New Landstar Agent

Hello drivers,

I jumped out of my truck and switched to the Dark Side. I became a Landstar Agent two months ago, and have moved 29 trucks so far.

What should I know that most agents don't?

What do agents do that they shouldn't?

 

Both. Us new agents of course don't have direct customers of our own, so we double broker when we can, and try to work with directs as they come up. Every now and then the doubles end up paying decent money to the truck and it makes sense. I won't post crap that is too insulting. But, at the end of the day, double brokering keeps me alive while I build my directs and contacts.

 

We do price loads, but the shipper has more input than we do. If the shipper wants to spend $3500 to move product to California from Birmingham, I have to explain fuel costs, maintenance, deadhead miles, time etc, to them. They think we are snake oil salesmen trying to milk them dry. So after an hour of back and forth, I get them to $6000. They think they have nearly doubled their price and I should be able to find a driver in 20 minutes. The drivers are irritated that we post cheap freight. I'll be glad when I get a full rolodex of direct customers and reliable drivers. I hate selling garbage loads as much as you gentlemen hate taking them. That's why I'm on here at 8:00 on a Monday night, when I got here at 7:00 this morning.