed: Members can freely join other companies outside of the sister-company relationship.
• Blocked: Members are restricted from joining any other company unless it is the linked sister company. If they attempt to join another organization, they will be blocked or prompted to leave.

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Unlinking

If you wish to terminate the sister company relationship:

1. Navigate to the Links management page.
2. Under the active link status, click the Unlink button.
3. Confirm the action in the popup dialog.

Unlinking is instant. Once unlinked, the sister company relationship is severed, and any cross-company shared staff permissions are revoked according to the companies’ individual membership rules.