As freight rates have been plummeting in many sectors of the trucking industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, some truckers and carriers have been blaming brokers. On Wednesday, the CEO of the largest trade association representing freight brokers posted a video responding to critics, calling them “snake oil salesmen,” and saying that carriers are to blame for low freight rates.
Protests have popped up around the country over low truck rates. In the past week alone, truckers in Claifornia, Texas, and Arizona have held slow-roll protests, calling for fair rates and accusing brokers of refusing to pay them at all. And while police have arrested truckers participating in the protests, truckers have also gotten authorities to agree to investigate their claims.
Brokers don’t seem to happy about that.
Robert Voltmann is the President and CEO of Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA). The trade association claims to provide “leadership and direction” for the third-party logistics (3PL) industry. It also advocates on behalf of its members, “speaking with one voice to shippers, carriers, government officials, and international organizations.”
In an extraordinary move, Voltmann posted a video on Youtube, which denies that brokers are to blame for low freight rates. “Brokers don’t set prices, the market does,” said Voltmann.
Voltmann also called the trucking marketplace “incredibly transparent,” and claimed that according to his associations own research, the average broker margin is about 16%.
“So who does set the going rate?” asked Voltmann. “Like it or not, it’s the motor carriers that accept it. If carriers don’t accept a rate, both shippers and brokers will offer higher rates until the load is accepted. That’s the free-market economy.”
Voltmann did not specifically address allegations that brokers are flat-out refusing to pay drivers, nor did he respond to allegations of price-fixing.
He looks shady. I watched his video. I can tell he is lying , cuz his lips were moving. He better not get too close to a Perdue factory they may mistake him for a chicken.
He’s right, because some sap will haul the stuff cheap. Too many drivers are either desperate, dumb, or both.
I agree. I6% does seem a little high. I thought brokers were entitled to only 10%.
And that’s only the average. For every broker taking 10% there’s one taking 22%
Or 50%!! Brokers by and large are thieves!
You are right. 50% is their goal sometimes much higher.
Fact,Brokers and Mega Carriers are a Huge Problem…We Dont Need em
I agree with you. There’s no broker out there taking 10% believe it or not. We need transparency. The carriers never get to see what that load really pays. Dishonest brokers,that voltman is no better
yep 50% it’s about average what Brokers are skipping the problem is most regular drivers never see original Freight bill shippers don’t change of price day by day Brokers do
You darn right, i have first hand experience with brokers grabbing 33 percent, Robert is correct with people excepting loads cheap bringing them down. Because if the broker knows he can get it they will. More importantly there apparently is no bottom of which everybody is willing to go.
Name one or two! Let me help you, Allen Lund out of Minnesota, C.H. Robinson, CRST Logistics, etc. All crooks.
Yelp!!!!! We need to do like Sam did Walmart cut the fucking middleman out
Apparently you’ve never carried military loads, which is the only freight that I know of that has the freight dollar amount listed normally on the third page of the CBL. If you have any mathematical skills whatsoever, you can see the broker takin up to 50% of the rate. All of you who agree with TIA need to stop and do your homework. If you’re a reefer, drybox or flatbed puke, then we don’t expect you to agree with those of us who are talented enough to do specialized hauling
That’s a Big No!!! They can take a load & post it for how ever much they want! Just up to the carrier or O/O if they want to except the load!! I have felt with many brokers in my driving yrs! I have even, If you want.? To hold they load hostage?? That’s how they put it (brokers)! Until they pay more $$. Sometimes works, sometimes not!! It’s Your chose as an O/O to except the load or not! Company drivers don’t have that chose in most cases.
That a illegal it’s called interference with interstate commerce and it can have a large fine. A well as jail time it’s a federal law.
And the companies are not willing to fight for better prices. My company just cut our miles. With this covid crap going on not easy to find a company hiring. I’d like to be an O/O but cant seem to get foot in door.
Yeah, go ahead and try to withhold the load. That’s extortion and it would be a federal offense as you are dealing with commerce.
JIm
You are correct. That is is hold over form de regulation days. Caterpillar used to do the something.
What speak English please
You see? So it obviously doesn’t seem to be that the brokers who aren’t paying the drivers. It looks like it’s the companies that have a severe payroll or a internal administrative problem. But really drivers need to perform a more organized way of finding out. Who’s actually to blame. As to why they’re not getting paid correctly.
Well when the brokers have the loads and you call to get a rates how else are you going to find out
Your all thieves if left to your own devise……
My husband is a owner oppar and his dispatcher gets his load’s and if he don’t like how much it pays he will not take it and the company he works for sends him a conversation sheet tell him how much they are paying him to hual that load
Uh. Mr. Military freight hauler? Don’t be so quick to boast your all high and mightiness alright? Because the broker tries to screw y’all as well. Ok?
Thank U the military freight pays so good tht by the time the broker and the company chop it up the money is still good other freight pays well to but once again by the time the broker get thru and the company take wud they want of course its nothing left the O/O.
I agree, gut thinks he’s above us all, what ever
Brokers are Nothing more than middle men. They are not important nor are they needed. A freight broker is going to pay you the least amount of money as possible and they keep the rest for themselves as a profit. Imagine a world without brokers. It would be a great place. A broker doesn’t have equipment, just a computer and a coffee mug.
“So who does set the going rate?” asked Voltmann. “Like it or not, it’s the motor carriers that accept it. If carriers don’t accept a rate, both shippers and brokers will offer higher rates until the load is accepted. That’s the free-market economy”
Wow what a shi* talk. Why don’t day pay more right away so to avoid the hassle. Anyways most of the brokers won’t pay because that will say they have somebody else to haul cheeper. So what’s the point?
Amen brother
So true I pull a lot of military and seen some brokers take 40 to 50 percent. You might get me once but not again.
So because someone runs reefer, dry van, or flatbed they are pukes? WTF? Dude it’s entitled attitudes like yours that need “talented” people out of specialized hauling. They couldn’t pay me enough to work with an intellectual midget such as yourself. The old guard needs to pass the torch or die.
Not “talented”? I suppose you were born and just got up and walked in to a technical hauling career. Wake up bro.
Swift driver spotted
Damm…….your kind of a big deal
It’s because you agreed to haul it for half of gross confirmation rate your no better or talented than any other wannabe independent businessman
Wow keyboard warrior and tough guy on the keys, your ignorance shows how uneducated you are in the industry go back to school boy.
Suggestion …. read federal motor carriers regulations, 49 CFR 371.3
Not only that but big freight companies will take the cheap load and then rebroker it out
Re-brokering is not legal.
Well…ain’t you just full of yourself. You must be “special”. 😉😉
We are tired of seeing these extra low rates on the board and that is where they will be before I run them. We risk our lives every day out here and will not settle for crumbs off the table. More money or the freight will not be moved.
Whoa,We are all in This aTogether…..Let He With Out Sin,Cast The 1st Stone
You’re wrong. It’s the independents against the fleets. They run cheaper because they can afford to
Way to go disparaging other drivers from your high horse. Arent you special.
They realy want us divided. So they can pit companys against independents and get their price war back and forth .if the industry had any solidarity they would do as we say not the other way around .
Well said sir
Insults is not going to help the situation. Speaking out and educating each other on each market will start to turn things around.
So you’re sitting in East jersey or maybe Brooklyn or elsewhere and you are an O.O. or fleet manager and you need to get your drivers moving and get them to their next load .
For example 100 available loads moving in the direction you want to go because you have a higher paying load waiting for pickup , and all of the broker’s have consulted with one another and have mutually agreed that they want more money and the truckers are the ones who is going to provide that.
What do you do ? I guess we are not all as blessed as those who haul specialized freight.
Talented??,, pretty sure whatever training you had, anyone else can get. Keep riding on your high horse,, no one’s untouchable.
Wow, you have a very high opinion of yourself. I for one over the last 40 yrs driving have done your apparently much more needing of skill and talent job. Funny but I didnt feel I was better than anyone else. But, if it makes you feel that way more power to you dude.
Exactly. I USED to do military of loads at a decent rate until Menlo took over. Rate went down about 30 percent and the miles went up because they wanted you to follow their routes rather than plan my own.
This is so true. I whole heartedly agree with the statement.
What a dummy you the cause of cheep freight. Will take anything to get you home just for fuel.
I guess you came out of your mom’s puss specialty hauling. Never forget where you come from driver. I’m sure you started out pulling one of the things you are talking shit about.
Every trucker go home for 14 days every trucker. Then let’s talk rates fuel prices. E l d logs Wait up America
See how America likes being hungry naked and sober😂🧻
Lol, yes!
good luck….were a paycheck to paycheck society
I’ve been in tricking for over 30 years and this will never happen!! You can’t get 2 drivers to agree on something much less a nation of drivers. But you are 100% correct that is what it would take!! There is always some driver who will do a move for 5.00 cheaper and then the battle begins and the ONLY people that won are the Brokers, Freight Forwarders, Shippers, and Consignees never the trucker.
Be safe out there!
Totally agree. Best post yet. It actually offers a starting point to the solution. Brokers claims “let me talk to my customer/shipper”. OK. After their pockets has been for 14 days the customers will certainly want to know why their freight that was already contracted months b4 can’t move. My ignorant question is. Does shippers change the price of a contractual rate in the beginning, middle? As for spot rates in a sense o/o does have a say more of us don’t recognize our power. If everyone refuse to put an underpriced load on their truck then the brokers are forced to go back to the customer and renegotiate or cut their profit margin to offer a fair price.
Agree
Yes William
Are you joking I have HAULED Produce and livestock for over 33YEARS years and I’m proud of feeding America from COAST to coast
Correct! I just completed a military load like that. The rate on the last page was $1987.00. I’ve moved this load over 10 times in the last 18 months…with the same broker!!!
He was always paying $1800.00 on 880 miles. Just shy over $2.00. On Tuesday i called him on the same load…now posted for $1400.00. All the words in the world will not make this guy pay $1.00 more. I had no choice but to take the discounted rate. He was first making $187.00 per load and i thought that was quite alright! Now he is making $587 for the same load and I am pissed!!…the thing is..I CALLED HIM!! Let’s all be safe on the road and cut the brokers out!
Reading these post confirm I’m right,,,, most of u clowns have no clue how to manage owning a truck, I’ll be glad when the repo man goes , then the rates will go up !!!
So if you run reefer dry box for Flatbed Europe Yukon what remind me to run the next specialized taller off the road and let’s see what he says I’m out for days I take home $1,100 bite me and I run a reefer trailer
As an O/O I leased on with PBX and drove for them for 10 years. We got 90% of the load they took 10%. We got all of the fuel surcharge as much as 5-600.00 a load when fuel was high. Meat hauling pays when you work for the right companies.
Really? Hahaha I’m sure your ALL THAT!!! Jim estabrook!
Why you have to be a dick head dude we are one big team it’s there choice to haul what they want and i’m a flat bed hauler and i could do your job as good as you or if not better so why don’t you keep your fat mouth shut and be a team player cowboy
M&M(Mawson and Mawson were notorious for that on military loads. They would lie when you argued up front for a better rate before accepting and tell you this is all it is. Then give you a dollar amount. They would be cutting 45% off the top
Ooooooh….’yous’ so smart.
Lucky to have the blue eyes the blond hair and have the relatives and other lineage connections that gives the green pass into the secret circle of specialized freight that the color man will never see or get a share off in his life time. You might be young ripping the benefits today, but your entitlement has a past and a heritage. So enjoy your $4/mile that you entitlement affords you without having to shit on the rest of us actually having to be more clever than you are just to survive and manage to put food on the table.
I agree. And they skim on top of the 50%.
Puke guy, Ive been out here since 1971. Ive done military, ice roads in Canada, and all the 48. Ive run from Ft. Kent, Maine to the traffic circle in Key West. Blaine, Wa into Mexico. Alot of it in spring ride, noisy, 290 HP, no A/C or power steering cab over trucks all accident free miles. Ive still got my first CB I bought in 1976 a 23 channel Midland. I’d like to know what you could tell me about anything. It would weed a bunch of you out if overnight the old trucks and roads came back. Not to mention the 13 cents a mile. We did it because we loved it.
But yet you still give away 50 percent lol. Special yep real special.
I have been a driver for 30 years, and I have seen many companies go under because mega carriers under bidding for freight in an attempt to drive out competition. Mega carriers have the lowest driver pay and they cheat drivers out of their pay by using house hold movies guide miles then subtract 10 % .This practice combined with subcontracting out cheap freight for even less,and investing in oil futures is how they make money, while at the same time driving down rates and forcing smaller companies out of business. Free market???
Whoa! Jimbo, take a step back and relax. They’re may not be as many… specialized haulers such as yourself, out there. Buy, there are many of us who have college degrees, an I. Q. well above our shoe size. No need to try and throw us all in the same lot, know what I mean?
Talent has NOTHING to do with who hauls box, reefer, flatbed or specialized. The only pukes are those that think like you do. Some of us just got into the industry and don’t have the time or experience to haul specialized loads so we are stuck with box, reefer or flatbed till someone is willing to train us on specialized anything! I’ve hauled everything from box to heavy haul and have all the endorsements, TWIC card and being prior military with high security clearance I’ve been told I don’t possess the experience to haul a military or any other specialized load.
PUKE? Just trying to make a living. We can’t all be trucker gods like you. The market won’t bear it, your majesty.
How lonely it must be on your lofty perch
We’re all drivers, and we should all stick together not name call
Thier is always one like you. Super Trucker
I haul military freight and I own a flatbed too, so keep your puke comments to yourself hero…
Give em hell Tom ,as he sits high above us on his pedistal. Lol
Oh that was ugly. I realize you are arrogant and I’m old retired driver but sticking together seems you didn’t and don’t do. Shameful is what you wrote
Specialized hauling I’ve got more time sitting on a specialized toilet than you do hauling your little flatbed or drop deck down the road you think you your job is so damn special that you need to think of yourself as talented boy you ain’t nothing but a goddamn truck driver hauling another load of freight get over yourself
Calling other professional drivers puke just because they don’t do the same thing as you well that’s kind of ridiculous and moronic
Wow dude really
Just the other day, there was a military load posted on DAT: Dover AFB DE to Sierra Vista AZ – 2412 loaded miles. Broker’s offer rate was $2,300.00
And what exactly is your “specialized freight”?
What you haul or how special you or your load is doesn’t make the problem any different for all of us.
I hear you on what you are saying about brokers and tend to agree. However, don’t do more damage by separating truckers into groups and suggesting some are ‘better’ than others. If you feel strongly about brokers being shady, then don’t do their dirty work for them and cause unneeded, internal strife among truckers; that’s what the broker’s want.
Your comment proves the reason why we are being taken advantage of because drivers hate each other and there’s no comradery. There was back when I started in the 80s. But not anymore.
Instead of insults why not pass the word of better knowledge to your fellow drivers. That way maybe in the future we can all get together and get things done the right way.
And if what I said pissed you off. Then I rest my case.
Talented enough that pretty much sums up what kind of a d*** you are.
Hahaha. Talent. Tool.
You idiots who think it takes talent to do a job make me laugh. Such a desperate narcissistic need for validation.
Go pay some lot lizard to stroke that misshapen insecure ego:)
Ouch! Us pukes started learning out on those shitty runs/load. Guess I wasn’t privileged enough to have a (family/or big brother mentor) like you. Haters going hate buddy. Don’t need people like you in the industry… show, teach, mentor by example. Jerk.
I’ve hauled everything from heavy equipment to smooth bore tanks and reefer for over 28 years, us pukes feed your stupid ass. You say your talented …really cause throwing chains/binders require some special skill …seriously if your allowing ANY broker on ANY frieght to take 50% YOU’RE THE PROBLEM. And yes I’ve hauled military loads and no I’ve never allowed a pencil pusher to take half my money..
Mr Super Trucker, your only it seems down other truckers….And running your big mouth ! Are we special
Brag all you want…. your freight is slow and rates are down also…thing about truckers they lie to make themselves look and feel superior to others…by the way u dont have to be certified or specialized to carry military loads!!! So if your driver help all drivers to get this money…NOT BRAG!!!
Oh just because you can do specialized hauling, the rest of us are pukes?
Get off your high horse . We do what specific job we enjoy. Weather it be flatbed or van. It takes all of us to haul the freight.
One must feel real bad about themselves to feel the need to insult others to try to feel better about oneself.
It’s far better that we inform others that to make real money as a carrier one must specialize, get their own customers, (at least for the out haul,) and provide exceptional customer service. Then you will set your own rates. Don’t go cheap, you will find it takes money to make money, so if you try to be cheaper than everyone, you won’t last long. As a small carrier we specialize in Taxidermy, special artifacts, and custom high value commodity transportation. In order to get into this segment one must be able to acquire an non-exclusionary high value cargo insurance policy. Then make several sales calls to acquire your own customers. This business doesn’t lend itself to brokers as there isn’t the volume they desire. Landstar is one of the few I see in this space, but they can’t compete with the customer service we provide. Trucking is a niche business, to make good money in it you need to find your niche. What are your hobbies, do they have trade shows? Think of ways you can offer services that are difficult for the big carriers to provide. The money just isn’t there in the straight dry van, reefer, and flatbed segments unless you’re running millions of miles a year like the JB Hunts of the world who can survive on minuscule profits on each load, with buying power that dwarfs any discount a 20 truck fleet can secure.
If you’re hauling freight for 50% of the published rate, then you just highlighted your own stupidity.
That’s a Big No!!! They can take a load & post it for how ever much they want! Just up to the carrier or O/O if they want to except the load!! I have felt with many brokers in my driving yrs! I have even, If you want.? To hold they load hostage?? That’s how they put it (brokers)! Until they pay more $$. Sometimes works, sometimes not!! It’s Your chose as an O/O to except the load or not! Company drivers don’t have that chose in most cases.
Weather you take the load or not you gonna go broke this is not up for debate brokers need to pay whats right
Thank you
Broker take as much as they can! Most of the freight is really doubled brokered, so it hard to find the real amount. It takes about 12% just to run the process, then the broker or agent gets a much commission as they can, this well add up to about 20-25% if they are direct from shipper. However a lot freight is double brokered down from the top 100, an who know how much they take.
ats will broker a load from there agents back to there self so they can make double the money
Been there got to the point where we were paying them to haul their freight
Your heart is in the rite direction. Double brokering is illegal.
Back when I was an O/O brokers would accept a number of loads they knew they could not cover. The uncovered loads were then given to a second broker (minus a cut from the broker that accepted the loads originally,) and this process could repeat itself. By the time it gets to the truck the rate is low. My buddy was a trucker way back (O/O). He ran coast to coast, or a series of long hauls. He worked twenty, twenty one days a month and parked it for ten days. Truckers now days have sooooo much more responsibility, and have to deal with all the BS ( long waits for loading, off loading, being made to feel like a criminal by the DOT, dealing with the computerized trucks, meeting p/u & d/o times, and now during this pandemic drivers are the lifeline of our country, yet have to make a real effort to eat or take a squirt or dump. Because it seems there is an attitude of ” just get it there, and on time.” It’s about time truckers
are given a good wage so they can spend tens days home a month. This would also make drivers safer, more aware and efficient. It is time to treat drivers as the professionals they are.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. If the load is double brokerage or co brokerage then it isn’t supply and demand. It is then highway robbery and many loads around the USA is double and Co brokerage and removed supply and demand from the equation. Period.
Yes and double brokering freight is against the law. Yet the govt. turns a blind eye. It’s bs that we even need brokers this day and age. They should be almost extinct in 5/10 years.
EXACTLY ! They need to control how much is taken by brokers like they do our hours of service!
Now don’t take that figure to heart. Because brokers are obtaining more than 45% of the going confirmation rate you’re actually seeing on the load board. So 16%? In a small owners or owner operator’s wildest dreams. Lol
You do realize that one load might pass through 4 different brokers hands til the O/O gets it ! That is 40%
Why do so many people talk about how much the broker agent is making, what about the broker firm making off every load to???
Should be 8%
That’s not true. Friend of mine was broker in big company, and now he has his own small brokerage. He told me that they always work for 25-30%at least!
You can broker a load up to 10% with out a brokers license anything above 10 % you need a brokers license
16% that is lie . some brokers take more than 22% . he s trying to put blame on the driver
WHEN YOU BARGAIN WITH A BROKER,AND GET $200-300 OR MORE,THE BROKER GIVES IT FROM HIS POCKET?
I DON’T THINK SO.
It’s not what they are “entitled” to. It’s whatever they can make on the load. Same as the truck operator.
There is no locked in %
Besides that jackass is lying about 16%
I’ve seen broken make 30+%
Besides in an open market if someone takes a low budget load, sooner or later.
Those jackwagons will be gone.
You are right if take a advance on the load and 12% if you don’t but they are scheming off the top before they give you the rate
10% should be the cap a broker can steal
It should be 10 percent
Their just like any of us (truckers) if they can get 16 – 18- 20 % what ever they can get, is what their Entitled to your job is to get as much as you can get per mile.
I ve been saying this for years the only broker I use for bulk potatoes takes 8% 10% if you take advance. The same should be for freight brokers no more than 10% as the trucker bares all the expenses cut out these 3rd party logistics guys total rip off
exactly, that is the problem now, i blame those russian trucking compamy owners located in a massive number in Chicago area, they would accept any rate in most cases because they either don’t pay their drivers or they pay them cheap.
most of the time we give up on loads when broker not accepting our offer. its better to eait than put your truck running days and low or no profit.
So here are brokers blaiming those stupid carriers who accept low rates.
He’s not right!! If he offers you a load to go 500 miles for $350 where is he right at?? You can not operate a truck on these types of rates. If nobody jumps on that rate eventually they have to add more money to it. Now we’re looking at 500 miles for $750🤔 a little manageable!! Their blaming the shippers, drivers, and the market at the same time playing shark to see who’s the wise ass to jump on it!! It’s wrong and not fair to an independent operator!!
Well said I couldn’t agree more the Brokers only take what we let them have end of story quit your bitchin truck drivers and let the rates go up let Freight sit boycott one broker every week don’t haul none of that Freight the rates will go up eventually.
That’s the way of today’s steering wheel holders
Truckers should have been gone on strike years ago. This broker industry is very corrupt and if the investigators check they will be shocked. Some brokers may even deserve criminal prosecution.
The eld and automatic tranny,gps maps took the man out of this profession been rolling 40 years,it s piss poor world out there
There should be a minimum rate for all freight and I’m not suggesting they pay a certain amount for all freight . If they can’t pay the rate don’t haul the freight bottom line
There used to be fixed rates for freight. But then we deregulated and kicked the government out of it. We decided that the “free market” will determine all rates.
What’s good for the goose… either you believe in free market capitalism or you don’t. You just can’t complain when it hurts freight rates if you think it works great everywhere else.
“Free Market” is what rich people use to screw you over. “Free Market” is our entire economy. “Free Market” is what those dang Liberals were protesting about the 1% while we all made fun of them. “Free Market” is why our wages have stagnated while the cost of living keeps going up. The “Free Market” is easily manipulated by those with enough money to do so.
But here are all the hypocrites crying about it now. If you’re wearing a MAGA hat, you’re on the side of the brokers. Period.
Transparency is the secret key that nobody is paying attention to, you should automatically be able to see the shipper/customer rate sheet , so you will know what the broker is being payed to get that load moved, then both the O/O and shipper are not going to get screwed by the load pimp ( broker ) . That is free and fair and honest business, everybody will make money all day long
The broker’s main focus. Is to get the freight picked up. And most loads sit on s broker’s desk. For up to a week at a time. So what ever freight you see on a load board? Don’t be surprised at the current rate. But that rate has usually changed up to 10 times or more than what it was originally set for.
We had that.. IT WAS CALLED REGULATION.. everybody made money..and there weren’t the brokers like today….
Correct!
There used to be. It was the ICC rates.Jimmy Carter did away with that in 1980 deregulation.
That is the best suggestion yet on here you are right there should be a bare minimum cap per mile that the brokers cant go below to avoid them from taking advantage of situations like they are doing now it would protect us as owner operators from being taken advantage of and still be profitable
Sure true I’ve been driving trucks going on 21 years I don’t haul cheap free I rather put a hundred or $200 in my truck and go home
I agree. We need someone looking out for our rates in this entire trucking industry. Someone trust worthy.
Yes. There should be a minimum rate based on a x amount of miles and weight. I hear “its only ××lbs” yeah its still X amount of miles.
Exactly let say Chicago il to san Antonio tx should be x no matter what the commodity is. T shirts or office supplies., the brokerage company % should be set at y that way if you see Chicago to san Antonio load you will know what your cut should be. Every thing in trucking is regulated except how much we can get screwed.
I thinks that who is not right is you, brokers post a load for a cheap amount when they are gonna lose it the raise the price, so do they got the money or not? Do your math, and yes some people take it because truckers like others have families, Bills to pay & high bill insurance payments, you shouldn’t disrespect a trucker calling him Dump for just trying to feed their families, there’s no regulation at all, I am not saying to hold back and push but truckers unfortunately don’t make the rules they just do the job and deserve respect
Exactly what I said
“I blame everyone else but me!!!”
How can big companies pay for fuel ? II run into a company driver and a owner operator that is leased on to a company they showed paying 1.029 a gallon of fuel with an efs card company driver showed me and fuel can be 2.499 or 2.599 goes for the same as an owner operator leased on 1.189 for pump price they also broker to us
And com data fuel card I say some of the fuel card places r not honest about the discount
Your the man.
Most drivers are like soldiers, they just do what they are told.
Your right Driver and we will Never have the support of our Industries Full Power without a Union to back us….but those days are long gone thanks to Carter…we Can’t Stand alone and we Can’t Band together.
Carter isn’t the only one,you can also blame Regan too. We’re all out here to make money so let out the blame where it goes, brokers,big companies, kept putting your hands on o/o company drivers money and a shut down is inevitable!!!
Shut TQLand CH Robinson down
Let’s make a an example out of them . If all o/o not pull no loads for 3 days that would get their attention. But we all got to do it DRIVES
I agree let’s do it 1,2,3 stop taking cheap freight!!!
Agree 100%. O / O have to get themselves together to make it happen
TQL is nothing but lyers and thief’s. They post a load to pick up on the nearest large city but once you accept the load they send you a pick up or even a delivery address that’s 30 miles or so from that posted city and will not pay the extra miles. As a O/O. once I learned that. I would ONLY take there load if there was absolutely nothing else in my area. That didn’t happen much.
Amen
With the Rate Confirmation we need to see how much the broker is getting. I don’t think they will agree to do that.
I hate TQL.. I’m a broker. A damn good one too. I am fair and honest with what ever I post.
3 days isn’t enough.
Xpo also
They will just give it to the bulk carriers cuz company’s like Schneider, western Express, swift just to name a few are flooding the market with new drivers with no experience and don’t know any better .
100 % truth.. TQL for sure. CH Robinson has been getting much better from my experience.
Exactly right!
Amen brother!!
Yes! I wish they were shut like yesterday
I already do it , because they act & call you all day like they’re your parole officer.
I do just fine without a union. Been there done that, no thanks
Thats why we are screwed!!!!
WE ARE NOT UNITED
We need to find Jimmy Hoffa 😂
Social media gives you the ability to ban together. If all drivers are on the same page when it comes to what we will and will not accept for a rate then the broker has no choice but to pay what’s fair. The work has to be done to corral in the under-cutters and teach them that only when we are together, are we strong.
The mentality that any one driver is “better” than the next must end. Experienced drivers, educate the less experienced. Don’t ridicule them for not knowing because “United”, we stand, “Devided” we fall, and right now, we’re falling.
Could stand together but want they would rather argue and fuss at each other,than fix the problems in our industry . Like why did they come up with CDL. To protect America from terrorism. But half drivers out here now days can’t speak or read English. Living in truck is better than sleeping on dirt floor. Get these trucks off the road the rates will rise
So your saying foreigners are the cause of the gouging problem. Blaming us won’t solve the issue we are jot the cause of brobers unscrupulous, non ethical practices. I have come across all decent, ethnic groups and religions choosing the live in their trucks for many different reasons. Which none has given anyone the right to prey on them. ANYONE.. BROKERS, SHIPPERS, RECEIVERS, FELLOW TRUCKERS nor anyone else that they encounter while trying to do business an make a honest living.
Absolutely right they will.
Stfu
You are wrong dude. Truck cost to sit and they squeeze you so hard until the load has to move. Not to mention the double brokering…get a clue!!
I totally agree with you!
He’s not right, brokers, trucking companies work under contracts, (yearly mostly) so the rates are same as they were before covid 19 came along, so if rat ed was 2.50 before covid, & now they say rate is 1.50 their making way more than 16 % but,,, in the end it is still the company or o/s falt if they haul freight cheap..
This is true,however he just told us that he take advantage of that
If you wanna yes the rate without trying to make more just go back to being company driver!!!! Whats a matter with these drivers!!!!
Too many taco jones bubba Watson and Chico Rodriguez, haul it for free
Thats the truth, they can afford too.
They turned in their old clinkers a few years back when i believe they had chance change over to that soot device crap.
They were given i forget how many thousands of dollars to purchase a newer vehicle. That enabled them to ride tall and continue on with the cheap rates.
I know a few and they are all home because rates have dropped. SAY NO TO CHEAP FREIGHT!
Just could not keep the racist remarks to yourself…SMH. Unfortunately, there are too many drivers that will accept a ridiculously low rate which screws the rest of us that are willing to wait for a fair market rate. I know, asides from the specialized carriers, but there is enough blame to go around to everyone. Brokers will and they do hold loads as long as they can for the lowest bid possible. Drivers have to know their worth. I know it’s hard out there, but it’s only going to get worse as long as drivers are willing to accept it. I personally have no problem telling a dispatcher to give that mess to one of the hourly guys if they have them or just refuse a low rate load and live to fight another day. Not in this to just to be able to pay for fuel. So yes, it’s tough out here, but please stop accepting these bs rates. Good luck to everyone and please be safe.
Wow, ignorance at its peak. The Hardest workers in America..that is often slighted when time to be paid often accepts lower than desirable rated because they feel their backs agents a wall and there’s nothing better out there after calling on 5 to 10 loads with the same price or cheaper.
Don’t forget, those folks you disparage do the work (fill the jobs) that most Americans won’t do. And your racial slurs are pretty disgusting.
I agree the people from Iraq and India and mexico and cuba, we’ve rejected loads and rather drive empty out of Florida or the east coast and the brokers laughing say these people will take it immediately. But anyways the brokers are the ones who are doing this.
Yes they are exploiting them. The worst part is it’s all legal, where the electronic log supporters and law makers now. There goes to show you that something can be done. Electronic log my butt
Ha ! Ha ! Of course I do know these guys you just mentioned.
They live at the truckstop….
And respect I’ll brokus when I started trucking and the 70s there was no broker’s and the truckers and the shippers got the job done moving America like they were supposed to I don’t see the point and having to go to a third party to get paid when that’s happening you got a conflict of interest between the shipper and the broker I mean a buddy buddy conflict adventurous I’ve experienced that the ship of paying the broker like they was paying us in the 70s and 80s but the broker says we only got x amount of dollars in this do anyone think these brokers is doing that for free I know several brokers is millionaires and I know a whole bunch of truckers can barely maintain their trucks so this business don’t need no broker’s we can handle this between the truckers and the shipper like we always done before
Oh YEAH, he’s right…..its the American way.
If Hoola Hoops were not made anymore….a trucker with a load of some of them YOU BET would WANT AND GET top dollar for ’em!
You see these signs saying brokers have cheap rates…truckers from other cultures don’t realize the sign needs to say……”Eliminate Brokers”.
We don’t really need them at all!
If you can speak good English, make great relationships directly with the Dist.
Centers.
Be reliable, keep a few trucks going all the time, be on time and you will never need a broker ever again
It would appear the broker has unfair leverage knowing the trucker has a hefty truck and insurance payment and days of window time so consumers may have groceries and furnature and autos to name a few in the house. Congress should consider this. Would be nice to see a fair fight once in a while. A real estate broker takes 3-5 percent and only after closing.
Those that will accept a low rate either want to get home or…..go bankrupt and be out of the job and go bankrupt. I can go on with this but my hat’s off to all my brother Truckers!
Coming from a guilty broker. 🤣😅
You must be the skilles genious that knows how to use a phone. Pad yourself on the back.
We Businesses owners need to demand full transparency or not take crap rates, choose which one, but don’t drive for free!
I truck independently and I would have to totally agree with you. Just say no to cheap freight! Simple. If they don’t budge let it sit don’t haul it unless it pays. Better to sit with nothing than to go broke working for nothing going broke!
True, but these blood sucking parasites do hike the rate down on carriers. What they get paid from shoppers can and most often times is way more than 2.00 a mile. 16% is not what they get. I have seen brokers lie through their teeth over and over. Shippers too. They all lie to to save or make money and stick the carrier or trucker with the expenses. If trucker have to be regulated , then brokers need to be regulated even more so. Honestly, we need to just do away with brokers all together. Get these program softwares up and running and get shippers linked to carriers direct.
I definitely agree. So many carriers are complaining yet they are still accepting these shameful rates that only hurt other drivers. If nobody accepted this cheap freight, the prices would go up.
Exactly! You have summarized it!
Let’s see I was sitting outside a building to get a load the owner of this company came out and ask me if that was my truck I said yes he ask me how much I was getting to haul that load I told him 4500 dollars he said it pissed him off I said why he said I give the broker 9000 per load and 50% goes to the driver. He said that is pathetic and then they take 12% of the 45%at the other end when you turn the bol in so don’t tell me brokers aren’t thiefs investigation and audits are in place
Amen! If we all agreed to not haul it they would be forced to raise the rate
Agree, I am a driver who is lucky to be working for a company that will not encourage low rates. But I think the problem with low rates started long before covid. It started when trucking became unregulated due to pressures brought on by big corporations who wanted cheaper rates to move their freight. The low rates came at the expense of the drivers, that is why there is a shortage of younger people wanting to become drivers.
That’s how they squeeze out the small carriers… By lowering rates so low you can’t make a profit or pay your bills, mainly insurance.
Too many cooks in the kitchen I say. Get rid of 3PL. Carries and factories are the only ones who should bid on loads.
You got that right,I never quite got the back haul thing figured out. Drivers hauling freight to cover fuel to get back to the high dollar loads, what they consider a backhaul and cut the rate to get is someone else’s way of getting out of the home area, drivers need to communicate more so everyone knows what the other guys haul for and everyone keep the rates up,this BS bout finding good freight and keeping it top secret don’t work anymore. That’s my $0.02 worth,put it on ya mo later
You people are not looking at the big picture
He is not right.
I agree 100 percent you nailed it
CH. ROBBERY AND JB HUNT, CRIME INC: SWIFT, you mean all the MEGA CARRIERS AND BROKERS have nothing to do with low freight rates? LOL 😝. I don’t think so.
As long as the driver continues to run by the mile or percentage. The carriers will continue to underbid each other and drive the rates down. As a collective Force you can change the industry forever yet you continue to be exploited and then want to blame everyone else. You give up your life and your health and average minimum wage. in 1978, 80% of drivers were. Unionized and made 98K in today’s dollars. Fast forward 40 years and you’re averaging a little over 50K and even unloading your own trailers. Well done drivers. Use the internet to collaborate instead of squabble and earn your worth.
Bravo.. well said Driver. In numbers we can wrigh a lot of wrongs in this industry. . Time for a member ship drive.
The best thing to do is continue to open our borders to every foreign
Nationalist and then tax them 50% for
Working here. Then see wat happens!!!
I used to drive for Bohm Farm and Ranch Trucking and this Company pays their drivers 8% of each Load they picked up and delivered, while this Company kept the other 92%!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So it’s not just Brokers cheating the Truck Drivers, but the CEO of whatever Company they drive for, too.
That is why its smart to go and work for a small company so you can get a proper attention from your dispatch and get paid per mile. Or get your own truck. I’ve been driving a truck for 12 years and never worked for a big company. I’m an owner, for 8 years now
Per mile pay isn’t always great. Especially when freight volumes are down. I have a base salary. If my per mile exceeds my base, I get the higher amount. It gives the carrier an incentive to not take cheap freight.
No that’s not true either smaller companies will start to do the same thing, and not think about the driver at all too. Don’t get it twisted smaller companies want to get a bigger piece of the trucking pie also, sometimes there’s rats in all companies big or small.
Mileage pay tossed that concept long ago. In my belief and experience % of revenue is better. That depends of course on what % of what amount of revenue. Where one has to do the math, then all of it can be converted to what per mile if necessary to know.
I agree. Never been a fan of mileage pay. Work the ports of Long Bch/LA. Can make just as much staying local and running two loads a day to the Inland Empire area. Last year after signing another driver’s agreement with a more localized company I was able to make just as much running loads under 5 miles each way and cutting my fuel expense by more than $17,000 from the previous year which was my goal.
90% of companies pay 24% – 26% of gross. I have seen one that pays 28% of net after fuel which is about 22% but that’s the lowest. If I didn’t own my own truck I wouldn’t even go for less than 24%.
Agree…drivers need to stop taking these loads.
I agree 100%!
Girl tell them to go stuff chickens!!! Truckers are the main source of commodity in the United States and in another countries….Stay strong sister….
Yeah, you are absolutely right budd!!!
It’s not a matter of if the truckers are accepting a low rate, the question is why are the broker offering the load so low in the first place? That’s what the issues are.
There should be more of a guarantee that driver get paid without a long wait there bills still need to be paid
16%? Have you all seen the video that Rick Santiago posted on Trinity Logistics? Go watch it. Brockers charge the customers full rates yet we only see a fraction of it. On average they keep about 65% during the pandemic. They also charge customers TONU and detention and unless we ask for it they dont mention it and keep it to themselves. I do agree that the carriers that haul cheap freight are to be blamed. But only partially because they do it out of desperation. Small businesses are closed. There is very little freight to haul. I think brokers are to be blamed more because they use our desperation in their advantage. They give loads to cheaper trucks. Ofcourse they do. No one blames them for that. What I do blame them for is double brokerage and holding loads on load boards even after booking them with carriers in case someone calls and offers his truck for cheaper. We all heard the “Load was cancelled by the costomer” or “load is not ready” stories. Well guess what, most of the times they just find a cheaper truck. I had few situations when I was almoust by the shipper and had load cancelled on me. Yet I would go and check with the shipper and they would say that the load is ready to ship. As long as there are dumb ass carriers that haul for scraps and cheap ass brokers who would sale their own mothers to save an extra dollar, nothing will change
16% to do nothing but put the wrong information on a load board…
Is this something the Teamsters could help look into and solve?
Only taking 16%? If that was true then they wouldn’t have fought to keep the rates off the freight bills during the congressional hearings.
Isn’t that the truth!
Tell it. They really need to keep it 💯
Its these mega fleets and fly by night carrier’s that run this freight dirt cheap. The mega fleets make up the difference of the low rate by volumn of trucks they have out there and the fly by night carriers just are in it for a quick buck then close and move on.
If it does not pay well, let it sit on the dock!!!!!
👍
“If it does not pay well, let it sit” is the only answer.
Unfortunately, there will always be some sap who will haul it, even at a loss, in hopes that they’ll make it up on the backhaul.
They just don’t see the larger picture and understand that they’re hurting everyone.
Yes, yes yes 100%.
If you believe it’s 16% across the board your a fool. Why then Mr. Voltmann in 2009 were truckers going out of business struggling to get better rates, and CH Robinson posted a 77 million dollar profit? I haul some Broker and some of my own Freight. I have yet to see a customer ask for a reduction in rates since this all started. If you want transparency show us your rate to the customer, and I think we would see who is to blame. I understand supply and demand, but you are taking your profit out of the wallet of the trucker in a time of crisis once again. At the end of the year you will stand in front of your stock holders with a big smile and show them how much money you made (stole) for them
100% agree
Well said sir!! Thank you!!
The Truth Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth
If it’s a TV preacher or used car salesman or a Truck Broker they gonna get as much money out of your pocket into there’s as they possibly can😁😁😁
And now brokers are trying to get you to haul for under a $1 a mile the same rate in the 90s when diesel was $1 a gallon matainance has when up tires oil changes even the price of trucks and the are still the same from 20 yrs ago that’s horrible
You are right
You are correct. I own the assets and my friend own a brokerage. I get good rates due to our relationship. But the the loads are posted a 50% of the total cost. The broker will tell you he’s all in but he’s lying. If the load is posted for 600.00 the shipper paid 900 to 1000. If you accept it at 600. The broker puts 300 to 400 in his pocket for answering the phone and tracking the load. If the drivers stop accepting low rates the broker will have to pay more. I never understood hauling 43,000 lbs at 1.80 a mile. One major break down and your working for free. I will park it first.
Exactly.
Everyone is trying to put their hands in owner operator’s pocket. Heck, Tech Equip in Vegas went from $125 hr labor rate to $150 just a month ago. So Volvo and Mack guys, you might want to look else where if you cannot do the work yourself unless you’re a company driver then it doesn’t matter. Not your dime.
You damn right he is!!! He got a set on him running his lying mouth on video. Have that lying mooch show up at a protest and run his head. I think we’d see a different response. Cut out the broker all together. We absolutely can and should.
How it actually works is and I’m just throwing some numbers out there if the load pays 2.50 a mile the broker starts at 1.50 a mile if no one takes it it increases as the dead line to pick up the load gets closer
Driver that broker already knows what he wants for that load and he will let it sit until he/she gets their rate…and tell his/her customer he has no truck available for that load until some fool takes it or the customer agrees to a hot load price then that broker calls back the many drivers he already had because now he/she got their rate and maybe even more.
Exactly
Thats pretty much how it works.
What the drivers should do Is when checking the load boards confirm when yhe load must be delivered, then hold back until the last minute.
On a rare occasion i found the broker was desperate and had to dump the load and actually ask me what i wanted for the load.
The problem is we all try and find something to return home wit, from our next drop before we actually have our load for that destination.
The brokers know that and thats how they rip you off.
This clown is correct, we do cut our noses off to spote our faces. We are to blame. We must put them in a position of sweating it out
I always viewed a broker as my employee, he works for me, he gets me the fright i need and want or i go to another broker.
That’s the problem these people hold all the cards, there is no negotiation, I had a broker just last week tell me take it or leave it! The rate sucked but I was far from home and they said that’s it we don’t have anything else to offer you. This is what’s going on.
What a dickhead response! Boycott the brokers.
Kind of strange, when I ask for an honest rate, I am told by the brokers ” we don’t have that much in it.” Makes me wonder if the brokers are a proper go between in our industry. A proper middleman doesn’t look out for just themselves and the shipper, but us also. A posted load that does not cover operating expenses shows they have no intention of acting in the interest of the trucker who has fuel tax,tolls maintenance, food, insurance, fees, and a family to care for.
Brokers are like used car salesmen. They will tell you what they think you need to hear in order for THEM to keep as much profit as possible. “We don’t have that much in it,” is 99% of the time a…partial truth (partially true depending on the definition of “not that much”). That way they can even tell themselves “I’m not lying to the driver, I’m just not telling him everything.”
Without being able to actually see the freight rate, assume the broker is aiming to keep 50% for themselves and hoping to not have to drop below 25% to get the load picked up.
Brokers aren’t the proper go between anymore. there really isn’t a need for them anymore. we have real technology now that can link carriers directly with shippers.
👍
Ooh u deal with tql
The only way is to unionize!
We should go back to regulated freight.
I remembet when freight was regulated a load of beer paid $525.00 from Van Nuys, Ca., to Sacramento.
Doesn’t pay much more tha that now.
Fuel was about .20 per gal., everything was less.
Wake up guys get organized in one way shape or form and shut it down.
So true Rufus unfortunately.
Absolutely. Brokers should be heavily regulated on down and out of the industry.
I wish they were taking 16% that’s a joke. I pulled the load last week for a broker he gave me $850 on a 190 miles which is a great rate he told me he could probably get a guy to pull it for 475 or 500 but he gave it to me cuz we’re friends. These guys are taking 35 to 50% off the top. A buddy of mine works at Swift in Arizona is a broker they had a contracted rate for $5,200 from Iowa to Florida they always gave the trucking company $4,200 they got the company to take it for $2,900 while they were still getting $5,200. This is pure evil. Greedy blood sucking brokers
that is straight to my point NZ, that is just one example of what happens every day, and you can’t negotiate with them unless its really hot ( there is not much of that these days) JB Hunt had a load from Indy to PA posted for 1.16/mile yesterday, that was over 2.50/mile 3 months ago
does this drive up prices on consumers?no I’m not a trucker
I pay 550 to 600 from Riverdale, IL to Kokomo, In which is less than 150 miles. That’s not bad at all. I get about 10 to 15 loads a week on all my Riverdale to Indiana loads. I’m paying 3.66 a mile bro.
I so agree
Greedy scumbags!!
that’s sounds like a cut rate trucking company of which there are to damn many of out here welling to pull a load for nothing as long as it gets there drive back for his dedicated run like most of the large companies do and I know of several of them out there but not only are they to blame there’s too damn many run by the night o/o out there that do the same
Go easy on swift buddy. They need that extra to pay for all the damages done by their 3 week professional drivers!!!!
No kidding
Really dude?? U were a rookie too at one point: difference is the “mentor’s” are no longer showing us how to drive. (Or did a big buddy help you out into the industry) Lead by example: patience, show, teach, mentor. Don’t be one of those ‘jerks’ I have to deal with when I go trucking.
Here here they are just that pure greed
This is a bunch of nonsense blaming carriers for low rates.I don’t know how many phone calls, emails and the new app features they have now , that I’ve tried to get a certain rate on a load and the broker flat out rejects the rate(s) just for them to turn around and give it to someone else to run it for less than a buck.
If their margins are 16% then they need to stop playing games and making carriers under bid each other to the point of running the load for free.
I am an ‘old school’ one truck independent carrier with 43 years of driving under my belt. I REFUSE to haul at these rates. My truck is parked in my driveway and WILL NOT MOVE again until these rates climb. If I end up having to go drive truck for a local company or drive a farm tractor for my rancher friends, so be it! The ONLY way to fight this is to refuse to haul loads at these rates. Unfortunately we have an abundance of small carriers with huge loans and overheads who will accept whatever they have to in order to keep their equipment moving. I’ve seen it all before (more than once). Sadly we will have to wait until a lot of these guys go out of business before rates rise. At which point I’ll start hearing all the “woe is me” complaints again from brokers who have to pay out because they can’t find a truck to haul their loads. Oh and by the way ATA…..”driver shortage”? If ever we have proof against that scandulous lie, it’s now! If we had a driver shortage these brokers would be begging us to take these loads because it’d be THEM going out of business instead of US! What we have ATA is an overabundance of trucks and too many greedy brokers.
SUMMARY: Park your truck. Refuse these rates. Don’t buy into the driver shortage garbage.
The guy speaks the truth! Many of you will pull 75cent a mile freight to get home or get to a HOT load!
yea sure its true some guys need to it doesnt take away the fact that this guy is a thief and he is proud of it. keep an eye on the big 3pl profit reports in the coming months
Very true
Not me boss man
There’s no such thing as a hot load…
75c going to this land of milk and honey, only to get there and magic $2.50 p/mile..so for the two loads you averaged $1.63 p/mile. Still feeling great Mr. Businessman? You’re messing up the industry quit leaving your thinking cap at home. Every load gotta seem like your last. That’s how the thieving brokers playing it*
#truckerknowyourworth
I WILL NOT PULL ONE THAT CHEAP!!!! I’ll dead head home first
You got f….. up if you think I’ll haul it that cheap it’ll sit there and grow mold b4 I haul it
Hell yeah Hoss, I rather root at a truck stop before I take that load.
Why are we truckers complaining, he told most of the truth and the largest TRUTH he told was that truckers set the market rate! Everytime a carrier takes a cheap load that’s setting the market rate, why would they give more money on a load when they are accustomed and know that they can pickup the phone and there will always be a cheap truck waiting for that load! WE’RE THE PROBLEM, CARRIERS, TRUCKERS WE ARE THE PROBLEM! STOP, CEASE, QUIT, HAULING CHEAP FREIGHT! I am a broker and a carrier I see this everyday, I try and educate truckers everytime I run into one dnd he’s willing to haul a load for less than what it should pay! I have had truckers tell me that they have never met a broker like myself because of the education and honesty I provide during our interaction! I am a broker with Truckalocity and we don’t believe in ripping off trucks because TRUCKS ARE THE MOST VALUABLE COMMODITY IN THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY but the problem is TRUCKERS ARE NOT UNIFIED and they cut each other’s throat by taking cheaper freight. No truck should ever be compensated less than$3per mile if that carrier or trucker expects to make a profit after all expenses period!! MESSAGE MESSAGE MESSAGE!!!
Amen I so agree. But u will always have the truckers that don’t give a crap and will keep hauling no matter what. Especially the ones that have crappy old paid for trucks that live out of them and that’s their home. That have no responsibility to pay anything. This is so sad it has come to this. Praise the Lord we always keep savings to help us along. We have THE RIGHT TO REFUSE AS TRUCKERS USE IT PEOPLE. Anyone in their right mind knows don’t take a load less then 1.69. This is an average on what it cost to run a truck to BREAK EVEN.
That’s so true. You hit the nail on the head.
Truth there! I used to be a lease driver. I would get loads to Wal-Mart in Johnstown N.Y. I’d tell them if theybdidnt have a load, any load ready to dispatch before I got there or within 2 hrs of bounce! Which I ended up doing every time! I’d deadhead home to Columbus Ohio ,use my 2 hr personal conveyance,then drive my clock. They wouldn’t fuss. As soon as I got parked at home my phone would blow up with loads paying 7.00 to me a mile to Indy! The empty rig FUEL I used (was a lot less than the 80cpm loads they said they had),and tolls were tax deductable,I didn’t drive to position for a load etc, and in 10 hrs I was back in the freight lane …it worked for me.My dispatcher couldn’t stop me. The 7.00 a mile paid everything and some in my pocket for the week.
That’s excellent !!!
Now the next step is to simply get that information out for every Owner Operator or driver to hear. We can’t keep that status quo if know one is aware of it. We could build unity if every one posted the load rate & the lane that was driven. Transparency will turn the market in our favor & will nullify competition so we could all operate a successful business. We need a designated website or app that will give you the ability to keep that info going so it will spill over to other lanes inorder to sustain our market.
Amen I so agree. But u will always have the truckers that don’t give a crap and will keep hauling no matter what. Especially the ones that have crappy old paid for trucks that live out of them and that’s their home. That have no responsibility to pay anything. This is so sad it has come to this. Praise the Lord we always keep savings to help us along. We have THE RIGHT TO REFUSE AS TRUCKERS USE IT PEOPLE. Anyone in their right mind knows don’t take a load less then 1.69. This is an average on what it cost to run a truck to BREAK EVEN. Open your eyes guys.
If u just bought a new truck as we did it is killing us but we u know there’s also the DAT BOARD. And we also watch it and get the better rates. I can’t believe as an owner operator/ broker that some rates are as low as .79 mile. REALLY COME ON PEOPLE U R CUTTING YOUR OWN THROATS.
Too many drivers believe the saying that if the wheels ain’t turning your not earnin.
For more information to help the cause of low rates. NO SUCH THING AS FREE SHIPPING!!!!!NO CHEAP FREIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DEADHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BEFORE YOU END UP PAYING THEM TO RUN THEIR LOAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I am hype!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET’S GO!!!!!!!!
ELD is just a way for them to make you tell you where you at for price setting.
Send me your info so I can get sign up with your company. and that what drivers need is honest brokers
Don’t forget these Mexican truck company’s come from Mexico, get authority to run in America, you see them with Mexico license plates and the 80 sticker on the side of the cab, hauling cheap freight, never pulling into DOT scales, grabbing our freight, and Nothing being done to get rid of them. I use to haul freight for Carrier from border to Indiana, but when Carrier moved part of there manufactur moved to Mexico, Mexican truckers could haul it all way to Indiana. Also pickup there and send freight all way back to Mexico. That was good freight we lost. The government needs to shut border down and give that freight back to Americans.
That is what I have been saying for years. Run them back to Mexico and keep them on that side. They don’t want us over there we don’t need them here.
The Canadians haul 10 times the freight that the Mexicans haul an they will stay in the states an haul our loads which is against the law
Thats what i was saying no more B1 drivers
you need to blame Bush 1 and bill Clinton for NAFTA, not Mexico.
Anthony has a point: but there are limits to negotiations.
In encourage you learn how freight is really marketed, it not how your company is telling you. When you truly find out your role as a agent broker, well Good Luck
“TRUCKERS ARE NOT UNIFIED”
This is our big problem for truckers, “we are not unified”.
And Brokers take advantage of this. So they know they can rip us off
with the rates because of this fact.
The question is can we truckers change that and become unified?
The problem is that brokers don’t deal in “good faith”. A broker will be getting full rate, but tell the o/o or carrier, “Customer cut the rate. I can’t offer you more.” So, the naive driver or carrier car takes the load thinking that the paying customer cut the rate. In fact, the broker just nabbed a bonus.
Don’t think that carriers are immune to naivety. I’m contracted to a carrier that pulls a mix of contract and broker loads. If I’m offered a load that looks brokered and has a bad rate or bad rate for the load specs, I’ve refused loads and told the carrier, “Nope. That broker is ripping you off. I’ll pull it if you go back and get $x. I’m deadheading out in 30 minutes, let me know if they’re serious before then.”
They’ve never gotten back to me because the broker finds another driver or carrier that believes their BS “can’t pay more” story.
It’s legitimately 50% o/o or carrier fault for taking lower rate and 50% the broker for not dealing in good faith and straight up lying to drivers and carriers.
Since the 3PL industry won’t self regulate, sensible legislative regulation would be brokers get paid a fixed salary, no bonuses. Then the guy on the phone has no motivation to hold so much back by dealing dishonestly.
At the very LEAST, brokers should be required to disclose the rate the original customer is paying and what each broker, if multiple, is trying to take.
Well you should Clone yourself and be the broker for All.
You can sit and wait for a good load for days and days till ya gotta take it cheap just to be able to go to the next load and be able to send a little money home and still keep the truck rolling. Not every week is sunshine and lollipops. It’s been the same way same bitch for many many years. I’m the widow of an o/o. He was on the road for many years. Good times bad times trucking never changes for the most part.
There you have it….3 dollars a mile….or dont haul.it …from the source….!!
I have been doing this for 19 yrs. 1st if you dont like it get out of the buisness go find something else to bitch about. Second if every truck driver out here took 14 days off the country would come to us begging us to go back to work. But there are just to many drivers out there that would keep running no matter what they have no clue as to what comradery is. Glen
Great point!! Quit taking the cheap load and the broker will pay more to move it.
We Businesses owners need to demand full transparency or not take crap rates, choose which one, but don’t drive for free!
transparency you’re Dreamin man I don’t see it for over 30 years you need ask FMCSA who is taking money in they pocket to screwing us because they don’t control any broker whatsoever science 2003 You Don’t See any order rules or regulations only for truckers
To be fair, many of us feel trapped in our bonds of indentured servitude. Would love nothing more than to drop the necessary 12 grand to put myself in the position where I could take my truck and lease on with a better paying company. Hell, at this point, the idea of just clearing out my stuff from this rig and telling the title holder to come and get it runs through my mind several times a week. Company drivers take home more than I do each week, and it’s not for a lack of effort on my part. I stay out months… literally months…like 5-6 months, without going home, and got nothing to show for it, except for the fact that I got to pick my truck and I can tell them no if I don’t want to go to a specific area or if I need to take a day or two off to rest and refresh. I feel like the guy with the equipment, who is doing the bulk of the work and making all of the sacrifices should get the biggest piece of the pie, but I guess that would be too much like right, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not making enough money to build a nest egg. I’m not making enough to make sure my loved ones get proper medical care and basic necessities. I’m not making enough to ever hope to get this truck paid off. The only surefire escape seems to be to give up the dream completely, and go sign my name in blood with some megacarrier. I was on the road when my mom died. When my brother told me she had a week to live, I asked the carrier that I was driving for to get me to where she was…and they sent me in the opposite direction to places where both the shipper and receiver took their sweet old time loading and unloading me. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let another carrier have the power to dictate where I went and when, ever again…and here I am, trying to chew my arm off to get out of the trap of my own design. I knew enough not to lease on with a company that has company drivers, but it took a while to figure out that a bit under a buck a mile is just signing up for indentured servitude. I’m operating at a total loss, and it’s not even because of bad money management… it’s just because of bad mileage rates and low miles with a carrier that doesn’t even offer a percentage option. I should have stayed on disability. That’s barely existing, but at least I would have been there when my mom died.
Wow thank you for telling the truth, and educating the rookies out here
don’t give up yet men I see worst in my life that’s what they looking for get rid of owner operators and small carriers and everybody going to work for a mega carrier don’t give up stay strong
Your so right brother I m so sorry you
Couldn’t make it to see your mom.
May god bless you.
Exactly
So the question is…HOW do we get the new “professional truckers” who don’t know the industry and are so greedy for a load that they don’t understand THEY ARE THE DRIVERS RUNNING THE RATES DOWN! It’s not about race! It’s lack of knowledge and greed!
Drivers can force higher rates if they stop taking crap pay! All it would take is a shutdown for 48 hours but the greedy drivers will not do it.
BUT, there also needs to be regulation for the brokers too! There are so many aunt, uncle and cousin brokers out here putting the good mom and pops out of business. The a/u/c’s are also taking more than their fair share out of greed. Brokers should be regulated to share the actual BOL with the drivers to assure each receives fair wage. The drivers are putting their lives on the line daily for their families.
Absolutely on point Anthony!
Absolutely correct, I’ve done the same. It’s better to dead head to house then jeopardize your RIG witg cheap freight, less weight and fuel, you’ll always recoup the loss differential in a good paying load in theory. Sometimes you just gotta make the Statement ” F^@$ U” I dont work for free after all expenses and fuel are paid that’s eactly what you did with your time and lack of money paid was work for nothing.
I have have brokers how can they expect a truck to make it at these rates and their exact response was “we are finally able to make money that we haven’t been able to make for a while.” I have had 4 of 5 brokers tell me the same thing. You have mega companies that need to keep drivers moving.
I have known brokers who have taken as much as 50%. Most will take about 20%. This guy is right about carrier’s being responsible for the low rates. If a broker or shipper can’t book a load the rate will rise until someone takes the load.
The mega carriers just want freight to pay the steering wheel holder the .42 cents a mile and companies like Mohawk flooring want back hauls to cover driver pay. These companies will haul freight dirt cheap because it is a write off for the company and they get their tule and carpet to market to boot.
There is enough blame to point fingers all the way around. Being in each position over many years I have learned there is not too much honesty in Trucking. As a driver, I have been stuck someplace of limited freight and would take that cheap stuff to get out of there. As a broker, I knew where it was hot and where it wasn’t and yes, that is how you made bigger money. When I worked for the largest carrier out there, yes they could haul it cheaper and quicker. The one thing I have learned, Truckers do not stick together on rates. Especially those that come from different cultures.
Drivers it’s not about Cultures we are a Brotherhood and should all be getting a Livable Rate
You think the Barely english speaking Somalis consider you a brother?
finally somebody doing the math you’re absolutely right
They just want to feed there families too but they will take the load for cheap rates because there up against the wall just like us O/O, Jimmy Hoffa was killed for trying to help us drivers so who’s gunna take on that job now?
Trump needs to executive order what a broker gets paid to carriers/owner operators. When it’s all on the table to see then we’ll find out how deep drivers will allow the shaft to be inserted.
This is true if truckers like us would refuse the right to haul prices would go back up. Praise The Lord we have savings to ride this out to live.
The purpose of education is so nobody can cheat you. If you decide not to educate yourself in the logistics industry, why would you expect NOT to get cheated? Too many of us can drive but can barely read and write. This is business. Take a business course BEFORE going into business so you don’t make a lot of bad decisions.
AMEN
I agree, but the problem with low rates and driver pay has two parts. Under President Carter we had deregulation and under President Clinton we had H1/2 Visa. The market was flooded with too many trucks, drivers who work for less and more brokerage companies. It’s supply and demand.
So true I started as an o/o back in 77 and learned most from my Brother as I went and now have been running my Business Fleet for many years. As I have always told my kids and Grandkids “Knowledge Is Power”
sir
it is much much more deeper than what you are suggesting.
Something doesn’t add up…literally.
If I.ama broker, operating on percentage, I too would want higher pay per load. It.would be in my financial interests as well. Unless their is another source of income supplementing that.
Ready go. So you guys owner operator you have the answer do not take cheap freight that’s the only way we can do them to raise the rates The problem is we like a carrier we don’t have any communication at all thats why brokers take advantage of that. the problem is we not communicate each other. I’m being say this for long time We have to create an app. Just for carriers owner operators to communicate each other And check our own rates. our own prices and not taking any cheap rates so we can set up our own prices for every one up there and not to move any cheat freight that’s the only way communication between us
If these Brokers would just offer the load for the rate it should be, there wouldn’t be Trucking companies taking it for a low rate, just to keep there truck moving.
Once again, thank God I am retired and don’t have to deal with brokers anymore. When I started using them in the late 70’s, if the load paid $500, you knew you were getting $450 period. You money was there when it was due etc etc. Yes, people trying to stay alive have cut rates, but I flush more good daily than most new day brokers do in a week.
I also started in late 70’s and Colin Genge you are right. We knew what the load paid and what we got. I’m still out here and now making $ 18. and hour from clock in to clock out. Not much but I know what I’m making
Can’t overlook the shipper and receive or whoever paid the broker. They’re making massive profits by setting the low rates. The slow roll protest attention should have been put on these shipper and receivers by blocking entrances and parking doors to get the awareness of low and unfair carrier rates. No product moved in or out until rates stabilized. Nothing should be moving down a highway for less than $3 going 300miles or more.
I seen a rate drop $200 in 5 minutes..So to a certain extent the brokers are to blame
Here we go again , so many with opinions but so many without any ball , stop driving wildcat strike
Yes let’s strike it make sense .and let’s see what the shipper say about not getting their freight move.
We have our own rights, we don’t haul anything for less than $3 dollars a mile or we go to the house, if everyone worked that way this crap would stop, bitching and crying don’t accomplish anything, just don’t haul the cheap freight
Stop stop
👍
There is some truth to what hes saying but at the same time, theres no transparency for what their cut is. We just have to believe them when they say they’ll lose money if they go any higher. I just make sure I get a good rate and whatever they take is out of sight and put of mind. I have seen a couple times what the loads were actually paying bc the bol had the freight charges on it and it was about 30%. I wish I just never saw that. I could believe them more if we knew what the load actually pays. You’ll see that every now and then when the actual shipper posts a load for say 1000 bucks, meanwhile the brokers got it for 750 or 800.
Brokers want you to have a million dollar cargo insurance, O/O pays big bucks to have insurance. A company will send a broker a load that is valued around 60 to 80 thousand dollars, and it may go 2 to 500 miles and we as O/O brokers will want us pick that load up and baby that load for $350 to $400. That’s crazy. Some kind of way we should 10 to 15 % of the value of those loads
Not sure where he is getting his research from but, I am pretty confident in saying I believe that most of them take at a starting point 20%. Now maybe he is trying to be sly here and the average broker profit margin is 16% with the little amount of overhead and insurance cost they have I could see that. So, yes ultimately he is right truckers need to stop taking cheap freight. Looking at complaints against TIA members on reviews kind of makes you wonder how good of a professional standards group they are.
Alot of know it alls $ 2.50 a mile if you think is good that’s why the industry is the way it is wake up or get out of the business
While agree that truckers taking cheap freight is a problem, it doesn’t explain how 5 brokers can have the same load and be Miles apart on price. Absolutely some thieves out there. Gain some relationships though and they will call you before the load hits the board. Be willing to park if needed, it won’t hurt the brokers feelings.
yup Joe, I have seen the same load posted by differant brokers for hundreds of dollars difference. It tells you who the honest ones are.
And like you said, get a working relationship with a good broker and you will get the calls and the best rates because they know you and can depend on you rather than some smuck that only acts and talks like a three year old.
What about the freight forwarders – those who don’t touch the freight, just pass it on to a broker. They take $$ off the top, no name on the paperwork and no one knows about them.
the shippers call a broker to get loads moved and they set the rate. if the load is too low the broker will tell him. a good broker and I used to work for some will tell you not to touch that load because it’s too cheap. I’ve watched the same load post week after week because the shipper refuses to come up on the rate. as far as Brokers not paying it’s not necessarily the Brokers fault it’s the shipper. a good Trucking lawyer we’ll get you settled fairly quick.
16 %? That’s total bull. I know it’s hard for some of you guys to believe, but, I’ve done a load for JB that ran only for 259 miles, and I got paid $ 8K, yes 8000 + $50 for one hour detention at the receiver. What happened is that a genius working at JB posted the load with the rate they’re getting paid from the customer. I click it on it, booked it a week before pick up time, and hoped they won’t notice it, and they didn’t. It was a straight trough dry van load that normally pays $1200-1600 to the truck at the most.
16%? Oh please. I got an email from Echo Global last year thanking all the hard working truckers for their effort. in the email, there was a link to a video posted on youtube showing a very lavish end of the year party celebrated in some very fancy hotel. I wish I didn’t deleted the link so I could’ve shared it here. In the video one of the big goons was stating how well the company did during the year, and far better is the following year would be. He was stating profit numbers that I don’t see how can any company reach with 16%.
Brokers are the vermin of the trucking industry, what’s even worst? Our corrupt politicians who can be lobbied by the likes of Robert Voltmann to make America great again. Sad, but, it’s true.
True! Well said.
Voltmann is as big a crook as they come, and he like the ATA will side with Big Corps and Politicians. Drivers Do Not be Fooled by the words of the Politician talking about fixing our roads and getting better rates for Drivers…If he really wanted to give us Better Rates Now would Be the Perfect Time, and all it would take is his favorite 2 words Executive Order, he just needs your vote. Better Rates and Roads be Damned.
That’s for sure. Remember when he promised Rep. Brian Babin of TX that he would abolish the ELDs? Remember how he time, and time said how he appreciates the truckers? And like a fool we trusted him, but, only to let us down like every scum politician before him, and after.
He supports the coal industry, and fights the EPA, but, when EPA comes after truck engines, he turns and looks the other way. In about 5-6 years all trucks must comply with EPA standards in all 50 States, not only CA. This is another way to make sure the little guy gets out of the way, and if that’s not enough? hold on to your seats, there is a Rep. from PA proposing a 5 million minimum liability insurance coverage, while we can barely afford our policies now I can only imagine the cost then. Oh, BTW, the proposing Rep. owns a law firm that handles big rig accident cases. Yeh, America is becoming great again for his pals with deep pockets. Nothing for the hard working everyday Joe. Slavery to all without discrimination.
I’m willing to bet you $100 that I don’t have, that the genius who posted that load didn’t have a job after everything was said and done…
Yep. When they say that’s all they have, I ask them to let me talk to the customer directly so I can do their job and negotiate a better rate. What follows next is not transparency, but antagonistic attitudes.
Best Words Spoken! Say NO TO CHEAP FREIGHT!!
there was a young lady on a facebook interview the other day she worked for trinity logistics and said that they take as much as 60% of the load as of last week, and if the truck is there for more then the amount of time for detention and don’t request it they still do and put it in there pocket same is true for tonu so this guy is NOT telling the hole truth not even close
So, the answer is to run directly and cut out the middleman? Companys should do their own booking with local drivers. When a broker (sitting at a computer & phone) makes 1/3 to 1/2, or more, of what the drivers(who do the actual work) gets, guess who is cutting rates. If it’s a brokered load, don’t run it. I’m sure all brokers aren’t alike, but some are shearing the sheep. If big fleet operators will cooperate everyone could come out ahead!
He could make their members hold to a higher level of “INTEGRITY”, or lose being a TIA broker!🤔
He’s wrong. They have a part in this too with shippers. A lot of the brokers drop the rates and blame it on the shipper, when I know brokers and shippers are under contract…The broker has the flexibility to move the rate within the company or managers guidelines. The bottom line is that the brokers play games and we the carriers except bullshit and when that trend happens the rates plummet. All I will say,to,close this out is that some carriers know,what there doing and some don’t. Unforuatnaly we all have to pay the price when things like his happen…But remember this. What goes down must come back up.
Anthony dam your the only honest broker out there B S your just like the rest you said it in you’re own words that you will take more money from someone who doesn’t know any better to help teach them, I want to know what the HELL are you teaching them dam good thing you gave the name of the broker company you work for bet there real happy you put there name out there like that, and the one that said JB Hunt used to pay 2.50 a mile when was this JB sends me E-Mails every day I never seen a 2.50 a mile rate yet and to this day never turned a mile for them ether
The bottom line problem is the Brokers period. They manipulate the market to their gains. It will be better if it can be looked at their past earnings, which will proof their bad actions of gouging. Again the freight is multiple brokered and by time the third or sixth broker offers to the small carrier the price is around $1.00/mile.
Not to sound ancient but you can actually blame president Reagan for the whole mess. Look it up.
Yes they are and keeping the fuel surcharge and claiming it is built into the rate.
Trucking is what it has always been.
An industry where the uninformed can come into with little if any knowledge of this industry and survive by “Hook or Crook”!
Your information has been taken away from you just like the identities of Slaves were taken away by slave owners in order to keep them under control. Majority of Small business owners don”t know what drives their industry.
What is a load of freight supposed to pay, and who decides? In business, there are no entitlements, and demand usually drives supply.
At least know who your competitors are. Small independent cannot compete against large Carrier with deep pockets. Your success or failure is always based on your daily decisions…
I agree. I also agree that the bunch of gutless truckers here are going to keep on bending over for more govt regulations …cuase y’all a bunch of gutless wonders.
You got that right. And OOIDA don’t do shit either. Everything they do is after the fact to appease the Government. They need to spearhead the negotiations. For regulation the Government wants from us they have to remove 5. Let’s start there.
HOW DO I KNOW I’M GOING TO BE SITTTING THERE FOR MORE THAN 2 HOURS WHEN YOU SAID THE LOAD WAS READY NOW……… Hurry up and wait…….
Robert Voltman should drive a truck and try to deal with the scum bag brokers we should go on strike to curtail the bad brokers end their careers just as they try to do ours I for one will not entertain a bad rate and I put that broker on a do not use list and stick to that list I dont care about them.
There ya have it! STOP HAULING CHEAP LOADS! When one trucker hauls a cheap load, not only do they screw everyone, but they screw themselves too. Any time a broker knows they can get you to haul it for less, they will use it till it runs dry. Stop being suckered!
How is that different than choosing a contractor by bid price? Or negotiating down a car salesman? How come its only bad when Brokers do it, but if YOU do it, its just good, smart business?
Either you support the free market or you don’t. If you are a republican, can you say with a straight face you want the government coming in and setting costs rates and wages on everything? Or do you just want them to do it for truckers and they can still screw over everyone else?
If the goverment regulated that every truck were to recieve lets say 2.50 per mile on every loaded mile then the cheap freight prices would be gone .with thee exception of specialised of course theirs has to be higher.
I just experincing last 30 years Brokers like a Prostitutes Bus
“Give not much and want big money”
som case 50 % +
Legal Corruption sponsored by Crocked law makers
Who dictating only Truckers
under name of Safety
There is no set percentage a broker can or should take. If the load goes 2000 miles and the carrier say I can do it for 2800 give him 2800 does it matter that the load pays $ 4000. The VAST MAKORITY of carriers have no clue no only what costs are but what their costs are. Deregulation in 81 did this for everyone, now some idiot thinks he is going to get it regulated. Because he has a recorded voice mail.
There should be a $2.50/MILE minimum for all freight then price goes up according to weight. Let’s get real – can any independent truck driver make any less and pay for fuel and insurance. People in this industry are clueless. I actually had a conversation with a JBHunt representative who asked how much it costs to run the truck – really – is that actually what they want to pay, that would mean I’m running for FREE. I don’t think so. Please, please please stop booking loads for under $3 a mile. Let’s put the money where it needs to go, on the road and into the truck, not in the pocket of someone who drives a desk.
When I first became an owner/operator nearly 15 years ago, one of the first things I learned (and it didn’t take very long… nearly 30 minutes) was to say “No” to cheap freight.
Losing money on a load is bad.
Breaking even is barely any better.
I absolutely MUST make a profit on EVERY LOAD.
Otherwise, that load remains on the dock.
The only person in this equation who thinks brokers are needed in this equation is a broker.
My nephew is a new driver and gets paid 20% of the gross. He averages 89 cents per mile, the company usually charges $10 a loaded mile for oversize overweight loads. Their phone rings all the time with brokers calling and their poor receptionist has to repeat a dozen times a day “we don’t haul brokered loads”
If you are using brokers for your loads, you’re getting screwed. It’s that simple.
The company he works for will NOT haul cheap freight, they just let their trucks and drivers sit, if the load doesn’t pay good. However they also go out and find their own loads and cut out the broker.
So right…you can’t make money when you run for no money.
Its people like you that post BS like this that start the feud
The industry is what it is, and has been for YEARS now. The excuse that one doesn’t have a choice is really lame. If you dont like the way it is then find another profession. Otherwise it’s on you if you cant make a profit, etc… I’m so tired of every sides excuses.
Well The TIA is run by DC lobbyist, they have done absolutely nothing to protect truckers in the past, why should we listen now. The TIA is instrumental in promoting double brokering, which is the number one way they talk 40% of the top. Their attitude is and always was: if a carrier is stupid enough to take the load then the rate is justified, they have nothing, but contempt for small carriers. They also promote the immoral , unethical HOS rules, and ELD.
You should find out WHO they have in their pocket… Don’t attack the people working within the rules, attack the elected officials who they seduce. You can kick those folks out.
But of course, you won’t, because of the (R) next to their name.
Not mad at truckers brokers big companies small companies. If there is more freight to haul prices will go up.
This shutdown must stop so amount of freight goes up, making freight prices go up (since not enough trucks to haul it cheap).
We are tied to the economy. Stop blaming each other and focus on the idiots in Washington running the economy. Not all are idiots either, try and think about which ones actually effect how much freight is needed. If your governor shut down your state, that’s one good place to start the blame as well.
Hi. Yes there are few cheap fright hulers but brokers are BS and tiefs they poker over 25-38% of every load they lie and cheat to customers and truckers ……..
they need to be removed or get control on them that they can’t profit more then 10%
We are the one doing all the Hard work out there….
You can thank Jimmy Carter for deregulation. When we used to file rates and tariffs with the FMC for approval in the 70’s you didn’t have these problems
Yes just BLAME someone else Carter administration 😂 Joke Foreigners 😂 Joke This Happened way Before any of those
I have been and are now on both sides…I broker freight and I have owned trucks also and I drove for over 30 yrs. I always give as much as I can on a load…I know the operating expense of owning your own truck…..TQL is one of the biggest cut throats out there…they look for the driver that will take anything, constantly cut r
ates at shippers to undermine even good ontime delivery with decent rates….and giving bad service with a lot of late deliveries and bad drivers….and this makes it hard for conscenious driver that’s trying to pay for overpriced trucks and maintain a families’s expenses. Trucking has gotten out of hand and it’s harder to make a living at it….but had I not lost my eyesight….I’d still be out there with the rest of them…lol
Don’t bother, he’s way past saving…
If you’re in a position financially where you have to accept cheap rates just to survive. You were probably already screwed before all this covid19 started. Therefore, I wouldn’t be blaming the brokers now. Brokers are scum and will bend you over given the chance.But the facts remain you are the one accepting the the screwing. I have had a broker tell me “that would at least pay for your fuel” to which I replied that I don’t work just for fuel and wasn’t a charitable organization. I have actually deadheaded out of areas many miles to other areas where I knew better rates were.
This problem has been around for a long time and will still be as long as drivers and companies accept cheap rates. Let the crap sit on the docks until they decide to pay a fair rate. I know,easier said then done. But that’s all it would take. But unfortunately as long as you have desperate drivers, mega carriers that can afford .80 cpm and fly by night carriers that really have no business sense. The rest of the industry will just about have to grab their ankles and hope for the best. Just my opinion and like most rates, it doesn’t amount to much.
Stay safe y’all!
Any cheap bastard calls me with a low offer, I apologize to them sincerely without losing my cool, and then offer them to call someone who might be able to help, then I give them the toll free number of U-Haul. Bastards.
it’s pretty cool I like it
They are all thieves. Before they stuck there greedy beaks into our business shippers dealt with our salespeople directly
I now make less than I did in the 80”s
I’m getting 10 cents more a mile and paying triple for fuel. It’s simple the government allowed these brokers to take over the crumbs the super carriers leave behind.
We can bitch & moan all we want to… But, until a watchdog group comes in and enforces a 10-12% brokerage fee on all loads, we’re just wasting our breath!!
Lots of good comments out here. Brokers are what I call a necessary evil. I have my own outbound shippers. However, they send me where the product is ordered. Might be OH then next load might be NC. A shipper doesnt want to work with one offs. So I outbound on direct freight and broker back. I dont take cheap loads. If they dont want to pay I move on.
Problem is the brokers have minimum regulation. They have free reign in an otherwise overly regulated industry.
Transparency is the answer.
My shippers are paying the same. I have not been told or asked to cut my prices. Yet Im seeing loads on boards and emails that are ridiculous. Its in most brokers nature to lie. There are some great brokers out there you just have to wade through a lot to find them.
And a final thought. When the hurricanes or floods happen and a hotel ups their prices to make more its called gouging. Yet a broker drops rates during a crisis to make more and its called Free Market. Can anyone or maybe Mr Voltman explain this.
In the 80’s I got my brokers Lics and while I was working as also an agent, I lasted 1 yes 1 day working in the office with my mentor broker/agent because I didn’t like them Steady dropping and Lying about rates
this is not free market this is rip off by brokers spell it end you getting to the point there are too many lazy people working for shippers that’s how come up 3rd party which is broker because shipping office it’s too lazy to post they own freight or may be too stupid how many times I see the shippers don’t even know where to sign the paperwork it make me laugh sometimes.
Excellent point you just made.
We have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason. Yet most of the comments aren’t listening, trying to figure this out is overwhelming and can be confusing. The best thing to do is to listen to solutions and try the solutions in solidarity. One person in the comments (Anthony) he gave good information from a broker and carrier side. His main points is unification and no cheap freight. He said don’t haul ANY load under $3 a mile. Period!! Eventhough we aren’t all driving under one carrier we are all affected by the rules for trucking as a collective. So, if whoever haul cheap freight that tells the brokers we all can haul cheap freight. Instead of playing the blame game because there are a plethora of reasons how freight rates are impacted and it’s just not about carriers hauling cheap freight. Let’s do something about it and stop talking about it because ultimately talking about it is just complaining and complaining won’t get you anywhere.
This is bull
Try asking for more than they offer, they will claim they can’t go up because there is no more, they will claim they are losing money at the price.
Excuse me, it is not that the brokers establish the prices of the transport of merchandise here in the United States, but that they pay a fair price and they pay a low price to the truck owner and sometimes they give you the load and after a while you they cancel it and they do it because lis broken they find another owner who is operated who kes does the same job for less price there if the owner of the truck is very guilty for accepting those types of deals knowing that with that treatment many times they do not even pay the diesel of that trip, you brokers do not make any kind of investment and many times they earn better than the owner of the truck and without making any type of investment so the government should do a study to try to establish rates for the payment of the freight in a fair and equitable way because it is not fair that a truck owner who makes a large investment of money to acquire his own truck does not make his profits
The shippers send out the load to several brokers at one time and they start cutting the rates to get the load to put on the load board
I believe truckers should unionize..we have greedy pos brokers taking the money and technology trying to put you out of work
It is the carrier fault. I can say no to cheap freight all day long. But then someone else like a mega carrier will say yes and haul it. There needs to be a minimum set price on freight. So the little guy can make a living. Because right now there is nothing fair about the fair market place!!
No one holds a gun to your head and makes you take the load at that rate, everyone crying because they expect fairness when going toe to toe with bottom feeders
He is wrong. Brokers are the ones that set the rates. If the brikers would set the rstes right and stop low balling the market than drivers wouldnt have to accept cheap freight. Brokers should not post a load going 3000 miles at $1 a mile. Its bullcrap and he knows it.
100,000 imported drivers.With 100,000 more company trucks to go with it.There ya go.So simple a caveman could figure it out.
Brokers are stealing like a mofo. I’m calling the FEC to get involved
One time I agree to haul 200miles load for $500 broker said he make very little on it but when I come to the costumer and start talking he said he paid $1000 this is was small business and owner was very open about it. From know on I don’t believe brokers. I wish we can make legal to see original price, I understand we need to feed brokers but at reasonable price NOT HALF.
Thank you for raising this subject!!!!!!
Freight rates are like airfares – they fluctuate depending on the market conditions and demand versus supply in the areas a particular load operates much the same as airfares. What he said isn’t disingenuous but he’s not sharing the entire picture.
O/Os have more skin in the game and therefore more transparency of what it costs to actually turn those wheels under that load. Company drivers don’t see that side of the game because they’re just paid to drive. The bigger the fleet the closer they can cut that rate close to the skin and still afford to keep trucks moving. They also have financial resources (deep pockets) unavailable to solo owners which allows them to take more loads as loss leaders to more profitable loads or post week-over-week losses far longer before their viability is in jeopardy.
Many accuse mega fleets of trying to bury the O/O with cheap freight… I don’t even think O/Os are on their radar! I just think they churn out so many trucks and newbie drivers who don’t know any better that they can rely on the economies of scale to find their profitability. At least until their executives get greedy and run the company into the dirt then bail with a golden parachute of a severance package.
Trucking isn’t the old industry which has seen the transition from sole proprietorship to mega-corporation – the 20th century is chock full of industries which saw mom-and-pops fall victim to Giants and the 21st century is doing the same thing. Walmart killed Main Street America and now Amazon is threatening to kill Walmart. It’s simply cyclical.
so true Jeremy. And they say there’s a driver shortage? I say, NO, there’s a freight shortage. There is no driver shortage, just look at all the empty trucks sitting idle. The big companies continue to put drivers on the road who are not ready while the experienced drivers are sitting by, doing nothing. Representation is needed in DC. other than the ATA, because they do not represent the independents.
Amazon will never kill Walmart. I do think Walmart has went unchecked for way to long. It’s nice to see someone be able to step to the plate and provide balance to the market. Amazon is creating that. That means lower prices. Thats a benefit to consumers. I’m all for that. We all should be.
He’s full of crap. Truckers are forced to take low rates just to get by. Brokers buy up the loads for $4-$6 a mile but refuse to pay more than $1 or less.
Brokers do nothing for their money. I’ve told Coyote more than once to let their shit sit on the dock. Then thhey double and triple book the same load to see who gets it first but doesn’t have the balls to lie to the others and say it canceled.
There are drivers(mostly foreign) that take loads for cheap because they try competing with carriers that are their own brokers who screw new drivers with low wages, no home time and no promised bonuses.
I didn’t even read all the comments, but yeah brokers are thief. I don’t know how can you blame truckers for low rates. Few weeks ago when all the pandemic with this virus started everyone was appreciating the truckers and rates were fine and from no where you thieves( brokers) drop the rates bcs too many company closed and now there is too many trucks but less loads and now you want to play with us and blame us for low rate ? I’m not going to roll load of 600 miles to east cost for $700. ARE YOU STUPID ? i wish every truck drivers refuses the loads and don’t drive anything under 3/mi. Thieves thieves thieves.
Free Market every MAN and Company for Himself Get What you can when you can and Move On or just Get in Another Occupation
brokers need to be regulated and the rate needs to be on the BOL. Brokers are the only ones getting rich, and I mean filthy rich, in this industry. While the truckers are losing their trucks because they struggle to pay 3000.00 – 5000.00 a month for truck and trailer payments. It is mostly the brokers fault because the owner operators DO turn down the cheap loads, but there is always some one who will take it.
While large companies can afford to make a smaller profit, the independents cannot and there is the problem. If something doesn’t change quickly, I fear for the small companies. Maybe OOIDA could help. Independents need some representation and NOW would be be a good time to do it.
If there is so much freight that the cheapest among us has a dozen loads to pick from, he will still pick the best paying load… and the rest will have to pay more to have the next guy accept their loads.
Pay attention to who controls the freight. Right now it’s the governors and congress
I own a 15 truck company and a brokerage business so I see both sides.
I will say this, first no one could have planned to have the government shut down the economy. If you could have foreseen that and are on here your an idiot for not finding a way to have made millions off of short selling the stock market instead of being in this business.
Second thing, the simple truth is that this business is like most, it’s far easier to get into than it is to be profitable enough to stay in.
To those that think the government needs to get involved in this just remember, they are involved in everything that is shut down right now. If you think brokers are making so much money all the time open a brokerage business, park your truck, and get to it. It’s easier to get brokerage authority than trucking authority.
In the end run YOUR business profitable and quit pretending you have answers for an entire industry if your only involved in 50% of it.
same shit, different day. trying to wrestle your rate out of brokers takes a lot of time and it is usually time wasted, but there is no other choice. i would like to see the numbers on guys with a 5G payment to make versus a guy w/ paid off equipment in setting rates. it takes a lot of time/ experience to get to the point where you can pick and choose what you like compared to what you need. best way is to serve a shipper you have a relationship with, as long as the boredom doesn’t kill you. now all you need is to have one in your back yard; and at the other end of the fronthaul. i have found that brokers are taking 30% as of about 4 years ago; average. what cracks me up is everyone paying 2-5% for the broker to pay them the money they owe them because their finances can’t wait another day; get another hundred chicken lights and stainless inserts on the neck or your RGN … good luck
In today’s computer age the Broker is obsolete. Companies could easily post all loads to a digital load board for companies and o/o alike to select from. No one allowed to offer to haul the load for less than posted and the longer it stays on the board the freight cost goes up, unless a company cancels a load or sets a maximum amount it will pay. This would be open and honest and no one would be guessing how much hold back the brokers are keeping and freight would be fair for all, because there are those that will take cheap freight but out of the 20 million plus drivers It’s only a percentage that will, and perhaps those that have patience will make more. And maybe just maybe it will become ONE THING drivers can quit whining about. Lol.
It’s not just the brokers it’s the CARRIERS peeling money off the top and then still taking their % out of it they should be investigated before the broker really
Huge pile of bs. Loads I run for $800 show up..same broker..on load boards for $500. If they get a driver to take it. They cancel my rate com. So broker is making an additional $300 on the run. 16% my arse. And these jerks that take the loads are part of the problem..but it all starts with the broker!!
Yeah this is bullshit to this extent.
I booked a load $1350 on monday
Broker sends email asking if I have another truck for same exact lane the following week.
I tols him yea, i have a truck, send it over for $1350.
He tells me
Well rates keep dropping i can no longer due 1350, now my max it 1088.
Again. This was a full week before load was souppossed to go out.
He expected me to go the load for a cheap rate of 1350 only to under cut me again next week to 1088..
This CEO is a complete joke.
Freight shipping is a commodity and therefore the cheapest offer gets the job and if you can’t compete with the price that the big carriers can offer well you’re out of luck…. That’s called capitalism. Just ask all the mom and pop stores that couldn’t compete with the big box stores.
And if you suggest that the government sets minimum prices or sets a maximum amount of what the broker can keep you’re talking about socialism/communism….
This has nothing to do with socialism/communism. That has to do with people not having a right to make a choice and is forced by government actions.
Profiteering and price gouging is another. When you deceive customers into thinking frieght rates are one thing and pay someone way lower than expected rates. Has nothing to do with socialism/communism. Our govenment regulates tades evey day. It’s time they start regulating brokers. Its about the customer. (Double Brokering and Co-Brokering needs to stop).
How come nurses and doctors are getting paid double and triple? Are we not also considered essential? We should at least be getting paid well temporarily for the time being
To address another point you made about big carriers. Big carriers dont haul freight for nothing. They have contracts that minimize rates that benefits both parties. Brokerage companies only out for one party. (Number one).
Every brokerage company are nothing but thieves, no matter what type of freight it is. They can take up to 50% of a haul charge …before they even post it !!! They belong in jail!!!! All brokerage companies need to be investigated and served with criminal charges for stealing our money from a load before its even posted on load boards!!!!!
Not to mention all of the times they have not paid anything at all, for a load being transported them!!!!
BROKERS ARE THIEVES !!!!
How about double and triple broking loads happens every day blind loads ext ext.
Don’t haul cheap freight.
Stick it out a day or two.
Deadhead 200 miles if needed.
Just stop taking cheap freight.
I would offer an amount based on the number of trucks in my area and yes someone will take it for pennies. That’s a free trade market.
I am an o/o and am barely out of the hole because I would rather wait and move around then take a rate that puts me in the hole. There should be a day that no loads are booked. That would raise rates.
What it comes to is there are to my people in trucking that no nothing about trucking. They don’t the cost of operating trucks, they don’t always tell the whole story on the load, being honest is a haul mark we all can live with. In 42 years of owning trucks I never thought we would be seeing rates at 1980s price,when equipment cost are at all time high as well insurance and operating cost. It’s to many hand in the pie, let’s screw a trucker today.
The scum bag brockers the drivers need to get together to eliminate them but the drivers wont stick together about anything this pandemic was the perfect time to strike get rates up and hours of service changed
Striking doing a pandemic is the worse thing we could have done. People are in need. That only makes a pandemic a crisis. Dont punish the people. Those will be the ones to support your efforts in change.
The problem is all the cubans that low ball the crap out of freight rates whenever they bid. The reason they’re able to do that is because many of them are thieves and steal diesel, a major expense in the trucking industry.
That is one of the worst ways brokers justify themselves, “well if its cheap dont take it”…..okay, so were supposed to all stop hauling for 1 month when your contracts are reviewed, AMERICA itself, has to stop for a month so you can finally become fair?
Come on! Its unreal, take this virus thing for example, the whole world itself cant stay in doors with government money, now, you expect carriers to NOT WORK FOR A MONTH WITH NO CHECK?
Your 16% profit margin means nothing, show me the revenue! and cost and profit per day, then compare it to a carriers. Ridiculous!
Well here we go blaming back and forth. You stop..
The correct problem is the Brooke’s and the big companies. I am sorry to say. The industry needs a change. And yes we need leadership from fighting for us in Congress.to setting proper pay for driver’s..
Now I know I am going to take heat for this. I drove for twenty years for many different companies.
And was screwed over many times. And was forced dispatched.
To now how they gone to pick instead of hub miles..
Now I am a newly lease operator.. so far I do believe I have a good company am I leased with.
My point is this.
A big company don’t care what a load is being paid. If they make a few cent per mile off the load. Then there on it. Because where they are making the money is from the driver. Paying the pcm.. miles x the total number driver’s still equals profit.. everyday.
Then you have a guy they call a Brooker. And off the top he has taken his cut. Well that company driver has no choice he has do as he is told.
Until we as older driver’s come together and band together and fight for each other.. were going to be a taken advantage of.. and we all know it..
I am going to say this. No company had the best interest for the driver. No Brooker has the best interest of the driver.
Only driver’s can change this industry around. Band together or it’s not going to happen..
Brokers are the target. We need to focus on ridding the system of unnecessary middle men (Brokers and agents). They have no business in this business. There only needs to be Customer and Carrier.
There is no transparency in trucking industry. It’s very important that we start investigating brokers for price gouging, they’re keeping 65% of a load’s price and pocketing detention on top of that. They don’t have high operating costs like we do and they’re not the ones risking their lives on the road, we are the ones keeping America running, not them! We have to push for reform to regulate brokers by capping their commissions to 30% and keeping freight rate transparency with us. Below I have listed some steps small trucking companies that use brokers should be taking.
1. Investigate brokers by asking for transaction records:
According to 49 CFR § 371.3(a) A broker shall keep a record of each transaction. For purposes of this section, brokers may keep master lists of consignors and the address and registration number of the carrier.
49 CFR § 371.3(4) The amount of compensation received by the broker for the brokerage service performed and the name of the payer
49 CFR § 371.3(6) the amount of any freight charges collected by the broker and the date of payment to the carrier.
49 CFR § 371.3(b) Brokers shall keep the records required by this section for a period of 3 years.
49 CFR § 371.3(c) Each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of the transaction required to be kept by these rules.
2. Contact your congressman: Bombard your congressman with emails let them know how you feel and how you’re being affected and that you want to see change, it’s as simple as googling: “Who is my congressman?” then follow steps to contact them.
3. Say NO to cheap freight: There will be no change if all we do is complain but we still keep working, it’s like saying we don’t like it but we’ll work anyways.
4. Don’t forget to share this message!
No body mention about truck insurance.
Insurance premium is the most one killing small truckers & businesses & economy.
Insurance co. raised up premium double triple times & their profits are skyrockiing by charging premium whatever they want to. Even they ve been lobbied Congress & Senate, & they are authorized to reap off truckers legally raising up the premium. Government must do something about insurance Co,.s * insurance agents but they don’t care & economy keep clushing & every body will die.
The facts are brokers will get the cheapest deals they can. Either owner-ops are going to have to unionize or lease onto a company. If there’s no unity the cheapest deal will roll.
Brokers always know their price
Absolutely right, I do not accept cheap freight, it still gets moved by someone else, that is who to blame!!!! Dont need Government intervention, or unionization.
That has got to be the stupidest comment that has ever came out of someone’s mouth! It’s the truckers fault. I believe you need to backup. Deregulation, Unions, Brokers, Mega Companies, Government regulation, railroad, DOT, and let’s not forget Activist groups against drivers and the public. For being a deregulated industry, We are the most regulated industry alive. But not once in the groups that I mentioned did you hear Owner Operators, or Small business owner. We don’t go around cutting companies throats by undercutting rates just to secure the freight. We don’t wait till the last minute to get a better rate that was already in the toilet from the broker taking his huge cut from the load before he posts it to all the load boards. There is nothing transparent about Third party freight. The only way to get the truth about what the load really pays is face to face customers. No middle man. The middle man is the ones taking the meat off the bone before you get thrown the morsels. Then you have the rest of the people. You have big Companies that order the product and charge an astronomical fee to get the freight off your truck. But that rate has already been taken out before you get it by the trusty broker. Then you pay out of pocket at the destination because the broker tells you it wasn’t covered by the rate . But he kept your lumper fee and you paid twice. So that’s just a little insight on his stupid comment. Oh let’s not forget the truck stop /car stop. The truck stop rapes the driver at the pump. They jack fuel up by $.20-$.30 a gallon more than the station down the street. But the station down the street don’t except semi traffic. But that’s it in a nut shell! Be safe good luck, and things are going to get worse when all this breaks loose. The mega carriers and brokers are gonna screw the little guy, and the OO just to move freight and the fuel will go through the roof at the truck stops to make up for lost revenue. They are gradually raising it already with the talk of firing the Country back up. I have kept up with it while we we all doing the shut down! I have monitored the trucking industry even though I was not our running or working. That’s just good business. Drive safe. Watch all those drivers out there.
Driver you are right…being a trucker these days is going to court without a lawyer and representing yourself even though you know your case and situation, all those Big suites use the Politics to beat you out and find you guilty. Which is Why we now have ELD’s and HOS. We are so Regulated we can’t even move the trucks we pay for around the shop yard with answering to Big Gov…We Need Back Our Freedom, Respect (Never Had That) And Better Rates. What We Need Now Is A New Union to Fight for us while we are out driving to make a living, We need a Voice that is HEARD!
You need a voice? I thought we had OOIDA?! LOL What a joke that organization is? Frankly, I thought lately they looked liked a branch of the ATA. The bottom line is that we are on our own, and no one to lead us, and the scums love that.
All those lies and scams about truck shortages came from those brokers trade association telling the media there’s truck shortages so they can flood the trucking industry with as many trucks so we start to competing with each other for Load’s, the more trucks on the road the more cheaper the rate will be, and that’s the idea. and they say it’s not them to blame. There’s no truck shortage I can’t even find parking to shut down and I doesn’t matter witch state you in.
Why do we need brokers in the first place? Why you not hearing brokers companies go broke like carriers does?I wish companies POST they products for shipping in some created wed site,like Facebook and cut the middle man, brokers have nice office with bathrooms, what driver have? Dirt,no shower,phone call in the middle of the night, no brokers would it mean win,win for shippers and carriers,
I’ve learned from all this info. Did I understand correctly when someone said thst actual paid amount for load is on third page of CBL? I am re-newed O/O…and would like to be more skilled at negotiating with brokers..so that I am not taking freight cheap…
Thx!
Punch Voltman in that big ass nose, God knows you cant miss it!!!
After 42 years in the trucking business I totally agree with this fellow. I spent eight of the years in brokerage and tried my best to give the carriers that I dealt with a good rate even if it meant cutting my percentage. The only reason I did that is because I was an owner operator myself at one time and I know what it’s like to try to make things work but it’s very simple to fix cheap rates. Don’t haul the freight. Supply and demand rules always apply no matter what the industry.
Of course there are drivers taking loads for low rates when the 3 states listed have a driver force with a large % of new arrivals both illegal and legal.
Here in West Texas in the greater Permian Basin region you’ll find driver after driver on the road with no citizenship and no CDL hauling every day.
We had one cross the median on I-20, hit a pickup headon and kill its driver then carjack a witness and flee to finally get intercepted tying to cross into Mexico from El Paso.
Too many hands in the cookie jar, generally rates are a set original price to the shipper, then the broker or company you pull for takes what they want, plus bullshit fees and hidden costs etc they wanna roll in to be shady. The truckers do all the hard work and the broker makes all profit for just making a phone call and has no expenses besides a phone bill. Very few honest people these days so would you expect any less from anyone? And this guy in the article is offended they want to investigate because he knows he will be in trouble he’s probably already shredded or deleted his documents…….
I was in Dallas,TX earlier this year, I saw a load going to Florida, contacted the broker and she offered me $1200! I said Ma’am loads going near Miami from this area don’t pay under $2000! She said OK hunny the most that I can pay is $1700 which still wasn’t enough. So there you go, brokers are trained to “beat down them trucks” as they phrase it.
Did you haul it? Did you counter offer with the rate you needed?
Well truckers decided to deregulate.
If they take 16% then how did TQL have a revenue of 3.6 billion in 2018?seems to me they’re taking more than their fair share to pocket that kind of money.
How is it at a time when trucking companies are going broke C H Robinson can buy Landstar for $225 million.
Seems to me the ones doing the work are going broke while the ones handling the money are getting rich.
People look and see what XPO paid landstar for NLMI 87$ million cash and 365$ million large amount of money for just 16% yeah and I have truck loads of 🌈 and 🦋 for you to haul at $100 a mile
Its time for a nation wide Truckers Union .If you have a Class A then your in the Union.We could demand whatever we wanted.
If the trucker needs to fix it then we will go strike and let’s see how the rest of the country fills about it when they ain’t got nothing toest
And brokered out to another broker ….theives . You dont need an investigation to see that much….lucky if the o/o gets 40%
If the trucker needs to fix it then we will go on strike and let’s see how the rest of the country fills about it when they ain’t got nothing eat
You can’t get two truckers to agree on anything.. and you think a strike will work? When Canadians go on strike EVERY TRUCK IS SHUT DOWN.. not two or three like here..I’ve seen many a so called strike here..and very few show up.. with a hundred thousand reasons why they can not shut down..and the government knows it..that’s why you have the laws you do today in trucking..NOBODY STICKS TOGETHER..if you did.. don’t want ELDS.. two days of total shut down in Canada and the government is asking the leaders of the shut down for a sit down talk..not here.. it’s well there goes another one..let’s pass some more laws to screw with them…
We hauled a load and received the original pay for load with the BOL. It paid over 9 grand and paid us a little over 3 grand. So the company we hauled the load for made over 6 grand for that load that’s 2/3rds of what the load was paying that they made off of that load. So how many other companies are doing this?
You guys should do better research. My wife is an independent broker. She,like most brokers wants to make money,but as an ex trucker herself and a truckers wife, she always makes sure the driver makes $2 a mile. Or she wont move the load. She’s not greedy. Shes fair. Also, drivers need to educate themselves on the routes and places that pay good to go into but pay crappy to come out of. If companies stopped taking crap loads rates would go up. It’s harder for a 1 or 2 truck operation like mine to absorb a $2.75 fuel price with a rate of $1.20 per mile than it is for a Hirschbach or Prime with thousands of trucks. You can turn down a rate of $1.35 a mile,but there’s always some asshole that will take it for that and lower because they wanna get home. I have laughed at some brokers for what they offer. They don’t care. But more of us HAVE to start doing that. Know what your bottom line is and don’t go past it. Ever.
I’ll take a load at a loss if it’ll insure someone else will make less!!!
Before I retired from all this mess. I always fought with brokers for $1500.00 to the Bronx on a steady run I got it. 350 mile round trip from PA. paid my truck $4.28 a mile to return empty. If I unloaded early I picked up another that paid at least $900.00 to the truck. I ran all last minute loads, can you get there by 7 AM. They will pay and they will keep you if you deliver on time every time, which I did.
All I know is that is the most I’ve ever seen done in the 25 years in the industry and been an O O for 14yrs and if we don’t keep our foot on the gas things will never get better the last time we tried to protest fuel prices at 5$ a gallon we were getting the Patriot act throw in our faces so we must move forward together or a lot of us won’t make it. Say no to the rates and or stay home I’ve been home for two months it’s painful but so is running a truck for nothing.
Funny how when we were regulated.. the only broker was one trucking company who had to much freight..and you were in a dead spot so you were able to get a haul out of your dead spot. to the house.. IT WAS NEVER A BACKHAUL…it was a haul.and it was a flat 10%. And you got your money in full by 14 days.that was law…..then deregulation came ..and out of the woodwork came brokers.. telling you that you needed them.. they said they would save you time looking for loads..OK ..when you got loaded you got 50% of your pay..and when you got unloaded and the bill signed you got the rest of your money .. the other 50%…then it got to be ok.. you either wait for 30 days.. or what ever the broker wanted..orrrrr you could pay a percentage of your pay.. and get your money in a couple of days..how nice is that? And then there are a few brokers who are criminals and they won’t ever pay you as they have moved on to other things..then there are a few brokers who want you to sign a contract..WHY? and in some of them.. you lose your right to get a copy of the freight bill sent to the customer so you can see how much you really got cheated on the load..then there is one big broker who will tell you. Ohhh the loads in Reno,Nevada..when it’s really in Sacramento,Ca..but only pays the mileage from Reno..they are famous for that one..or the broker who has no experience at all in something out of van freight but wants to expand into refer freight or flatbed freight and will bid the load the same as van freight..or doesn’t have a clue that that oversized load needs permits that go with it with curfews etc..and thinks you can go two thousand miles in two days.well you can team it cant you?and quotes it out as van freight..the question is WHY DO WE EVEN NEED BROKERS?We don’t..it does make it easier on the shippers to be able to call one guy and get their freight moved ..OK.. as most shippers treat the trucker so well..it’s like you’re here.. load up and get the …out of my yard..and how many brokers take out 15%? 20%? 30%? 40% off the top of YOUR load.. how many take that %. Off YOUR fuel surcharge? he’s not helping pay for your fuel..and why do we need brokers? Funny thing.. without you..99% of them can’t move that freight because they don’t own one single truck..Why do we need brokers..so we can get freight? Really funny thing..the brokers have everybody buffalowed into telling us how much we need them..the same with the shippers..ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL UP A SHIPPER ..SAY HI IM JOE BLOW TRUCKING LOOKING FOR A LOAD..DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING..AND WHAT WILL YOU PAY? then after a while you get that shipper as YOUR customer..where they will count on you to haul it for you..so just why do we need brokers? Because THEY tell you that you need them..how nice..
Robert Voltmann is spot on with what he’s saying. Nobody sets the rate that I choose to haul for but me. Personally, I hope the Brokers that I haul for are making a good living.
Basically what we have out there on the road today is a bunch of load board dependent Owner Operators. They won’t even try to make connections these days. That’s basically because the majority of them can’t carry on a intelligent, civil conversation with a Broker, or a Shipper. They can’t do the basic math to even figure out what their minimum rate per mile should be. And if they did, would they even have the backbone to tell them they need more money? Probably not.
Go ahead and have your Childish hissy fits. Block the roads and piss off the public. Just don’t expect real Independent Owner Operators, real men, to join you. Basically you all look like a bunch of sissy’s.
Exact opposite Nick. I was suggesting that the government was preventing capitalism from taking place.
Sir I have a customer we contract freight with that has other brokers that contract too. We’re still brokering at $1.70 a mile. Other brokers are gouging at $1.10 a mile with same customer and same once a year contracts. I have proof. Please contact me.
Voltmann did not specifically address allegations that brokers are flat-out refusing to pay drivers, nor did he respond to allegations of price-fixing. Of course he won’t respond to these allegations specifically because he knows just like the rest of the industry that these allegations are absolutely true and he doesn’t have a leg to stand on
These huge trucking companies are the ones to blame they will haul freight cheap as dirt
APPARENTLY lawmakers FAULT IS!!! they should make a 8-10% margin FOR brokers to charge!!! 16 % storytelling is a lie. Definitely I know a case where broker payed 2000$ for 1000 miles during hurricane from Florida but charge the company for 7500$. 73.3% is a little to mach. Brokers charge from 25% and up, but like you said is a market place, sometimes they going under 25% margin. That is the reality!!! 8-10% margin that is hell to mach for their job, and there is end of cheap freight or very high freight.
Whats does a broker do anyways,he brakes drivers earnings,does he drive a truck,buys fuel,tires,parts,is he away from family weeks at a time,does he eat greasy food at truck stops,showers in public showers??? Does nothing but sits and gets loads,my Amigo you can do the same.I say do away with this arrogent thives,iam so happy someone is finally pointing the finger at them,keep on the heat.
The broker said it the Trucker fault but have you ever tried to get a load with out a broker you take it are you set or go home empty !
Standard rate is all you get when drivers are wanting to get paid more and people expect the driver to struggle when they are getting rich quick. I’m sorry but you want it hauled you haul it . the truckers do all the work when the pencil pusher , phone jockey , and so on make all the money while the driver is struggling to put food on his or her own table and it’s only getting worse to a point when they all go home then and only then will the rookie see threw your crap.
So I am sure all of you drivers complaining about broker percentage refuse payment for loads that pay above your CPM by a certain percentage. Of course not, the arguments I hear are “they cant make more money than I think is appropriate but dont you dare limit my income.”
What the load pays vs.what the broker says it pays are often times a wide margin. Then 16% off the top.
The market sets the rates, then companies and brokers set their rates. The owner operators and independent truckers are powerless out here. In the ass backward world of the free market, we seem to be hauling freight at near free rates. Not fair at all
Yep, market may have something to do with the rates , but you damm brokers take more off the loads than the trucker makes, that’s the whole problem brokers are greedy but right know is a time to park your truck and let’s see what brokers can do with no trucks.
This should be a app where is that once the broker picks the load it just sent directly to the driver so you can see what it’s worth and how much they’re going to get and how much your company is going to receive and what is your pay
Hmmm , comments for “Jim” and referencing Caterpillar– is that by chance “THE REAL JIM BOOTH”?
Should be from Cat, not for Cat- my mistake
Federal regulation 49 CFR 371.3. States that all parties to a brokered transaction have the right to review transaction another words a carrier can request and demand that the broker provide transparency as to the name of the consignor The amount of money collected by the broker for the load as well as the amount of fees collected by the broker for non-brokerage services provided so that right there states that all we have to do as carriers are owner operators is called the broker after hauling the load and since we are a party to the broker transaction we have absolute right to demand transparency that review of transaction request will show how much the load actually paid from the broker as well as how much the shipper or customer paid to have the load moved
Yes truckers are to blame, but I have personally seen brokers take over 50% of a load on a regular basis not a small named company. Also saw brokers take time to come around to truck stops and count the trucks. No you don’t have to take the load but you take one because you don’t have the time to waite it out. A load is waiting on the other end or any number of things that come into play. All the broker has to do is a waiting game. And put up blogs like this one he has put to the truckers. Is it to inform or to just come the waters so they can keep cutting the truckers.
The brokers do cheat, drivers. Just like the fuel surcharge. They keep that for themselves, when the driver pay for fuel. Brokers and big trucking companies, ALWAYS point the finger at someone else.
This guy Robert voltmann has a point quit hauling cheap freight you have to quit taking it for nothing in order for the rates to go back up
Every trucker knows that brokers are cheats- they harvest where they never sowed! They don’t own any loads or have trucks – how come they control the load chain? Way forward:a) cut them off the chain – shipper to deal with trucking company directly, b) rate confirmation must indicate how much the shipper is paying , c) brokers must not take away more than 15% of the load pay – legislation needed for this to happen, d) drivers / truckers really need to unite against all those forces which are currently against them- shippers, receivers, thieving brokers, drivers who haul cheap loads. Is there somebody out there capable of uniting the truckers?e) we need somebody to lobby Washington so that rules and caps can be put in place to regulate the shipper, receiver and broker who keep on ripping the driver / trucker. Currently it is like the wild west in the trucking industry- and the driver is on the receiving end of it all.f) Mayday, Mayday., Mayday…..
While this is true, don’t y’all think it’s about time to take out the middleman. I mean, I’m making what truckers used to make 20 years ago. Just sayin’.
Crying doesn’t solve nothing! Find better connections and stop dealing with brokers you feel is taking more than what they should from the load! It’s business folks that means competition! With over 39% of the freight lost due to covid 19 and carriers talking about laying drivers off, it’s going to be bad in many parts of the country, and with a super amount of trucks competing for all of the loads after a 39% drop in freight guess what, rates are going to drop because of the competition for it all, carriers would solve more problems by saying no to the cheap freight their hauling, and should be asking top dollar to cover their expenses too, ever wonder why many companies went out of business last year! The mega carriers would be wise to join forces to a degree and put their big heads together and find ways to cut the brokers that have nothing in this industry but to book loads totally out of it!
He’s right the trucker is to blame for taking cheap loads if the truck driver don’t like what it pays don’t haul its plain and simple Truckers should blame them selves for hauling cheap freight
I think the brokers are benefiting the disunity of the drivers. If all the drivers and owner operators would have one voice they could make changes.
All I’m going to say is when OTR were unionized the playing field was much more far to the drivers. But that smart generation thought they could do by themselves and 25 years or so later the industry is pimping the new and scared owner operator into subpar rates ie., capitalism at it’s finest.
Come on!!!! Do you really expect people to believe your words. Put it paper. If you really want to talk transparency, include the real price the shipper is paying for the load. That’s the only way CARRIERS will have an honest fighting chance. But whe you are blind, and you don’t know what the real price is. How are we supposed to fight. This is not a fair trade. If I go to war and I know who my enemy is, I have a fighting chance, if not I am screwed. That’s how we are right. We are being screwed by the brokers and the dispatchers. Not only the brokers get a percentage from the loads, but their dispatchers too. So what’s left for the CARRIERS, BARELY NOTHING. You should be ashamed!!!
There should be a regulatory cap on brokering. They chose how much they can steal off the top period. Then some sell the paper. All this with little to no skin in the game.
We all know that 16% is not true!
Why there is nothing to regulate the brokers side as there is a lot of regulations and laws on the trucking end of the deal?
We need government regulated brokers margins and transparency!!!
Trucks are sometimes their own worst enemy..but with that being said there are some good brokers out there an alot of shady ones also. But…my old saying is this there is no honor among thievage in the trucking industry.. I hope everyone is staying safe an thanks to all for your services
He is lying, The shippers are still pay the Brokers the same amount. The Brokers are holding all the money and Fuel surcharge. He knows and so do all the owner operators know it too.
Come on!!!! Do you really expect people to believe your words. Put it in paper. If you really want to talk transparency, include the real price the shipper is paying for the load. That’s the only way CARRIERS will have an honest fighting chance. But when you are blind, and you don’t know what the real price is. How are we supposed to fight. This is not a fair trade. If I go to war and I know who my enemy is, I have a fighting chance, if not I am screwed. That’s how we are right. We are being screwed by the brokers and the dispatchers. Not only the brokers get a percentage from the loads, but their dispatchers too. So what’s left for the CARRIERS, BARELY NOTHING. You should be ashamed!!!
If the load pays the broker 2.50 and he can move it for 1.00 then he is 1.50 in the black.
If he can’t find a truck for 2.50 or less then he will lose money on the load.
The broker may have to pay 3.00… or 3.50… or 4.00… or more. The price increases as the the delivery time approaches.
It’s the free market.
I don’t care what the broker is billing his customer. I look at my revenue. If I’m happy, who cares?
As long as we have foreign or illegal carriers & o/o in this industry we will never get a decent rate because they are desperate & will haul for cheap, we just need a massive deportation to happen for us to get the proper rate.
Actually the margin is closer to 30-65% of what the actual load pays. Not to mention, I would love to see this so-called transparency, when was the last time anyone has ever seen what a broker is billing the shipper? I’ve been wanting that for a long time, maybe the TIA should lobby this into law? But I doubt that would ever happen. His talk is as cheap as the rates he represents.
Scared I believe fear false evidence appearing real
That’s bull shit brokers tells this is what it’s paying leave or take it they cheat us out of detention time fine us $100 if we are 10 mins late they lay about when the del time really is like 1 load I need to buffalo NY they told my del appt was 7 am when I got there the tech told me my appt time was 5 pm so I lost my hours for that day. And lost my pick up and lost money the broke said he would not pay for detention time so I got screwed
Look anytime a o/o or a large fleet takes a load that low it will continues lower the freight rate its how a free economy works who to blame …….anyone who hauls freight for a low price that includes company drivers ….the problem is their is to much capacity, that why you always here their a driver shortages…because they know they will haul the freight low in till driver realise that you really can’t make money anymore .. driving a truck. freight rate gets to high their a driver shortage and on and on it goes ……the solution quit hauling cheap freight….lol
All we have to do is make a list of all the brokers that is charging 1% percent over the 10% and put them on a list and do not Hall for them make them squirm un till they are honest. And the biggest advertisement is word-of-mouth.
Let’s face it brokers have gotten rich off Us independent truckers and theres no light at the end of that tunnel we cant just blame the brokers we all know where the real blame falls
It depends on what perspective you chose to look at this situation. Voltmann is telling us. It is the Truckers fault for accepting low rates. . I wonder how his customer would feel about him encouraging carriers to refuse the shippers loads. He also stated “Brokers don’t set prices, the market does”. Is he implying the shippers are breaching their contracted rates to exploit the market? The only floating rates are the transactional markets, the inconsistent/extra loads. These are in fact determined by the ebbs and tides of the market. However, when the carrier or the broker particpates in the RFQ and submits rates, once accepted, a contract is signed. These rates stay in effect until the next RFQ. No REPUTABLE shipper I have ever Dealt with would exploit the markets by hacking down their ‘contracted” rates just because they can. Why because they understand there are times they may be paying a few pennies more when the market is in their favor. But also realize when that proverbial pendulum swings back the carrier could be making more predicated on the market shifts. They call this a strategic partnership. The conclusion is focus on companies willing to develop a DIRECT relationship with the owners of the capacity, the Trucker. Let the broker continue to bottom feed. The more Truckers/carriers that circumvent the brokers to build the relationship with the shipper will develop more consistent freight and cash flows.
If we don’t take a stand for what’s right, a whole lot of us are going to be crying!
So what else u want us to do?? Sit at our homes and who will pay the insurances and mortgage on our houses and rest of the bills, i sat home for about 2weeks doing nothing but have to go on road to pay the bills🤷♂️🤷♂️, u r here to help us mr. CEO
12% with little or no overhead. And btw, I’ve been turning down low freight rates, not accepting their BS.
I understand what everyone here had to say(1 way or the other) and honestly its completely sad for anyone out here that feels like we shouldn’t automatically get a fair rate of a minimum $3 per mile! I’m speaking for O/O. JUST A SHORT WHILE BACK I had a broker I pulled loads for everyday Say to me during a conversation we had discussing the Rate(He wasn’t happy adding another $50 to the rate,because he had a family at home to take care of,and I said to him(So do I as well as a Company to run with expenses that he doesn’t have) in order to move his freight! Guess what he thought about it and made sure he gave me the Rate I requested, but due to that conversation we had,shortly their after I chose to not deal with him any more. Honestly guys, we all have to stand up as a unit out here and stop pulling cheap ass freight, but also be willing to stop all movement in order to get things moving in our direction! So for the Guy who hauls the high paying military freight, be quicker to give good advice than to try bringing others done, because each one of us experience different things inside the same industry.
WE ALL ARE FOOLS!!! WE ALLOW PEOPLE TO KEEP US FROM OUR FAMILIES AND CALL US HEROES TO RESPOND IN A TIME WHERE THEY’RE TELLING EVERYONE ELSE TO STAY AT HOME. THEY MAKE CERTAIN LOADS EXEMPT FROM HOS REGULATIONS BECAUSE WE ARE IN A CRISIS. MY FAMILY IS ALWAYS IN A CRISIS BUT THEY DONT EXEMPT ME FROM HOS WHEN IM TRYING TO EARN A LIVING FOR MY FAMILY. WE HAVE MORE POWER THEN WE KNOW BUT UNTIL WE DECIDE TO NOT MOVE AS A WHOLE THEN WE CAN GET THE RESPECT THAT WE DESERVE. WE WORK 14HR DAYS AND WE THINK THAT WERE GETTING PAID MORE THAN THE AVERAGE JOE. DO THE MATH WHEN YOU GET PAID. ITS USUALLY somewhere between $12-$15/hr with overtime. THINK ABOUT IT !!!
finally somebody doing the math you’re absolutely right
I agree with you 110% of a time sir.
Until we feel the pain of walking as individual that we’ll come together and change our misery once and for all.
But in the meantime, we’re far from being saved at the hands of the thieves.
what we need to do is get every single truck to shutdown for 3 days in protest.
Slow rolls and blocking highways make great news bites but it doesn’t do anything to get anyone’s attention.
No I’m not an independent owner operator under my own authority but I am leasing from a company. I feel the crunch as well. Most of the freight I haul is contract but it’s still cheaper than last year.
SHUTDOWN EVERYONE. I’LL JOIN YOU AS WELL
You are limited in what you can’t accept. If t HD ere isn’t any good paying loads your FORCED to accept a low because drivers can’t wait r HD etw and burn fuel for days or even weeks waiting for a FAIR rate that roughly is never going to come. You brokers and the trucking company’s have us basically working for minimum WAGE once ita broke down for time away from home. The new tax laws even made the standard federal meal allowance a joke. I calculated I paid over $18500 in meals for the yr most days only eating ONCE. And when you add that to your taxes it automatically changes it to 12500. Your stuck. This job classification is the worst for mistreatment of KEY employees. We get shafted at every turn and only to have more and more regulations shoved down our throats with no option to dispute them. EVEN THE organizations that are supposed to protect us stab us in the back and are bought out by big business and the like. Tell me 1 other profession that makes less now than they did in the 70s. Its mind blowing. We are truly slaves stuck in a 10×10 box 24/7 365..
Now that’s an idea Robert, “ go straight for it “. Most impactful.
Amen brother u hit the nail on the head
You are correct there is no official language for the United States of America. Though the English language has been spoken here for over 200 years it’s by precedent alone, my family came here in the late 1800s they learned the English language they did not talk their native language outside their home they were proud to call themselves Americans they did not call themselves german-americans French Americans Italian Americans they called themselves Americans there are far too many people in this country who come from foreign lands and refused to speak the English language or to conform to American ideals and Heritage this has been spurned in recent years due to liberalism in this country learning the language of the country in which you adopted is a first step in becoming part of that country !!!!
Strike!! Strike!! Strike!!
I don’t claim to be a rocket scientist do anything but the easiest way to get the rates up is not to Halt the s*** take a week off. After every holiday even with the dry van Freight just with people being off for a day or two the rates go up and you get a better rate imagine if everybody shut down for a week do that every month or every month or so and you could control the market yourself you don’t have to park on the freeway and stop traffic man up take control of it save a little money and take time off as a unified group
He defend them how much is he getting. Truckers need to eliminate brokers all together go directly to the shipper eliminate the theifs.
The right they’re all snakes if you refuse the load they’ll tell you I have other trucks ready to take that load been there done that cheap freight prices have been going on for 25 years you can’t run a truck on $1.30 a mile can’t run a business on fuel only they scam off the top show you want the load paidThere like a used car sales person holding money on your trade-in they’re holding money on the freight brokerage fee I hope they all go under
A broker is just a legal way to steal money because they take money from the top of the load and then they take more of the money after they offer it to the trucks and don’t forget that they will double broker loads to and then losing more money that’s why when i call a broker and they quote a low rate i just say no I don’t work for free call me if you find more money for it
Voltman is a big lieing sack of bull hockey and needs to be deballed
7% is common in Houston
A hollieos sitting behind airconditioned desks should make way more money than those doing the actual work. That’s how the world works, right? Competition is a good thing when as a driver your getting screwed by everyone from all sides at the same time. Most brokers and dispatchers don’t have a clue. Need to have 10 yrs experience driving commercially to be one. Driving for a living is so much fun and so thankless I gave it up several years ago. Way too many sonsabitches taking way too big of a cut and all you get are crumbs for doing the actual work. Best decision I ever made.
Open his sack remove contents sew it back up. Anesthesia optional. Anyone got a rusty knife and dirty needle? Can I get a big 10. 4 on that?
Have the rates put on bills at the point of pick up.than everyone will know the true rate is .
These brokers still need to addressed. These mega carriers need to be addressed.They’re stealing and we all know it.
Trucking is not the only industry to shoot themselves in the foot, no set rates, young drivers buried in bills, if Truckers would get together to help each other out, with today’s technology, there is no reason not to share the good brokers, shippers,receivers, against the bad ones, put their asses on blast if they ain’t worth a shit.
He’s right. Bottom line stop hauling it cause it’s good money in your country. The open boarders have destroyed the American trucking industry. Stop hauling it for nothing.
boom then brokers start buying trucks and hiring… Because in the end its brokers battling brokers trying to get the cheapest prices. Corporate America after this coronavirus pandemic is going to exponentially grow be warned.
I don’t know why shippers don’t just eliminate brokers and have there own
The problem isn’t totally with the broker although they will sell their soul to get a move. The real problem is with the truckers they will sell anything to get the move. I am an o/o and never liked the idea of unions but if you want a level playing field you need help.
And what’s their role if it’s not stealing? They do not own the freights nor do they own the truck that delivers the freights. Now he is talking as if the drivers call and ask for the lowest paying load. They are the one who force drivers to come down low by collaborating to offer a low rate across the board. I would rather deal with shipper than dealing with his curvy hands dealers call freight brokers.They are a vampires that sucks blood out trucking industry.
Hell with them.
All truckers need to come together and for 1 week nobody drives a truck owner operator and company drivers guarantee changes will come. We get no respect cause of the idiots taking cheap loads and the crooked brokers playing games.
Oooo poor Brokers 😭😭😭Hello every time you found excuses..Low fuel price,to much trucks,market,winter,summer,shippers,,,,bla,bla.One broker offer me..Texas-Minessota 1300miles..43.000 pounds wather,,,for 1200$..in pandemic!!!Put the load ona board whit one price,and sit and wait,,company and dispatch call him for load,when see how much calls.remove load put lower prices and rethurn load.Ooooo poor brokers….STOP BROKERS STOP LEGAL ROBBERY.
I own a small fleet in Laredo,Tx an d in my opinion it also has to do with companies hiring B1 drivers, this companies will get cheaper loads from the brokers, that will affect the rest of the other companies they should band all this companies from employing B1 drivers and hire only American licenses drivers
You must really think you’re something special, calling people pukes.
I’ve been at this game for 50 years. It’s easier for me to say what I haven’t transported than what I have.
So show some respect or shut the fuck up!
Umm that guys is confused. I have seen many loads remain on load boards past the pickup time because the bids were too high. I am talking about in many cases truckers just asking for a rate that covers their cost.
He is 100 % correct and i hope that the brokers keep the rates even lower so low that the cheap carriers go out of business they meaning the carriers that haul cheap freight
Wow you don’t know a damm thing. I’ve been out hear 43 years . Companies and owner operators take freight as it’s offered up on the load sites. We don’t have time to play the broker game of haggling back and forth. We try to get more and sometimes we do. But we’ll see the load on the board later or the next day and ya it’s higher because they offered the load to damm cheap in the first place. We as owner operators have a lot of experience. Go see what a new truck cost. Then go to a shop and get it worked on . They rape you and you get raped twice as much if you break down in the oil field state of Texas. I know cause it happened to me. I could go on and on but you people don’t know a damm thing when it comes to trucking or rates unless you’ve been out here like I’ve been. So take what you think you know about trucking and go far away. Cause you don’t know crap. I haven’t seen rates go up in 40 years . Not to keep up with the cost of trucks parts labor fuel. The last time fuel went up remember ?? 2008 I lost 9 trucks just like that . So don’t get me started on all this crap . You say it’s truckers fault go blow your hot air off some where else. Get the faxes right. I know someone thats family and what he makes takes money right out of truckers pockets. Just to name one. So before you go any further you better get it right or you going to have problem. We are about ready to strike and it won’t take much more. Thank-you for your time. Have a good day.
All drivers need to get together Owner Operators, company drivers, over the road drivers, local drivers, mileage drivers as well as hourly drivers need to get in on this, because it affects us all.. I love my country but I don’t trust my government.. I’d hate to do it but now is the time for us to take back some of our benefits we’ve lost over the years, including a retirement plan or a better retirement plan, health insurance or better health benefits and pay rather it be percentage of of a load, mileage or hourly… now is our time. We are holding the country together rite now.. as I say before may 14th would be a good time for a strike or whatever because it is after our Mother’s Day ( our wives, daughters, sisters) shouldn’t have to pay for what we do, but is 2 week before the next major holiday (memorial day) and everyone will want us back driving before that holiday gets here.. God help us all
If all of us Truckers O/O and company drivers would just STOP hauling for a period of one week companies and brokers would listen to us Drivers
I totally agree with the gentleman… also I could care less what a broker makes just as long as we make what we need to make.. STOP HAULING CHEAP!
These articles PMO….most of the time never knowing what they are talking about….walk a mile in my shoes & own a small trucking business… local freight is zoned, check the points list…consolidation is where a “little” money can be made; but that’s next to impossible bcuz everyone wants their frt NOW. Then of course there is Jose & Paco from across the border with no overhead that low-ball rates –
Due to a stroke (STRESS) I just retired after 40yrs
(started driving at 18) my best advice, besides to find another hobby; is to provide your BEST service, at ALL times, help yr cust’s/brokers to get out of jams & u will keep yr customers. A few of mine left for lower rates & were back w/in 30days due to service. Good luck… Sunny side up 10-4.
We need to Rally, keep our heads but Nationally pick one Broker and Freeze them for a month or longer, don’t take ANY loads from them. We pull for others, then pick another low Rate Broker, do the same, word will get around when most their loads aren’t moving. We all know most can’t stop hauling but we can stop Brokers one at a time.
He is partially right. A company or owner op who drives older equipment and has no payments or doesn’t spend money to maintain thier old junk can and will accept cheap loads.
During this virus was a good look at the power the trucking industry has to make changes if we all stand together and FINALLY park the trucks for just 1 weekend and let those shelves get empty again .
I agree, if we stop taking loads for less that 1.75 per mile, then market will go up.
But we all have to be on the same move
Am new in trucking. Is there a way to bypass brokers and find loads online?
Thank you for your answers.
See link to know your rights: to what brokers are getting paid for loads.
https://www.overdriveonline.com/carriers-right-review-shipper-paid-brokered-load/#
Actually the mega carriers are not whats screwing the rates. As far as that is concerned in the last couple of years. Everyone and their mother wanted into the freight boom in 2017 & 2018. Overcapacity is the reason rates fell of a cliff recently.
Want proof. Over 600 carries went out of business in 2019. With exception of Caledon due to mismanagement and New England Motor Freight(not sure their reason as the company was bought and debt free)
The reason they went out of business was rates were falling and they couldn’t stay in business. Most of the faures last year were under 50 trucks.
And to the mega carrier haters, independent owner operators are the majority of the industry according to the federal database that lists trucking companies by DOT number. There are just over 2 million trucks registered and out of that less than 200,000 belong to the big companies.
You must either be a broker or in management for a big company. There should be limits placed so the freight rates cannot drop below a certain amount to guarantee fairness.
Caledon just emailed me a job recruitment flyer..so apparently they deserted drivers ..got rid of a bunch of trucks..and are back ..
IITS THE SLIMY RAT BROKERS!!!! YES WE CAN SIT 3 DAYSVWAITING FORVTHEM TO PAY US WHAT WE SJOULD BE PAID!!!!! YES THERE ARE A LOT OF SLIME BAGS THST WILL TAKE THE CHEAP FREIGHT AND YOU CAN ALSO NOTICE THEY. ARE DRIVING VOLVOS WITH BALD TIRES AND DUCT TAPE HOLDING THRIR FENDERS ON NOT TOO MENTION 3 OR 4 GUYS IN 1 TRUCK AND THEY GET AWAY WITH IT. REGARDLESS THESE BROKERS NEED TO KEEP THE RATES WHERE THEY SHOULD BE!!!! AND THIS “HEAD OF BROKERS” IS MORE LIKE THE OF A LONG PIECE OF SKIN THAT DANGLES……..
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. I HAVENT HAULED ANYTHING JN ALMOST 2 WEEKS!!!! YOU GUYS NEED TO LET THESE LOADS SIT!!!!! WE ALL HAVE BILLS BUT HAULING THAT CRAP FREIGHT WILL GET YOU MORE IN DEBT. IF YOU HAUL THIS CRAP THIS IS WHATS GONNA KEEP HAPPENING!!!! PLEASE STOP HAULING THE CRAP!!!!! THIS MAKES ME WANT TO SHOVE MY FOOT IN THIS CLOWNS AZZ!!!! THIS IS A DISGRACE!!!! WE NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO STRAIGHTEN THIS OUT AND WE NEED TO LET THE FREIGHT SIT IN ORDER FOR THEM TO DO ANYTHING. I WOULD LOVE TO SHUT THE COUNTRY DOWN RIGHT NOW JUST FOR 3 DAYS AND THAT WOULD DEFINETLY GET THINGS MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!!!!!!
You’re a racist, maybe not in the heart but surely driven by the marketplace.
None of what you said about Indians is true, I drive for em and they don’t do that crap anymore and they surely aren’t in public office waiting to be bought off like lawmakers that look like you and paid to look the other way by brokers that look like you.
Dude the problem is you and many people like you have a problem with addressing your own people and their corruption of the system because you have too much pride to look at them first and yourself second and take off those shades and speak truth to the majority of those that hold power that look like you.
You are correct putting people in pain of not being able to get what they want will get you attention and in a positive manner shutting down Trucking is the answer though that is difficult since you have so many foreigners in this country from South America and Eastern Europe who are willing to run cheap since they come from countries where making $10 a day is the average pay!!!
Yeah I think that there’s a lot of price gouging amongst the brokers we haled a load one week it was great the next week the same load the following week was almost 50 percent cut in the price I think that is ridiculous to do that two carriers we are busting our butts out there in this pandemic NO hazard pay and cheap rates who can run a truck on $0.89 a mile to a dollar 29 a mile reefer loads it should be regulated where they only can cut the prices 5 percent each week not 50 percent US carriers have no control over the price of the Load and I got proof they are the price gouging and when carriers try to negotiate a price the brokers hang up on you and when you’re looking at the brokers average it’s way more than what they want to offer it’s just a slap in the face to US carriers owner operators are the backbone of the industry treat your carriers right and truckers need to stick together boycott the brokers we need a petition
Thanks for reading
Don’t move anything right now if you are not moving it shipper direct starve the brokers out and then the problem is solved when people don’t have what they want and need we will have everyone’s attention
It looks like aTia my of just put himself out of Business!!!
Now just google who he is Affiliated with????
And that might solve the owner/ operator problems
Do not Haul Cheap Fraight???
Let him by his own Trucks!!!
And then wacth his profits sink!!!!!!!
Of course he’s not going to open his mouth about broker’s refusing to pay or price fixing.
He’s not looking forward to time away from home in a Federal Prison!
Let’s see I was sitting outside a building to get a load the owner of this company came out and ask me if that was my truck I said yes he ask me how much I was getting to haul that load I told him 4500 dollars he said it pissed him off I said why he said I give the broker 9000 per load and 50% goes to the driver. He said that is pathetic and then they take 12% of the 45%at the other end when you turn the bol in so don’t tell me brokers aren’t thiefs investigation and audits are in place
Ask some of these drivers what their CPM is or PPM. You will get a lot of deer in the headlights look. They are feeling it now, because the rates have come down to a point were their credit cards can’t handle the maintenance and repairs. This will put a lot of these idiots out of business. Hang in there drivers!!
Mr Voltman, I am an owner operator and working under my own authority, and in two
Years only a couple of times I had good luck
Negotiating a freight rate with a Broker.
So this is the biggest lie that I have heard
About Shippers & Brokers they don’t negotiate nothing they are just releasing
What belongs to the carrier, doesnt matter which load board you used, you will find brokers posting a load for 50% less than others. This is just not fair nor acceptable.
It does not matter what lane you run, every load has to pay the same amount per milage because we are spending money on fuel, food, and all repairs necessary for the truck. Why, if you are picking up a load that is going to a place where there are few trucks and the load is paying well, why do they not negotiate that load and tell
You in your face that where you are going has more opportunities? This must be regulated because I am driving the same amount of milage while having the same costs. So having said this, I hope it is clear that carriers are not responsible for the cheap rates. In my case, I haven’t been able to hire a driver because I don’t have much to offer them. It appears to me that the fault falls on the brokers that have been protected throughout all this time, permitted to contract agents below their authority, which keep all carriers money while trying to make more commission. The broker allows all these injustices.
I agree with Rick,if we can unite and stop rolling across these road ,then the customers will start shouting where’s my freight. We need to stop picking up these loads . We need to stop everything for 3days or even a week,that should get the federal and State government off their asses and do something about this.
Voltmann admitted straight up that truckers are being ripped off by the fact he’s saying we’re to blame. Brokers are getting higher rates for the loads yet drivers and carriers are accepting less allowing brokers to rip them off. Rates are greater than what we’re told and he basically said ” what you gonna do about it “…
We are on our own, unless we all abide by our own unwritten rule of a industry minimum or lobby for transparency and regulation on brokers.
Voltmann admitted straight up that truckers are being ripped off by the fact he’s saying we’re to blame. Brokers are getting higher rates for the loads yet drivers and carriers are accepting less allowing brokers to rip them off. Rates are greater than what we’re told and he basically said ” what you gonna do about it “…
We are on our own, unless we all abide by our own unwritten rule of a industry minimum or lobby for transparency and regulation on brokers.
This response was for Jim that thinks he so special we know you rode the short bus
You must be in a position where you can negotiate. If rates are too low you have to be willing to refuse the load and stay home if necessary until you find loads that pay the driver a fair price. This probably means you have to be debt free with an emergency fund to defend yourself against bad brokers.
Amen brother u hit the nail on the head
A lot of you drivers make valid points, its rough out here. The main point is YOU CAN’T RUN CHEAP FREIGHT. The more cheap freight you run the more the brokers think they can continue offering cheap freight. Myself I turn them down you cant run your truck for free its not about making a dollar its about making a statement set your price as a driver and stick with it there is freight out there worth running. Myself I think brokers are lining there pockets but if you are good at what you do brokers call you. As far as staying United that’s hard because we are divided as a industry until we come together they will continue to play us. MUCH LOVE DRIVERS
There is more to it then that Mr. 3pl tipoff. One divide and conquer is your snake oil. Why don’t you post the true rate not the one driver excepts. Drivers today aren’t business people and mostly foreigners who don’t know a thing about what a good rate is. But here you go truck drivers it’s very simple. Don’t pull loads under $3 / mile and that’s the minimum. Then take into account your running lane as in flat ground or mountains. Look where you are going to burn more fuel. Account for the area your hauling into and account for a dead out of there. Don’t go to Denver,CO. And except cheap frieght out if you can get $3/mile out great but you should gone it at $4/mile expect 500 or more dead head to get good frieght. Hauling farm equipment dirt cheap in Kansas is stupid. That tractor John Deere cost $100,000 and you think they can’t afford to pay the shipping. Become a business person before your a driver. Understand your not really appreciated it’s just feel good words.
Remember this saying ” Mess with my money and you mess with my family and when you mess with my family your messing with a pissed off me” so you that haul cheap your messing with my money… you know the rest… get your act together everyone dump 3pl brokers haul with a direct agent.
Time for brokers to go
Sorry but these mega brokers didn’t become multi billion dollar companies by working on a 16 percent margin. The numbers just don’t add up
Brokers are thieves. Ask any driver who’s ever hauled cars and theyll tell you the same thing
Most of you probably don’t know this, but, as an owner operator you are entitled to see every single piece of paperwork pertaining to any load that you haul from the time it was accepted by the company you are leased to, if you are leased to someone. I’ve caught companies before claiming the load only paid so much money and come to find out it paid a hell of a lot more than what they were telling me it was paying versus what I was going to get for my percentage! Some owner-operators might remember this, landstar got their ass in a jam with this same situation. several drivers got together and come to find out landstar was ripping them off as well as a lot of other drivers by telling them the load paid a certain amount of money when it paid a hell of a lot more than what they said it did! Let’s say a load actually and truthfully pays $10,000 after the company and everyone gets done shaving away at it, the company tells the owner operator it only pays $3,000 and the owner operator only gets a percentage of that $3,000. so again, at $3,000 you’re only getting a percentage of that because they are taking away from that as well and sticking it in their pockets! We as owner-operators that’s where we need to set our foot down! And start demanding to see the paperwork involved with each load from the time it was accepted by the company and what they agreed to haul it for!! it is your legal right to demand that paperwork and there’s nothing the company can do about it! If they refuse then hire yourself an attorney and you can go back on every load you’ve ever hauled for that company and take them to the bank!
I think our President should set the freight rates stop the broker from stealing the money all free paid the fuel surcharge no owner operator see that surcharge because the brokers keep it
I agree 100%!
Always someone unacknowledged will do the l ou ad without knowing their bottom line, fuel prices on the route, tolls some drivers are dustryingvthe industry of CV owning CV your iwnvtruck. Know you’re expenses.
The brokers have been holding on to more money for the past 3 years i know because i have to hear about it from my husband all the time.and he is a owner oppar!!!!
Let’s not forget it’s a market….just like the stock market. Rates go up, rates go down the market sets the rates between Companies, Carriers, Brokers and so on. We are experiencing something that no one has every experienced in our live time and god willing we wont ever see again. Its not the Brokers, it’s not the Carriers and it’s not the companies and manufacturers. It’s a Pandemic, and everyone is hurting right now. We need to come together not apart.
Shipper calls 5 brokers,takes cheapest broker,then cheapest broker takes his cut(I’ve seen up to 65% cut). Now El cheapo broker puts it on a load board,and several drivers call on load… some try to get more money for load and the one that really needs to make his late truck paym reluctantly takes it….AND this is the truckers fault because?
In Canada there are NO!!! regulations regarding load brokers. It is a free for all. Load brokers take as much as they can off the top. Anyone that tries to say different is a plain out & out liar. In fact I could give specific names of certain thieves that would laugh as they hung up the phone for how much they suckered the trucker into accepting the load for & how much they skimmed. Worst parasites in the industry. Many are ex owner ops knowing they can make more brokering than actually owning a truck. White collar crooks. Any business with the word broker in it is about the same. A middle man skimming the profit.
I don’t ever accept cheap freight as O/O but alot of these broker’s don’t leave you space at all to Negotiate and there rates lowest of the low (Slavery)! To name a few to call out! Surge Transportation,Shram Logistics,TQL,PLS logistics,Scott Logistics Corp, an just Recently Sunteck TTS they rates been trash an I know an I know for sure they taking advantage of this Pandemic
Blame anyone you want, and the problem will still exist. The brokers are a bunch of lying thieves.
He has too much of a conflict of interest assume he is honest about the statistics he durrived.
Wow. Arguing amongst ourselves. that’s where all the problems lie. Stop takin cheap shit freight. Good lord. Just say no to the tql and ch Robinson and coyote and allen lund and choptank and any other broker from shitheel wherever. Make a stand instead of bending over and taking it……..
All of you out there are IDIOTS, people get into the business & they’re not even educated. They think all they need is a truck to make money, but they don’t even know there numbers, how much it cast you tiu make a profit, plus fuel surcharges. Every broker, wants to lie & say there is no fuel surcharges. Than you take there cheap load, because he or she just LIED straight through there teeth & said that’s all I have in the load. There are books & videos made about how to be a real owner operator, but you people again DON’T educate yourself. It’s too in depth to go over everything on here, I would have to write a book here. To make a long story short. Always remember, when a broker is talking, they are lying, every word that comes out of their mouth. A brokers job is & always was to make you broker!!! That’s IT!!!
#1. Big Trucking companies, like WERNER, SWIFT, JB. HUNT etc
Pay company drives X cents per mile for a load…yet they LIE how many miles from Point A to B.
●HOW THE SCAM WORKS ! !
●Shaving 6% to 12% of the miles.
1000 mile load – 10% of the miles
So, you only get paid for 900 loaded miles.<—A big fat robbery!
•Some companies pay at a LOWER rate, some DONT PAY at all, for DEADHEAD miles.<–
•Thier company
•Thier trucks
•Thier loads
•Thier RULES !
All of That is CRIMINAL!
Its ORGANIZED Robbery
x 8 to 12,000+ drivers
x Every Single Load
x Every Single year of their company operation.
●That is MILLIONS OF DOLLARS,
FREE !
SOMEONE SHOULD GO TO JAIL…
But they don't.
Who are you going to complain too?
●●As for Hotshot drivers,
A % have never driven OTR,
You missed the above explained Robbery of "Knights of the Road."
☆A term we all used back in 1978.<—MANY often miss OTR, DEDICATED & LTL DEDICATED TRUCKING JOBS.
NONE THE LESS, HERE YOU ARE!
●Your learning the Brokers are also criminals.
Robbing, lieing, manipulation of freight rates.
●●YET, even fuel ONLY LOADS are taken by some COOKIE yoyo.
Which screws up, trucking RATHER ITS A LARGE CAR or
Hot Shot trucking for everyone.
●Bottom line, don’t take cheap freight.
●Negotiations are always in play.
●if possible, book your own customers.
Have a bless day
Ssg Rock, former US ARMY MEDIC
Trucker before & after
Brokers of his status is more about the money for himself. In my opinion 2% is good enough. O/O pay alot more in bills and barely making enough to feed their families. Inorder to make it out here a driver needs at least $2.75 to $4 a mile plus 100% fuel surcharge. And these Mega truck stops price gouge the take advantage of the American truck driver saying it’s convenience when it’s a necessity for truck drivers
If we would only unite as truckers that would solve most of the problem. Know your operating cost per mile, mine is $3.15. If we’re not making minimum, what’s the sense? We must work together and stop hauling these cheap frights.
Does the Broker have a fiducury to the shipper and/or carrier? Should the broker fee be regulated by congress?
The MAJOR problem with trucking is truckers themselves!! PERIOD!!! They fight and bitch with one another and WON’T Unite at all!! Trucking has become like all the rest of America..scared, fat and lazy!! The second PROBLEM is trucking company OWNERS!! Greedy lil bastards they are!! Trucking is slowly but SURELY being taken over by AI and we’ll ALL BE OUT OF A JOB!! And we’ve allowed this OURSELVES!!!
RIGHT NOW IS THE VERY BEST TIME FOR ALL THE TRUCKERS TO SHUT DOWN!!! BAN TOGETHER FOR ONCE, IF YOU WANT BETTER PAY, FIRST & FOREMOST, DON’T HAUL CHEAP LOADS!!! STOP YOUR TRUCKS NOW!!! WHILE EVERYBODY NEEDS YOU, THAN WATCH, THEY’LL BE CRYING 😢 😢 😢 LIKE A BUNCH OF BABIES, BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE NO FOOD TO EAT!!!
16 percent OK but tends to be brokerd 2 to 3 times that really ads up. And brokers are a bunch of lying retired used car salesman
Drivers for years have been full of excuses. Drivers have control, but are to cowardly to use their power to get fairs wages or rates. Stop hauling for these ungrateful people who expect you to bow to their low costs. When they start seeing shelves empty, supplies not arrive. They would change their tune. And no, you wouldn’t be fired if enough did this because they have nobody to replace you. Drivers today make 50% less then drivers 20/30 years ago. Let them panic. Earn fair wages to support your families and stop being cowards. Slow rolling, give me a break. 50-100 trucks slowing down will get you nothing. Park your trucks for two weeks. That will get results. And it’s the only way you’ll see any.
I heard from to many owner operator how brokers don’t paid the load which sometimes can be a full month paycheck. I also wonder why they don’t take them to court.
Wow what a bustard. So Owner Operators pay $2500 for truck per month, $1300 for insurance per month. Yes we can wait at home 1-2 weeks and don’t take cheap loads, but after that we must take it because if we don’t we loose our trucks and business and our credit scores will be destroy.
What if tomorrow all producers of the food will raise prices for food on 50% ?! You will tell to people it is your fault this is free market you should not take food. But people has no choice if they want to live they will give you last money for food to feed their kids. What a moron . I wish you to die. I such dramatic moment those greedy bustards take advantage and trying to destroy real Heroes truck drivers who risks their lives to supply food stores. What a moron. I just has no words.
One truck/trailer interstate carrier. TIA is wrong. Solution:
LAW change:
1. All carrier contracts to be direct with shipper, contain gross amount of transportation charges, full amont payable to broker, final amount to carrier. Eliminate separate. Broker and carrier agreement entirely.
2. Allow all carrier to file against broker bond for nonpayment of transportation charges.
3. Required all load board services to be limited to one loadboard that includes offer rate for individual load, amount payable to broker, and all loads posted and made available to all users at the same time. No separate charges for addded information to load board for service.
You are blocking this comment. It’s only comment with a solution. How much do you get paid to block the comment
Of course he didn’t answer the real questions. It’s easy to blame the truckers, when you’re sitting in California, and are trying to get to east coast, you might be tempted to take a low paying load. But who in there right mind would take a load from N.J. to California, with 3 stops, for $2,700?
That is BS. We rarely see the actual rate as a small carrier or individual owner op. Brokers need to go away. There is no transparency. Also, the largest carriers are responsible for this as well, because they have so much volume that they can absorb some low rates.
Someone once told me the big brokerage firms ,wouldn’t even make the deal unless they could justify 40% take on it
Kind of glad I drive a dumptruck…lol
The trouble is you have 3 major brokers theyre joi ed together and weather o/o takes the load or not theyre is some companies willing to take any and all freight weather they loose money or not because companies like yrc or nemf or ct all have non unoin ends and they will just bankrupt the big company and use the little non union carrier and build them up and say they bought out the huge company.
We are a top rated broker of 39 years experience. Never in 39 years have we ever charged more than 8 percent. I broke in with a trucking company that used brokers charging 8 percent. We have never had a freight claim by anyone, and too many times we have been left holding the bag because truckers insurance seem to find a way to not pay claims. You are free to check our references through the produce reporter company
He is right in some since. But from my experience he’s not right because I have flat out been told by broker when I give them a fair rate that they could get it done for cheaper and if not they would just give the load back to the shipper. I have been told that by several brokers
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He is right in some since. But from my experience he’s not right because I have flat out been told by broker when I give them a fair rate that they could get it done for cheaper and if not they would just give the load back to the shipper. I have been told that by several brokers
They’re exploiting the situation too far When they talked that dollar a mile krapp I just hang up or them The video Santiago made is the truth These brokers beat down drivers That CEO broker Is crookett than a Barrel of snakesJust take a look at his picture you could tell a lot by looking at a man he is a slime ball thief by nature it’s in his DNA he can’t help it
I am from canada and I pulled a load from ontario to BC for $4800 I showed up to the customer and the customer right away asked me how much was I getting payed for the load? The gentlemen was so upset that he payed the broker $7400.. me as the carrier dont agree on having this snakes in the industry. A broker should have a set rate on what he makes on a load. They dont have the cost that we and making the same amount as we do. Also not fair to all manufacturing companies that are getting scammed also the consumer is paying an extra 20% to get there products to their markets. Gobernment needs to step in on this issue. Brokers are THIEVES
Let’s protest
Due something. Actions always speak louder than words. Stop talking and come together. Pick a date and lets take a vacation.
They decided to take advantage of this pandemic and low freight numbers by adding an extra 35% for themselves that’s just wrong and it’s hurting a lot of small companies.
Why not mention price on paperwork with brokerage. That will be transparency.
The brokers don’t even belong taking 16%
That more than the fuel surge charge
Ypu brokers house and cars the look at the truck driver house and cars..
I think %16 too high for freights. Some drivers are dont care some of them do. However drivers deliveres all the freights not brockers.
Never had a good experience with a broker. They lie and lie more. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. They only want that payday and dont care about truckers.
The broker says that we the trucker have the fault. But when we call and discuss the rate they don’t go high enough.
Paying ridiculous rate for haul any load.
Yeah some truck driver are making this worse.
We have to no haul for nobody a least for 2 week and the broker the shipper see who are the Real virus.
Jose pena
This is total nonsense the brokers are holding back on paying the correct rates based on the 90 day average and to be honest you are full of shit . I’m out here trying to make a living for the last month as an owner operator and I’m ready to park my truck I’m paying for fuel insurance road tax truck payment and I’m going home broke something needs to done to regulate this business because leaches like you are sucking the blood out us out here for weeks at a time for peanuts
Hell not me I had a broker try to give me a load going 200 miles and wanted to give me $150. I told him I don’t turn my truck on for $150
They need a big house a big pool and a expensive ride
The freight needs to go back to regular trucking companies that have trucks or leased trucks and only a small percentage of the freight that should be brokered, and the trucking companies take their fair percentage like they did before when ICC was taken out in 1997 professionalism is not in trucking anymore
Brokers have nothing invested and take all the money off the loads and it’s getting harder to make a decent living
Ok, I have read this, best thing I read was “this is the stupidest thing I have read”. This guy who is blaming the truckers for the low rates sounds very stupid.
My question is – what are truckers to do about this and how do we do it?
I think maybe start talking with the companies who need freight shipped and start locking the brokers out. The truckers would make more money, the shippers/receivers would save money.
Another thing that needs to be addressed is the ever rising time it takes for loading and unloading with absolutely no regard to the truck drivers time or the laws about how many hours a driver can be on duty. This, in my opinion, is a huge problem. The people in the warehouses doing the loading and unloading are basically either unaware or just dont care about the driver’s time. The people in the guard shacks or behind the desks are rude about 95% of the time.
Ok – that’s all for now.
He is lying thru his teeth. A broker sets the price. As a broker for produce at one time, I will use tomatoes for example, which are by the box. The broker can bid to haul for $1.50 per box, a load of tomatoes is 1600 boxes, which comes to $2400. The broker can offer the trucker $1.10 per box which is $1760 for the load, then gets 12 to 16 percent brokerage off that. So they have made $640 off the top, plus the brokerage. Which at 16 percent is $281.60. That is $931.60 the broker has made, without touching the load. The only time the trucker is to blame for the low rate is when they agree to haul it. But, there are 5 other joe blows that will haul it if you don’t. So are you going to sit or haul the low rate load? I have sat in Brownsville, TX for a week waiting on a decent rate to get back to Florida. Freight haulers which bring high dollar loads down to Texas, will turn around and haul the tomatoes back north for the cheap rate to cover their fuel. That goes back to the deregulation back in 1983. I will not get into that. But the broker controls the price.
Well if you guys want to hurt them now would be the time to strike
Truck should be paid good we are moving america, we need to stop this bull the are destroying trucking business shipper, broker and other, you need truck come on and paid good price on shipments so we can keep it on the road and you can make some money, and trucker stop getting cheap load money hungry, later you cant buy no tire o good brake and the DOT get you out off service and you wanther why ok ,trucker stop no cheap load and you will see the result ok
Time for a legitimate Truckers Union. Company Drivers and O/O, together. Both the USA and Canada. We do the grinding and get screwed, it’s time that we take control of this situation, not these greedy billionaires or Government officials. Let’s see how they feel about that.
This dude is hiding something, wake up America its time to park and take a 2 week reset
We are tired of seeing these extra low rates on the board and that is where they will be before I run them. We risk our lives every day out here and will not settle for crumbs off the table. More money or the freight will not be moved.
Lot of big companies bribe large broker agents with big gifts. That is how the roll. Some brokers are so full of themselves. I agree people stop think and then pickup load. One week no truck on road put a dent on everybody’s plate. This can only happen if truckers organize and protest.
As owner operator from my experience I dan tell that brokers are big liars and cheaters.
Been in the business since 69. Brokers have always been parasites always will be. If you can not generate your own freight and revenue then get out period. That is what an owner operator does.
I thought drivers were paid by the carrier and not the broker. The broker pays the carrier and the carrier pays the drivers.
He’s a damn lie!!! Him and his associates are riding out the clock! That’s how they are getting away with corporate genocide!!!
Let that phrase sink in a while…
“Corporate Genocide”
According to the law corporate murder is highly illegal – FACT!
It’s time truckers get after politicians over this. Lobiests that lobby for Schneider Swift jb hunt etc. Came up with this log b.s. to help them control the market over smaller fleets and owner operators. Logs don’t make anything safe……hello!!! Bill gates is saying over populated?! Well why the hell are taxing truckers?! Regulate the idiots popping out litters of children!!! These brokers need to be cut out all together, and large carriers need to either be broken up or heavily regulated. These greedy assholes are going to force the industry to have government regulate all transactions starting with the shipper going to the truckers paycheck. I’ve even seen shippers hold onto product to drive demand up.
Too many people forget that deregulation was the slippery slope that caused it all!! But owner operators under cutting them selves to just haul the freight not only hurts others but helps line the pockets of the capitalist corporations. My father owned his own rig and trailer back when freight rates were regulated.. Always made his house payments on time, spent weekends at home and always kept his equipment serviced.. WE NEED REGULATED FREIGHT RATES BACK AGAIN!!
Yes .Broker is an organization of thieves .
Mr.Voltmann is their high priest.
Get rid of brokers,the trucking industry don’t need them
I’ll admit, I’m a bit new in the rocking chair.
However I have been riding in my dad’s truck from the day I was born, and in the 25 years I’ve been watching, even i have noticed drastic changes.
The pay is definitely a big one, but it’s also the drivers.
There are fewer and fewer professional operators, and more and more sunday drivers with road rage.
My old man preaches about being behind the wheel of a chain drive Mack and stopping for the van with a flat tire so they dont loose out on the weekend time.
I believe the first step to getting the public on our side, is to show the public we are on their side, and show we are still the “Knights of the Highway”
What we all need to do is just stop rolling for a couple weeks. Everyone. Company and O/O alike. Just… S t o p. 2 weeks. Half of us have already figured out how to live on nothing by cutting out every expense possible in our lives, so what’s another two weeks of the same? It’s really that simple.
Dispatch: We need you to pick up this load in Dayton OH 1400 tomorrow…
Driver: Get bent. I’m not moving for a couple weeks.
Dispatch: If you don’t go get this load, you can clear out your truck.
Driver: Ok. It’ll be parked at the TA off Exit 295 on 95 in VA tomorrow…
Dispatch: No problem. Have a nice life, chump.
Driver: *click*
Dispatch to next driver: We need you to pick up this load in Dayton OH at 1400 tomorrow…
Next Driver: Get bent!
Dispatch: Clear out your truck.
*This continues for every call/Qualcomm communication all day…
Dispatch to Ops Supervisor: Dave, I think we might have a little problem…
Ops Super: Naw! Ya think! You’re the tenth dispatch to call telling me no drivers will roll!
*Meanwhile, this continues in every carrier office around the country…
How long do you think it would take them to start offering better pay, better rates, better benefits packages?
Think about this carefully. How long did it take you to get your CDL? It’s NOT exactly an overnight deal. They wouldn’t be able to train drivers fast enough to replace everyone, and that’s a fact! It’s not like people are beating down the doors of Carriers looking to drive for them! Most Carriers suck so bad that they can only boast about a 10% retention rate! You don’t need the carrier as much as the carrier needs you. They aren’t about to start driving their own trucks. Most dispatchers haven’t even seen the inside of a big rig, let alone developed the skill set to operate one.
It’s just too bad that we can’t all agree to do just one thing and tough it out for a couple of weeks.
It’s just as easy to put it on the rail as it is your truck
Fn Dinosaur wages is what i call it. And fucked up politics. It’s simple for all owner operators just take advantage of this crisis and sit at home enjoy ur family while u can and believe me before u know the U.S will be hurting as we already are and for those big trucking companies, well they can only do it for so long before they start feeling the pain to then freight goes from being normal freight to hot load freight and u pretty much get what u want. 🤔🤔🤔💵💵💵💵🦾💪💪🦾🦾🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼
I am one of the O/O its our falls for taking so darn cheep freight we can’t blame brokers they making much as they can but we need to step up and stop taking cheep freight and we need to agree to one rate the freight must go if not that day it will go next day or next week but they will pay what we ask for . JUST STOP BOOKING THOSE CHEEP FREIGHT AND IF NEEDED LETS STAY HOME FOR WEEKS!!! Until we get the rate we want and needed to be paid because now its our time
You can thank Jimmy Carter for De- Regulation..Freight rates USED to be regulated!!
Unfortunately Brokers should be helping the truckers get a fair rate but My own experience is that brokers work extra hard to find the lowest possible rate sometimes even verbally convincing the truck driver that someone will do it cheaper. An honest rate agreement would establish what the shipper is paying what the brokers actual fees are and what the truck is being paid ect. Payment should also be made within 7 days of delivery
His going to take up for the brokers he represents them I checked up on a couple of loads I hauled Walmart freight the fuel surcharge has dropped but the rate hasn’t. They know there’s more trucks than loads so their trying to get the cheapest rate they can. I hauled a load from boise to Los Lunas NM $2500.00 a month ago now their trying to get it done for $1200.00
Most of you guys see it one sided. All I see is how brokers are ripping smaller truck drivers off, but you never see anybody mentioning about when the market flips you guys prices are ridiculous. Most companies aren’t making money as you think. There is a simple thing available to the public called “earnings statement “ free to the public for viewing you will see that even the trucking giants have been taking hits.
Also a lot of y’all have broken English and really should proof read what you rite before hitting “post comment”
The real problem is….70% of Americans truckers included don’t have 1000 dollars saved and everyone that controls your life brokers..companies..bosses all know it you will haul it and you will like it because you have no choice preparation offers choices until people change their lifestyles they will continue to get screwed and continue to bitch and for the 70% it is absolutely your fault
It’s easy to blame it on a driver. But when you are offering him the choice of hauling low pay Freight or sitting and making no money at all that is not much of a choice.
It’s a known fact that brokers take more than their fair share off the top. However it is also a known fact that trucking companies are constantly backdooring each other just to “get the load”. “Underbidding each other for the load”. And in retro leaving the final rate to the truck so low most of the time that it’s not worth messing with. This is why the Independent owner operator is struggling so much. And when they finally bankrupt the owner operator they’ll just find another one, and so on and so on.
I guess they’re lucky I can’t post a screenshot of a leaked summary submitted by a broker showing that they’ve been taking 60 to even 87% of the line haul. These guys are all crooks! As they would say in Washington….the worst part about every crime is the cover up. This guy is clearly embarking on his duty to try and cover-up the theft.
Comes back to greed ,I hauled a load 1300 on 500 miles.when I got to reciever
The owner asked what rate I hauled it for. He said the broker took 800 off this load. He said that’s plain wrong and I was offered direct hauling with the company. Rates. Should be posted on bol so these shippers who cared could control the rate theft. Get rid of bad brokers .if you look into liscence for a broker used to be it was only regulated by a percentage of whatever you wrote down too charge.if you write down 75% than you legally couldn’t take more.
Not regulated takes honest companies and if brokers got held too a flat fee.the industry still won’t change because guys are running .60 cent freight. Can’t fix stupid. We can write laws and laws and regulate but only takes are freedoms away . Put the brakes on enjoy some home time until rates are forced up everyone profits . Those who are sick of the rates get a strategy down make enough to dead head back home rather than accept garbage rates.back haul was created by a thief in the first place. Figure out where your profitable and accept rates that are reasonable. But we’re not the only business that deals with undercutting and stealing sit around some road construction bidders and listen too them try too figure out how they got under bid by 150,000 or more on a project.
They call us heroes..heroes on an empty belly..everyday they steal our money and humiliate us..pulling freight on 1$/mile or less when they cash in big time on FEMA loads???..i start driving 10 years ago o/o,but never seen such a robbery..we have to do somethingor will go broke..i cant cover my operational costs because our bussines is sucked by these thieves and nobody is regulating them..no food in truck stops,no showers open,they want us to pay for parking..no shame and common sense anymore..we become worst then slaves..everbody wants a piece of us..dot,mechanics,state police,tolls,etc..2000$ to renew plates,14 k for cargo insurance,150$ in tolls Chicago to Cleveland???..shame on all of you..we all should get united and stop working for a week…see whats going on after..
I learned turcking at a young age, I’m only 34 these days.. I was taught the trade by a few good men. I was taught service to the customer pays you better then service to your self. Trucking is a dying trade. To many seat warmers and wheel holders getting cdls thinking its easy.These days I work with a group of O/Os and a few company drivers. I’ve been an O/O before my self so I know there are good loads and there are garbage loads. But every load adds to your bottome line. I do my best to keep. My team moving and for a decent rate not just the company drivers but my O/Os as well. Its been hard, Taking that $400 flat rate they throw you for 289 miles sometimes does help keep you moving , and offset the cost of fuel( I said off set not pay it completely). It can also help position you for the $3.18 pm load 300 miles away.
However in the last year I have noticed loads are being moved for $200-$300 less then usually would cost. That is im sorry to say is both the broker and the motor carriers fault. The broker for knowing how many jack rigs come out here thinking they know what it cost to run a truck (tires , grease , oil, fees, etc just to name a few there is more) and the jack rigs for taking the loads at that price thinking your going to be a millionaire. You also have jackrig brokers that think we are dumb and will do anything to keep our precious stallions moving. So they low ball other brokers.
Same load posted 4 times on the board 4 different brokers all lower then the other posting.
In the last 3 weeks alone I have seen and spoke with a few major brokers trying to get stuff moved for peanuts especially on the flatbed side. These guys have dual authority as well.
Newark- Charlotte ($600 bucks)
Chesapeak to Newark ($500 bucks)
The best one yet
Portsmouth to Tampa 1200 bucks with tarps and 2 drops.
There are companies that are taking it all thinking quanity will do better then quality. I’ve seen independents offer to move 700 miles for $1.23 per mile. Shame to them and the broker that offered the load at that rate.
We all need to band together. I don’t necessarily mean slow roll through the city and be a pain to 4 wheelers, we already have enough crap to deal with on regular days dodging the illiterate ones. But let’s try something a bit more organized and more to the point. Work directly with the shipper. Reach out to local and abroad customers in areas you travel. Rebuild what trucking once was. A partnership between a customer and a service man/woman. 9 times outta 10 your standard rate will be sometimes $100 less then what that broker is charging them. You will also find out they are excited to know they don’t have to wait 3-4 days for that broker to secure a carrier that may or may not show up 3 times over.
Truckers ARE hurting themselves ….they want backhaul to pay for fuel…otherwise they would run empty……and I’m sorry to say …but the old days companies stuck together and kept the rates higher until immigrants started companies and they dont care about anyone else but themselves….I’m not racist at all or prejudice but you have to call a space a spade….I’ve been driving truck since 1986 and seen nothing but a decline in business and quality of drivers….
Brokers were ONLY AND ONLY ALLOWED 15% MAX …here’s what’s going on that no one seems to know…. the reason drivers & companies are hauling freight cheap is because the broker isn’t sharing the money there getting paid From the customer..evey broker in the world LIES…..yes drivers haul cheap freight because the brokers don’t pay up. If the customer pays the broker say $ 2,50 Mile. The broker will offer the driver $1,40/1,50 Mile. Brokers have no equipment. There’s no need for them to keep $1,00 per mile the brokers are hoarding the money. And I feel brokers should be sued by drivers in the federal court and taken to the supreme Court to have a law put into place to cap broker fees. And a law to have put into place that no lying about what the customer is really paying for the freight to be hauled and the drivers allowed to see what the customer is paying the brokers
Here’s a thought. Why is it than in an industry that is completely regulated by the hour, everything is paid by the mile?
On this topic, if law enforcement will get tougher on the law about being able to READ AND SPEAK ENGLISH, you will make a lot of headway into getting cheap haulers off the road.
Fuel is .73 gallon no truck payment no trl payment I can haul at 1.04 a cpm…look if you based your profits at 2.00 a mile ….then you have problems…
No, you taking freight at a buck a mile are the problem!
Stop complaining and do what I did, park the tuck. If you want to continue pulling cheap freight go ahead, is your call.
Too many illegal aliens driving trucks dirt cheap since they have no expenses at home living 20 in an apartment
Trucking is no longer worth it
Since 2001
I used to make more early 90s than now
You need to know your cost to run your truck up and down the road before you start getting freight rates. How many miles,drops, fuel costs, is there any lumpers fees. Do your math and quit cutting each others throat thinking you can haul it cheaper than the other guy. Be smart it’s your business to succeed or fail.
I agree with this to a point!
If drivers O/O and large companies keep hauling dirt cheap freight it will either stay low, or go even lower.
I’ve personally seen loads posted on freight boards as low as .69CPM! yes cents not dollars.
I’ve also seen them up as high as 8.00 a mile for short hauls .
Now . Do brokers have a big part in this? I believe they do, because they have the ability to turn down the cheap rates as well not to mention alot (not all) have “contracts” with their clientele.
These contracts state the amounts of freight to be hauled. EX 2.50 a mile to do all the loads the need to have moved. Now let’s say they are still under “contract” with them, they keep 10% that’s 2.25 to the driver right? In a normal economy yes. But the fact drivers will accept lower rates they will offer the SAME load for 1.20 a mile, or even lower. This dont apply to every broker , just one I do buisness with.
Keep in mind the trucking economy right now, there are on an average (last I looked) of 10 available trucks per 1 available load. That’s 9 trucks competing to get the load. It’s like a backwards auction. Lowest bid wins.
You want higher priced rates?
Refuse to haul cheap freight!! That simple.
Both the drivers AND brokers are basically equally responsible for this.
There of course are other factors involved in this equation. Not just drivers vs brokers
We cant leave out the large mega carriers who in most cases afford to do loads for 1.00 a mile as they OWN most of their equipment and have a couple million bucks set aside for bad situations like this.
This guy is on another planet, first off brokers have been cutting each others throats bidding for cheap freight with the thought process of what cheap rate they will offer to the carrier. It starts with them plain and simple period!!! I have for 39 years run completely around these snakes and have had my own customers avoiding these cheap bidding snakes broker rates and fees, they are capitalizing on the fact that so many owner operators cannot bankroll thirty to fourty five day billing cycles and they know exactly what they are doing and how they are shaking down those who own the asset and the cost of operating the asset. Dont buy into his lies.. And 16 percent is a big fat lie period!!! I have personally seen on paper upwards of thirty to fourty percent broker charges to cover the 259k plus sales salary and commission’s and that’s just one sales person that I know personally at a 3pl.
That’s 16% for each brokerage before it gets to the truck. How many times does each load cross a computer screen? How many companies have bought and sold that load? After 30 years, I’m sitting at home.
Here is info on TIA:
The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) is the professional organization of the
$214 billion third-party logistics industry.
TIA is the only organization exclusively representing transportation intermediaries of all disciplines, doing business in domestic and international commerce. TIA is the voice of the 3PL industry to shippers, carriers, government officials and international organizations. TIA is the United States member of the International Federation of Freight Forwarder Associations, FIATA.
Ha! “Market sets the rates” Brokers set the rates, Carries accept the rates thinking if the wheels are turning they are earning….not true!
Carriers that want fair rates don’t take the cheep loads! …watch the rates rise or don’t cry!
Too many carriers and owner operators don’t know their cost. Add to that the fact they buy equipment with huge engines and bells and whistles that do nothing to promote an efficient operation. Don’t need 2 stacks. Even better, no stack. 3 air horns? 500 horse power? Why? Truck geared for 90mph?
Consider all this creates a higher note and insurance cost every month.
Now comes the broker with 10 up to 30 Pct off the top and the carrier gets his 25 Pct off that. There was likely only 15pct profit in the load. Where does that leave the owner operator? In the case of a carrier hauling broker freight, he’s lucky to break even. I retired as a small carrier (1956 – 2012). I can say a trucking company owner me 56 years.
Hes 100% right, if your dumb enough to haul it for a rate, that’s non profitable. Then yr the reason the rate drops. If u sit an say nope 2.00 is what I need, 2.50 is what I need, the rate will go up to that. But desperate, drivers n carriers just grab it. Why they have no clue, about there job. They bought a truck, got an authority an boom. They out for the races. U are the captain, the ceo, the owner. You gotta know yr profit margins. Fyi trucking is 1-5% margins due to all our expenses. The more your willing to sit an wait. The higher that frieght will become. I dont haul anything under 1.80 and 1.80 isnt that great but inn some areas of the country, it’s not bad, because fuel is reasonable. Out west I wont touch it unless its 2.50 on up, so since morons grab it for 1.00-1.50 I dont go out there. Set yr rate, know yr cost per mile, to run each truck, at breaking even then add 20 cents more to that cost. And you’ll have yr rate u need to haul it, ro always make a decent profit margin of 5%. But if u grab cheap frieght, stop claiming a others. Its yr fault. I’ve been saying this for years. U dont go to mcdonalds n say hey I’ll take a cheeseburger and fries, and I’m paying 1.00 nope, you dont call a tow company up and say, hey I need a tow and I’m paying you. 300 only. Nope. So why u hauling frieght, at the rate they offer!!!! Its yr business…sadly remember every truck u see on road is yr COMPETOR!!! so if they can make a profit at 90 cents. Then keep on eye on where they run, get to know that carrier, And then stay out of there lanes. Best advice is never, remove yr costs of a truck note or trailer note even if its paid off, why simple u may need to buy another. So if u keep yr cost per mile always the same rate even after they are paid off. Ull profit will surely go up 10-12% margins but that’s highest I’ve ever seen them inn a trucking outfit. Know yr costs.. stay set inn stone. The md dont budge, if rates stay low, go home an park the truck. Till u see rates going back up. Ir go out n find yr own direct customers nation wide ( like a dedicated lane. Get a contract an show them, your the best choice. Good luck and fyi stop blaiming everyone else, for allowing yrself for taking the cheap frieght. .u haul u caused it.
Best said thank you.
Well said.
If people could get away with paying people.50 they would !!
There is no free market!! Your assuming there is a equil playing field!!! There absolutely is not!! What planet are you from.
You and only you as the driver decide to except the from the broker and or load board at the rate posted and as somebody else commented you are desperate dumb or both. The companies also have a hand in the process, case in point a lot of companies have their own load board/broker division and they broker loads to their own drivers, this process makes it very for a driver to become an ic/owner operator wink wink at approx $1100.00 a week, and most of these driver that go through this process don’t know anything about running a business, they do this as a weekly paycheck and most end up loosing the truck back to the company along with their maintains account
Most brokers are 33% sorry for the bad news.all you have to do is ask at the end of the load the recieving party will tell you .Brokers seem to do very well i challenge just small brokerage companys to post what you make a year per broker in your buisness .That will never happen so stay strong o/o and wait out the loads and see how much more you get on a load
This week alone, I have consistently made hundreds of calls to brokers trying to book loads. As soon as I reject a load paying less than $1.50 a mile, the load is covered by another carrier. WE NEED TO STAND UNITED AND AGREE NOT TO HAUL CHEAP FREIGHT. I am not afraid to blast a few brokers; TQL, CH Robinson, Shram, Swift, Universal Capacity Solutions, Backhaul, and Pepsi (to name a few). These guys have literally told me they can find another carrier to take the load for a cheaper price. These brokers are stealing from America’s True Superheros. WE NEED TO STOP TAKING CHEAP FREIGHT! BROKERS NEED US – WE DONT NEED THEM!!!
#NoCheapFreight #TruckersUnited #StandForOneStandForAll #TruckersDeserveMore #BrokersNeedTruckers
No it’s the segment of truck drivers that are not from this country. They come in and buy used trucks and trailers that are not fit to be on the road. The DOT looks the other way in inspection lanes and accept that they can’t speak English. These are the people that are accepting the low rates. If this country didn’t give people that aren’t even citizens a CDL then we wouldn’t have this problem! It’s not free market…it’s give non citizens loads.
Blame the mega discount companies Swift, J B Hunt, Schneider, Werner. There’s the problem.
He is talking about the Mega Carrier who is laughing as they are trying to capitalize by gaining more contracts at a fixed rate. When they have a problem that’s when the industry listens. Start with the Cause to get the desired effect
Consider how much many of you freight jockies paid for your trucks, insurance, maintenance, fuel, and have homes and families waiting for an income. Truckers sit in their trucks alienated and desperate to make any money at all. Not to mention how are mental midgets.
There will always be plenty of you guys out there that will grab any load no matter how low the rate is. If you want to cherry pick a load, no is stopping you. But this is a new reality. How many truck drivers out there come from Asia, can barely put a sentence together in English, but compared to what they make back home, will drive for peanuts over here.
Broker cost/fees should be paid separate from cost to the truck! Now if brokers are the middleman and they know their cost is $200 and they advocate $1.25 a mile for 700mi load is good to the shipper! How can they not take blame when they know that is not fair and give shipper wrong impressions. $245 is burned for fuel, $350 Driver…Tolls?Repairs?Insurance?Taxes?ELD?etc Everyone must take blame or the brokers WILL NOT be paid without the Dedicated TRUCKER who always gets blamed no matter what.
Without trucks the economy can’t BUDGE. So let’s make a GOOD BUDGET for these trucks like no lower than $1.95 a mile minimum. It’s time to help truckers as they helped you and your families.
I have been a independent trucker for over forty years and never thought I would get rich doing it,but you can hope you do alright.back in the seventies there was ITA independent truckers association that I and a lot of real truckers belonged to.A man named Parkhurst ran it and also had a truckers magazine. We had chapter s in each state.Things were not going well for us back in the seventies . So wth his help we all pretty much shut the country down,he and all of us stuck our necks out.I lived in Madison,Wi the governor threatened to call out the national guard to remove us from the truckstops in our state.We were sitting in our trucks and a convoy came off the interstate on the road in front of us.They pulled over and the soldiers got out and came over and started shaking our hands.Thats the America I remember.We did get some help,thank us for at least the fuel surcharge.But now Big Brother is trying to control everything.If you want to change things you really got to stick your neck out and make America great again.We got a guy trying to do that also,but he is going to need a lot of help from God.
Oh, so you are manipulating the market,… But we have to force you to do right by us by not accepting your garbage rates..
Thanks Capitalism aka Legalized Competitive Greed
So customer pays $100 to move a load. Broker keeps $16, carrier keeps apps $21(25%) leaving the driver $63. So if that is based on a load that goes 100 miles thats $.63 per mile. You can’t run a truck for that very long before you are out of business. Also what is not figured in here is how far you had to deadhead to pick up the load. There is a cost just to move the truck empty. $.63 a mile may move the truck but wont move the truck and pay the driver. We have families to take care of too. Freight rates have not risen with the economy and that is what needs to change. So to all you a buck a mile is good haulers, the sooner you are out of business the better for the rest of us.
16% ?? Doubtful. Brokers control what is paid to the truckers. Otherwise there would be no room for negotiation and I have personally negotiated considerably better rates than I was first offered by the brokers.
To this clown “Jim Estabrook”: If you’re not pulling a drybox, wet box, or flatbed, then about the only things left would be a low boy or car hauler, or livestock trailers. In any case, it doesn’t take any talent to drive a truck; which is probably why most of us do it. Guys who pull box trailers are almost always more skilled than guys who pull flatbed, low boys and car haulers, or livestock trailers, because at least a box driver can back. In 16 years of driving, I’ve yet to see a flatbedder who can back worth a shit.
What we are asking for in Washington is legislation that will result in broker regulation and forced transparency in rates. Ultimately this is bigger than just “give us better rates”. Brokers are not regulated the way drivers are, and they should be. Too many brokers have independent agents on phones all day calling shippers begging to sell their freight. They get a certain amount from the company then they are free to sell the to the trucks as cheap as they want. Half of these agents don’t even know the first thing about the freight they are trying to move. This is where regulation and rate transparency enters. Agents should be required to undergo certain education requirements and be held accountable for clear disclosure of what the shipper paid and what they will pay the truck. This eliminates excessive margins…theft. Get on board and stop working against each other.
There needs to be a mentality shift in this industry. If I need someone to bring a piece of equipment to my home to do work I pay their rate. Basically I need them more than they need me. The idea that we need their cheap crappy freight more than they need my equipment to move it baffles my mind. Maybe the best thing is say no to cheap freight and stop cutting each other’s throats. Problem solved.
Carriers are blame for the low rates . If carriers don’t accept loads, the brokers have to pay a higher rates. However there is no transparency between the brokers and carriers. Carriers never know what the brokers get pay
Ofcourse TIA is going to defend the brokers. That’s who fill their pockets. With that being said, this guy is somewhat correct. Only about truckers accepting the low rates to haul for fuel money or what have you. However, there are plenty of brokers out there that are taking 50% or more of the freight rate agreed upon with their shippers and receivers. I’ve been in many situations where the broker offered a rate and then ended up paying 50%+ more than what they were offering initially to cover that load. I’ve also come across exact same orders/loads that more than one broker was working on and trying to cover, out of which all the different brokers offered a different rate for the same exact load. On top of everything else, there are many brokers that book your truck but still end up shopping around for a cheaper carrier after booking your truck. Once they find a cheaper carrier, they call you back and give you a bullshit excuse such as sorry, our customer covered that load or that load got canceled, etc etc. Which we all know is bunch of bullshit. Brokers play their BS games. And now that they might be investigated upon, the CEO of TIA wants to come in and try to steer the attention away from the brokers. Lastly, there are brokers like Coyote who ends up lying about load details just to cover their orders. Then ends up putting good carriers on DO NOT USE list acting like the carrier is holding their load hostage because they refuse to deliver the order without being compensated for the extra 3-4 days they want you to sit because of them lying about load details or pickup/delivery dates and times. Broker play with the carriers money. Their should be a federally mandated broker compensation to 10% from every load. Hopefully then, they would fight for higher rates from their customers if they want to make more money. Also, there needs to be a federally mandated rate policy for all freight depending on radius. If it’s more than 500 miles run, rates should be no less than $3+/mile for reefer loads and $2+/mile on dry loads plus tolls and fuel surcharge. Any runs less than 500 mile radius should be about $4+/mile reefer loads and $3+/mile dry loads. These were the types of rate back in the 80’s and 90’s. So why are the rates going down while the expenses going up? Obviously, truckers are getting ripped off somewhere along the way. But, (I know this is a long shot) if all carriers just say NO to cheap freight, the rates will start to increase on their own. Because if brokers can’t cover their customers order, then those brokers loose their customers. If brokers start to loose their customers, then those brokers will end up closing doors permanently sooner or later once they don’t have a revenue stream coming in.
Solve the “Cheap Freight” and “Thieving Broker” issues.
Develop Relationships WITH THE SHIPPER!!! Cut the Broker Out of Your Loop!!!
OR, just like the TV Show, “SHIPPING WARS” Someone Will OFFER TO HAUL THAT LOAD FOR LESS THAN YOU!!!
CAPITALISM at Its PUREST!!!
I might not take the cheap load but the next stupid mdf will. And that stupid mdf is not on this page or any webpage So he don’t care. And we will never make it tru this because we are not united.
It’s so sad that most you don’t even know the root of the problem started when Mr Ronald Reagan and his friends decided to de-regulate the industry way back in the 80’s and allowed all these peasant minded people to under bid on the loads so pathetic and desperate some of these drivers became
This a a total lie brokers are taking more they average 16% for a year and that is all brokers does mean that is all they take uber freight on their own web page bragged they had a 30% profit margin so that is after they pay their bill TQL brag on their site they are 20 something coyote has also done similar these are people with no skin in the game no equipment just an offices and people they will drive tons of trucks out of business and jack up customers rates when there are fewer and still make there margin a stupid little game it is in customers interest to keep the trucks viable and not deal with these crooked middle men
M
how can we set standards for minimum rate nationwide?
Come on drivers, carriers, and owner operators stop attacking each other.
Too many of you and your comments care too much about what the Brokers are making. you give them too much power and we should focus more on us the truckers.
yeah sure brokers my take a little bit more of their fair share with some clients but I am sure that it’s not with all of them. and the fact is that they never really disclose that to us so we will never know. but this is our business and we should know what to charge so there should be a standard rate or minimum rate Nationwide.
So the question is what will be the ideal rate for us to cover all of our expenses and be able to go home because the fact is that if you run cheap you pretty much live on the road because I don’t know how can anybody afford to go home if all you’re doing is cheap loads
Brokers, those big companies with either no trucks but operating as a trucking company, or some truck and a million supposed owner operator trucks are largely to blame. They get national contracts, take 25*/*, then pass it to their trucking arms and take another 20-25*/*. It is true that truckers accepting these $1.35 a mile loads are part to blame. I have 6 trucks and they are 1999 -2001 chassis and all 1999 engines with not a single roadside call for 5 plus years. We are $1.53 a mile to operate fuel, insurance, tires, oil, maintenance escrow accounting before driver pay. I could drop the maintenance money by half and get to $1.35 but then would begin to compromise reliability. We have never missed a pickup or drop and our only lost time has been bad shop related on major scheduled work like overhaul. Stop taking their crap rates. Their margins are not illegal, just greed.
It doesn’t mean your dumb to haul the load if you have no options!! That or go home empty. No the brokers should have to abide by ethics. Just cause you can do something doesn’t mean you should!!!
What jumps out at me is Robert Voltman is the head of an organized front & that organized front works against us to line their pockets not ours. Why are we not joined together to take control of our destiny. The time is finally here. Yes 16% average means more than half the brokers are stealing 20 to 50 percent. I am personally against to much regulation in most industries. But if any industry needs to be Regulated it is the freight brokers. Other brokers are regulated, like real estate. Why not these thiefs?
He a flat out lying piece of dung straight out of the pits of hell. A Narcissist will deny fault and then turn around a blame the person who they are assaulting for any wrongdoing. Typical of a piece of crap!!!
It’s called competition. If you’re afraid to be competitive, stay a company driver. Better yet, go back to stocking shelves at the Wally World.
That’s b.s! End of the day the broker is the one that reduces the amount he wants to pay. yes one sap accepts the load for their rate, but the guy who calls and tells them it’s still a cheap rate and negotiated for more and gets for more the 1 day. the next day you call the broker since you noticed same load is showing up and they try telling you they gave it away for less than half of what you negotiated the day before and that they’ll give it to you for less than the day before that’s b.s because yea there’s truckers that do accept cheap rates but the ones that don’t are getting ripped off of a broker was honest as long as he got his 10% he shouldn’t be trying to shoot for 50%
Didn’t Graduate High School, can add 2+2, know how to read and write!! THEN come on down we’ll sign you up for a brand new KW, $1 mile freight and payments as low as $500 a week.
Well that sounds like a good deal Ma I’m gonna start a trucking company and I don’t know jack squat about it.
Thats whats wrong with the trucking industry.
He is not lying. Blame these dumb companies who are F-ING up the rate. I have seen a 170 mile run, for $1450 turn into $600. Yes the brokers are ripping us off, and so is the cheap freight drivers.
A majority of freight is in a contract, don’t let TIS Speaker fool you,
So who does set the going rate?” asked Voltmann. “Like it or not, it’s the motor carriers that accept it. If carriers don’t accept a rate, both shippers and brokers will offer higher rates until the load is accepted. That’s the free-market economy.”
He contradicted what he said
Shippers and Brokers do set rates
All I can say is everyone need to be fair the way it should be post the costumers rate with broker fees post it and then it will be up to da driver to accept it fair in fair
There is always someone willing to haul for cheaper rates. If the wheels are not turning your losing money. Trying to get truckers to agree is like herding chickens! Shippers and receivers cost the trucking industry millions in lost time due to scheduling errors. No trucker should have to wait 5-6 hours or moreat the dock for his or her load to be unloaded. Using lumpers will not guarantee timely unloading! When the government sets down to discuss HOS and rates time lost at the dock should be the number one subject.
Brokers should be regulated, he said average percentage wich means, some brokers take more than 16 percent, who knows how much percentage are brokers aloud to take, I think that maximum percentage should be regulated, so that can work for the carrier
It’s about time that someone has made enough noise to have the Gangsters in Washington to at least take a look at this whole Broker theft and as we all they be bought out as usual and we will continue to get to with no grease! There are no parameters set as to what brokers can legally extract from a load so stop the name calling lets stick together on this one and see what happens; we’re so divided is how these sharks are able to conquer this industry in the first place……..
Hi i think if the government can make mandatory for every carier to put the rate information on paper all this stealing will stop thats the only way trukers will make decent living so no broker no carrier no dispatch no ceo .they can’t steal their drives anymore and it will be win win for everybody thanks
Supply and demand. There’s a small supply of freight right now because factories and warehouses have dropped production. Less freight means less demand for trucks to haul what little there is. So the owner who offers to do it cheaper gets the load.
It sucks, but it is what it is. And it will be for a few months, at least. Do you really think that with the whole country suffering right now, we would just be able to keep rolling fat, dumb and happy?
But drivers have been dumb a long time myself included for taking the shit and rates that the brokers pay it our own faults for taking such low rates and there for stealing what they do off the top. So to the military hauler if you are getting 6.00 a mile your getting screwed like it was said every driver park for 14 days and see what happens. You will get more pay im sure. 23 years of this crap.
I haul reefer loads, and I can say that the number one problem, besides broker’s burning the market is the foreigners! They haul for literally pennies, just as long as their fuel is paid for. They cause the rate’s to take a dump. TIA is full of it.. If the rate’s were determined by the market (stores or place of business) then why the hell hasn’t the product gone down on price? Exactly because it’s not based on the market, it’s up to us to accept or refuse! And these damn foreigners need to stop hauling freight for pennies, plus if your not a US citizen or naturalized then you shouldn’t have no business with a commercial license, PERIOD!
Exactly, I agree with you 100% these foreigners take 10-20 years to understand the market in transportation but by that time they have already made a huge impact in a negative way.
Amen!!!
Owner operators and trucking companies, need to stop hauling cheap freight….Alot of these trucking companies are closing their doors because they can’t afford to run the cheap freight, either America become like Mexico or other third world countries, where living is cheap and only than can we run cheap freight!….I don’t run cheap freight, I’ll deadhead far to get a good paying load….Taking cheap freight is the same as sitting making no money…..We have lives that we work to make a living for, not run America making no money or little to nothing…..Something needs to be done about this mess……We all gonna be forced to stop soon because freight is to low to run….
Point blank… anything that crosses state lines needs to be federally mandated, monitored, and adhered to. Feds need to step in and prosecute, or place a hefty fine on brokers that piggy back loads tendered from other brokers. All owner operators need to fall under a union freight brokerage . Period. So that way that cost of milk , or those materials can be sold for their true price. And stop going otr for companies that don’t pay per diem, or for you to basically be a security guard for their equipment . That’s 2 jobs . SOMEBODY UP HIGH NEEDS TO FIX THIS ASAP… ALOT OF GOOD TRUCKERS HAVE CAUGHT THE HELL OF THIS, CHANGE THE LANE FOR A FAR FUTURE TRUCKERS. 🙌
Yes he is right about his comment only because they can control the market that away.if all the trucker’s was to really get together and shut down for 4 days they will see who control the market why would they be able to move anything without us.
Quit being nieve, brokers jack it up to the shippers and offer lower to carriers an owner ops. Some dummy will accept it and keeps our rates driven down. We have to stick together and no one accept low rates. A few days of that and you’ll see a change. Park it, stick it to em.
Brokers are the bottom feeders of the trucking industry.
I believe we shouldn’t even have Brokers.. Have a load board that the customer could post a load and carrier accept or not..cut out the middle scammers
1 thing truckers & carriers get wrong is calling a load a back haul. How can you be getting a back haul when you are going to unload it & then go back again
Just stop hauling for a week and let the freight sit on the docks then the rates will be paid and you will get your worth!! Drivers are too weak and fragmented to come together as one collective and force change!!! NO ONE CAN FORCE YOU TO MOVE YOUR TRUCK!! KNOW YOUR VALUE AND WORTH THEN THINGS WILL CHANGE IN THE INDUSTRY!!
Anytime someone uses the term “snake oil salesman,” it usually connotes guilt. California…not Claifornia.
I have been saying for decades now, stop hauling cheap freight. It is how our free market economy is set up, if nobody would haul the cheap freight the rates would have to go up. No one goes to a store and gives the clerk $6 for a gallon of milk if they will accept $3.59 for the gallon. Why would the shipper or broker pay more when there are idiots that will haul it cheap
I agree…am home already
You can blame all the emigrant truck drivers that come over here and do the loads for nothing that’s why the trucking industry is the way it is
Kind of hard for carriers to set rates when brokers will not negotiate the rate. The brokers are setting the rates. You say “no” to 10 different loads but eventually you have to move it for whatever they give you because you otherwise sit for days.
You have to evaluate your business and know what it cost to operate your truck per mile. This cost can be different from one truck to another.
I own 5 trucks, I operate 2 on a dedicated account that pays $1.15 plus fuel surcharge and I make a profit of .22-26cpm. That has been consistent for 5 years. The other trucks I have run off load boards and I need to get $1.99 per mile for me to make .25cpm profit. This is why you must know your business. They are not a one size fits all.
Oh look everyone, a super trucker that thinks he is better than every other driver on the road. And he is so talented too!! Why, he qualifies as a trucking God that rules over all of us other trucking pukes. Dude, get off your high horse. You are no better than the driver hauling a load of cow crap. We all haul loads and deliver the product. So wake up asshat…whether you pull a tanker like I do, or a dry van or a refrigerated trailer or a flatbed or even a specialized load as you so call it we are all drivers out here trying to make a living the best we can.
Of course he’s going to say it’s not the brokers’ fault. There ought to be federal legislation to require shippers to publish the rate they’re paying, and to make it available to the company that actually hauls the load. That would choke off brokers lowering the rate, and then getting their “percentage” off that. In addition, if a brokerage is found to be doing that, they lose their brokers’ license for 30 days, then 90 days, then permanently, with no opportunity for plea bargaining.
Why not start all over and get unions back ? What’s stopping Truck Drivers
Maybe because there neck deep in depth
Really. … I had to take over from one of you specialized haulers, he could back his truck up. You can only set and watch so long before enough is enough . I was asked if I could do it no problem, one shoot off the road through the gate to the dock. Just because you don’t haul general doesn’t make you any better then anyone else.
I agree to what u say. What about double brokegin. A holes. Look at Ch Robinson.
That’s fine. It’ll be his attitude, and many other brokers attitudes, that will lead to freight eventually rotting in the docks. Even mega carriers go through brokerages for freight, and they do it more often than many people would believe.
Ya any & all independent o/o truckers excepting cheap rates is a big problem in this industry so it’s no wonder brokers can take advantage of situation here , I’m not leaving out mega carriers iether..so when some one excepts cheap rate they set the market!! Unfortunately!!
Agree OWNER OP ARE THE ONE WITH THE POWER , BUT EVERY BODY HAULING CHEAP FREIGHT, MAKING YOUTUBE VIDEOS.
NOW YOU SURVIVING , IN AN INDUSTRY WHO IS THE BACK BONE OF NORTH
Everyone STOP FIGHTING. All truckers should stop hauling. Everyone let’s stop hauling. If we see a truck on the streets, we need to take their picture and post it in every social media to expose them. We should all stop hauling and then idiots like this guy from the article will be begging us to start hauling again.
We all truckers stop driving…For a month
The weakness of capitalism..everybody for themselves..Stop crying yr own system or support government control..no other solution!
The weakness of capitalism..everybody for themselves..Stop crying yr own system or support government control..no other solution!
Lol simple. Run enough miles to be able to sit for a week. Everyone just sit and make sure to stock up on food TP and fuel before ya sit. Go home relax and watch the news. Negotiate with the president then.
Look, take $200 bucket to a busy street corner. Pick any random individual, give it to them with the stipulation to meet you back 2weeks from now and give it back.
FACT : No one ever gets ahold of $$$ and turns loose of all of it EVEN if they are intitalled to a piece of it. THEY “WILL”,
ALWAYS TAKE MORE.
Until some portion of thier system crumbles from the greed they’ve imposed.
So said , it Will continue forever ,just another their in the system.
BROKER LOADS WILL FOREVER BE IN MY BOOK CALLED
” BROKE LOADS. “
STOP HAULING CHEAP FREIGHT! Stop taking TQL loads for starters. If we all held our ground, we’d get paid what we’re worth instead of fighting over garbage loads like starving dogs!
yea right 16% they take 50%. That’s egg broker and big companies forced to cancel the PUC years ago. We don’t need brokers. They take away the rate they take away the fuel surcharge. Drag them to the court to get the real picture.
As a Broker myself I can admit that most of us thrive on the existence of a gray line between the shipper and carriers. So long the shipper keeps on outsourcing their shipping obligations to a broker they literally are sacrificing those hardworking truckers performing the actual hauling of freight.
Too many guys cut prices with a Ford F250 pick up truck and a tiny flatbed trailer.
They’ll work for peanuts…
It’s the polar opposite of how one negotiates the purchase of a home or a car. One can either lay down & pay full boat OR…. make a reasonable offer. The dealer starts out high & generally can be negotiated downward. If the offer isn’t accepted, you go to the next dealer. Freight brokers start off low & NEED to be negotiated upward. There’s more money there. They have room to play! However, as a WHOLE, the good folks in the owner operator business are NOT good business people or deal makers. They just think that if the wheels ain’t turnin’, then they ain’t earnin. Few even know what their real/true cost per mile to operate is. And the brokers DEPEND on that! They don’t wanna hear from the likes of me cause I’m a businessman. Owner/driver/operating under my own authority AND…. a broker!! I’m in it for the $$$, not for fun. So, I see it from both sides & it’s hard for me to take advantage. But…… is it my fault for peddling the shipment for a rate that has, let’s say $500 in commission tied to it???? I don’t even advertise the rate. I ask the responder what they “need” $$wise. I’m AMAZED at how little they tell me they need! I actually tell them “no, you need more than that”… So, I throw another $100 or whatever at them! Now, I have a friend for life & I’m considered the best thing since sliced bread! Wow…… a broker actually OFFERED me more $$ without me even having to ask for it! What a concept. I STILL made a handsome commission! The industry at large just sells itself short. And then complains about it. It always has. That’s what keeps it going. That’s the ONE thing that’s consistent. What a shame. And the revolving door just keeps on spinnin’….. Nuff said.
I DO work for FREE !
As soon as my training is completed in 3 months they’ll assing me a solo truck (or team) and I will be paid 36 cents / mile and be on probation for 6 months.
They paying a worth value of $ 5000.00 for my course/training, meanwhile I get social welfare, so I can’t complain.
But it’s hard and I am not GUARANTEED to succeed.
It’s a learning experience and I’m investing into my future carreer. Wish me success !
Denis C. (student)
A plan must be formulated. Somehow, someway we all must come together and think of a way to support ourselves. How many drivers are there? We must establish a trust fund where no one person or people can withdraw the funds. We must all donate to a trust fund to help each other with bills and go on strike. That’s every driver from O/O to company driver and demand fair salaries for all truckers. We all sacrifice a lot out here without compensation and it’s not fair!!!
Why are you truckers even complaining about any of this? It’s each and everyone of your faults! Here is why, you guys can’t stick together. Look at the comments in this post, bashing each other! If you all just parked your trucks and had a plan, stuck together, and earned yourselves some respect. I’m on your side. When truckers had a real stike in late 70s they did make some changes. But they all agreed to stop! Stop your blaming and complaining and just stop Rollin for 2 weeks. You would get results. Cause we need TRUCKERS. But you guys gotta be the one to stand up for you. Or just keep getting BROKER From your BROKER.
Actually brokers take 30 to 50 % and the spokesman is off his rocker. Dancing around answers to the questions.
I’m sorry it’s not politics it’s business
Lol half of yall cant make a complete sentence….i am a truck driver but unlike some i can go on and do something else…Anyone can drive and back if taught properly but for most of yall if yall had to do something else in life yall would be screwed and thats a fact! Im a female and most of yall men whine like females…
They will never stop hauling cheap freight until there are more freight choices to haul. Nothing else will ever ever change that.
Turn your anger to the governor that shut down your state, re-elect those that kept your state, and your freight rolling.
You can’t get even 3 drivers to agree on exact terms of acceptable loads, but governors and congressmen can be thrown out of office next election with the vote.
Ex, I had 3 loads in one week cancel on me last minute because the idiot governor of Michigan shut down her precious state, no other reason.
No rate worse than zero for damned sure
45th year in brokering this year, produce out of Az and Calif.. Used to be 8% and 10% with a fuel advance. Then it evolved to ” to the truck”, that was the beginning of heavily topped loads. Young brokers were taught to make the maximum brokerage per load. Sad.
The writer was correct in that the carriers don’t have to accept the rate. Internet load boards have added to the carnage.
Stop issuing opprating authority, limit how many trucking companies that are available and limit the 3rd parties to a fixed rate and the industry will reset to a viable business, with an unlimited number of participants there will never be and end to the fluctuations in rates . People think they, with no business education, can buy a truck and make big money with out knowing the total costs,so they over extended and or cheat to make it.cheat the drivers pay or drive over hours or don’t pay taxes or don’t pay themself as much as a driver of and big carriers make,all the tricks, then the big carriers cut the rates so low even they go out of business, but some how their stock go’s up or big buddy business invest in them to support their manipulation of the freight rates .like swift has done in the past.
Hes EXACTLY correct. I hear it alot. When I tell a broker I dont want a load because the rate is too low, I’m always told the same thing. I’ll find a truck for it , at what it pays. So I sit while the big carrier hauls it. Its not drivers. The only drivers that even talk to brokers are owner ops like me. We HAVE to make a profit on every mile. Mega carrier trucks can run a certain amount of miles with no proffit.
Finger pointing does nothing. One guy says its the mega carriers. Lol , yeah 12% of the trucks set prices, not.
Most of you guys are in the wrong business.OO is dead. If you protest the next immigrant driver will pull around you and haul it cheaper. It’s over….you can’t win.Get smart. Join a company that will give a truck, pay everything including benefits ,and pay you .50 to .55 a mile. The big ones will run you 2500 to 3200 a week . Join their per diem ,and make another 10k to 15k ayear. Don’t understand per diem they will explain it. Its a no brainer. Plus your stress that all of you are experiencing will ease up.
Hey Danny Jones and Rafael , hope these “Slower” drivers catch up to speed and take your advise because you both nailed the problem. But now comes the solution, The Feds need to be held accountable and stop allowing non citizens do drive in the US period because they will always accept less than everyone else. The rest of the problems can and must be solved NOW while Truckers have leverage to Stop taking loads when you are now Soo Vital to this tanking economy. If All Truckers do exactly what Mongoose said, and Yes it makes perfect sense to do it Now because the last thing the Trump administration wants is a crashed economy and shit will get fixed and fast because they know they have no choice to keep what’s left of the economy that the Transportation industry is keeping afloat. Shippers will start working directly with Companies and Drivers and OO’s to get their product moving again and the Pay for Drivers will go up at least 15 to 20% when Brokers are no longer Breaking the Industry. A middle man is no good for most industries especially labor and domestic product and will always cut into the pockets of those doing most of the work. Owner Operaters need to come together and form a system that Only Shippers and Carrier’s can access and set Minimum prices based Expenses especially fuel costs and include futures when fuel goes up along your route. This would definitely level the playing field for all Truckers but will never happen until a Nationwide shut down occurs for at least a week or two. Every one can use the Stimulus check to keep your payments current on any loans while playing the waiting game. A lawsuit can be filed by an excellent Labor Attorney on behalf of OO’s and Carrier’s would follow suit to make sure it goes through before they go bankrupt. Now the Big Question to get Everyone in Compliance in shutting down all lanes since the “Slow” one’s don’t and won’t get the message is a problem that I’m still working on. It will probably take drastic measures like Tire Popping, Glad Handle snatching Ect.Ect. because this is war on all Our Livelihoods and reaching Retirement which many will never see because not many can get ahead or save a dime. Hopefully my 30 years of being in this Industry can help All of us coming from an EX ARMY Driver And Freight hauler of all types including Teamsters and Non Union. Oh and one more thing, Unions are Also middle men and have been Broken since GWB got done wrecking the economy from 2000 to 2008. The only way a Union would work is if it covers every company and OOs to give a high pay rate across the board. Unions will try to get the upper hand during a Shut down and that’s were a top knotch Labor Attorney that Represents Drivers only will be needed because the next would be Hoffa would love to become a Hero in all this. God Willing this will get fixed but the “Time Is Now” we will never get another Golden Opportunity to have the Upper 2 hands. God Bless and stay safe Y’all and Peace Out.
Forgot to Mention that Using Social Media to All come Together and Unite is Crucial for a Timely outcome and Communication at All Stops with like-minded fellow drivers can accelerate the process. Spread the word over your Mic, 10/4 what’s your 20, PARKING, Eating and Sleeping should be the right answer. Rest Up and Wake up to a better pay day. The Foreign Non Compliars cannot handle all the loads that will be Waiting for us all.
To a certain extent he’s right. If cheap companies will haul a load for 92 cents a mile, why they offer it for a dollar a mile. It’s the mostly the foreign drivers that will haul cheap freight, because the crappy truck they have is paid for. You can’t put all the blame on the brokers, the government is also to blame for allowing the crappy trucks on the road.
Pass a law that requires all BOL’s have the rate printed on them so we see how much the driver is actually losing.
It will never happen as long as mega carriers and mega brokers have lobbiest in Washington.
Ive been drivong since 2000 and back than we dint have brokers the Loads psyed Real good i use to haul,from Houston to California for like 10k to 12k AMD come back to Houston for like 5k or 6k….ever dince brokers vale out prices droped and compañies dont want to deal with truckers…..my opinión we dont need brokers we can get out own loads and negotiate out own prices
It appears that most of you are doing EXACTLY what the shippers and brokers want you to do….ARGUE AND ACCUSE each other. The more you argue the cheaper freight rates they get. Focus on how to fix this. Why are OOs taking such cheap freight? Why do brokers get away with taking such a high percentage of the load? Why do you get blackballed when you ask a broker to tell you what percentage they are making (you do know that it is your right to ask and they have to tell you). There are things that need to change BUT this will not happen if we all continue to argue with each other.
49 CFR § 371.3 Records to be kept by brokers.
(a) A broker shall keep a record of each transaction. For purposes of this section, brokers may keep master lists of consignors and the address and registration number of the carrier, rather than repeating this information for each transaction. The record shall show:
(1) The name and address of the consignor;
(2) The name, address, and registration number of the originating motor carrier;
(3) The bill of lading or freight bill number;
(4) The amount of compensation received by the broker for the brokerage service performed and the name of the payer;
(5) A description of any non-brokerage service performed in connection with each shipment or other activity, the amount of compensation received for the service, and the name of the payer; and
(6) The amount of any freight charges collected by the broker and the date of payment to the carrier.
(b) Brokers shall keep the records required by this section for a period of three years.
(c) Each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of the transaction required to be kept by these rules.
[45 FR 68942, Oct. 17, 1980. Redesignated at 61 FR 54707, Oct. 21, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 15421, Apr. 1, 1997]
The problem is this, your big brokers like TQL,CH ROBINSON, COYOTE, LANDSTAR AND SO ON. they are paying congressmen and senators, sending nice campaigne contributions and that’s why you never here your Congress or Senate speaking out about Trucking rates or freight. But they got us every year with new regulations that cost the driver and carriers more money. Mitch McConnell with is the secretary of transportation. Go figure. We have to take matters in our hands AND SHUT DOWN THESE TRUCKS. And if we can do that, WE CAN GET RID OF THE ELD AND GET THE RATES WE DESERVE. WE HAVE TO BUY TIRES, FUEL AND EVERYTHING ELSE IT TAKES TO RUN A TRUCK AND THE BROKERS PAY NOTHING BUT THAT LITTLE INSURANCE THEY HAVE. SHUT DOWN. COME UP WITH A DATE AND EVERYONE SHUT DOWN.
Mitch McConnell wife is secretary of transportation
Then why are brokerage companies and groups like TIA concerned about an investigation? If there is nothing to worry about then they should welcome it. So why are these brokers worried? Because they take far more than 16%, and they’re stealing the accessorial charges as well. When brokers bid on freight they have, mileage, fuel surcharges and accessorial charges such as detention, layover, lumpers,pallets and or truck order not used included in their bids, it’s a standard agreement. How many truckers are getting the fuel surcharges, the detention or layover pay? How often do you go to pick up a load and they say there’s no load, sorry. You ask about Truck order not used and your offered nothing or 100.00 to 150.00? Meanwhile the brokerage company kept money due you or a percentage due you. Yeah TIA knows what an investigation will find and so do others. Corruption because they’ve gone unchecked for years.
We most united as brothers and sisters in this industry to force change. Divided we fail, united we can make a difference. If we all sacrificed and shout down for one week or even three or four days, our nation will suffer and realize the importance of the trucking industry. We must stand together to bring change to our industry. They will come to see how important we are and what our self worth. It is a lot to ask and even harder for some to accomplish, but we need to make a stand and shut down for a minimum of 3 or 4 days. We can stand together and must stand together in order to get the attention of law makers and politicians. It will take sacrifice, our great nation was founded and formed on sacrifice. Stand together or fail as individuals.
I know for a fact what he is saying is a Lie. If investigators want proof they should contact me and I will gladly show the proof in Federal Court. It looks like the only thing that will change the way things are is a Nation Wide Shut Down. Maybe that will get the Governments attention. It would only take about three days. Lets see what the TIA tells the Oil Companies and Walmart, Target, and the Grocery Stores.
If all you gone do is complain about how cheap rates are and how “brokers” are cheating you. Why don’t you cut the middle man out? Everybody complains about how brokers cheat, but never admit how most of your prices are ridiculous. Last year every major transportation brokerage division lost at least 20 Million, to ensure you guys get paid. But you’re getting cheated? Let’s not even talk about the independent broker companies that ran out of business.
Let’s hope all brokers are going out of business, especially that thousands of carriers are leaving the industry. Sooner than later brokers would pay anything to find carriers but they will be in for a rude awakening when they won’t find any.
Brokers are definitely liars! I have heard them boldly lie to carriers and to truckers! They have no care for a carrier or a trucker only the money they make off the load themselves! They will lie about appointment times and timeframe of unloading to both sides! They are a cheap third oarty salesman! They will call drivers not caring driver is sleeping at just to see how close they are to customers inorder to get paid on load often harrassing a driver if load might be late! Irregardless of what took place getting load to customer! They have especially gouged the carrier and driver during this pandemic!
I say we join together cut the middleman out and do like Sam did with Walmart haul direct from the customer
Most of the time customers don’t even know that the broker is stealing from them , more of us should start by talking to the customer and letting them know what you are being payed for that load , maybe they will open there eyes too
I just took an hour of my day to read every posted response to this vid.
First, thank you to the people sitting in that seat rolling across the U.S. to keep up supplied.
I’m looking at this topic from a new set of eyes, but I’ve been a businessperson since 1981 and although the logistics discipline is new to me,
common sense business and the golden rule still applies.
Why DO so many carriers say “yes” to low paying loads?
Are they truly that desperate to believe if a broker calls them or vice versa and the broker says, “take it or leave it. If you leave it, don’t bother calling again.” To me that’s why brokers are despised. Too many jobs, not enough partnerships.
A broker sounds like the real estate and mortgage world…”Spread”. Buy it for “A”, sell it for “A x 50%” or whatever.
Why not just ask an O/O what they want? Find and pay a really sweet rate,
take a nominal fee to book that load. Process the paperwork. Book another.
Then another. Make the carrier a lot of money and maybe gain a new friend. HELP people own a profitable business and live a great life. Isn’t that why owner/operators became owner/operators?
In Hollywood, the wealthy in it live by the axiom that Hollywood is “Show business”.
The emphasis on “business”. Actors focus on their part, acting. They hire an agent and manager to keep them in front of the best paying gigs and break balls for dollars. Actors never know where their next gig is coming from.
Maybe mirror the well-paid actor. Treat the business OUTSIDE driving the rig as a profession instead of an occupation. Get a business manager. Stay in your lane doing what you do best. (Pardon the pun.)
I dunno. Nirvana maybe.
I think Mr.Voltmann is confused or it’s easier to play that role as the truth hurts.
First of if they are so honest why are they posting the loads at those ridiculous and insulting rates when the shipper pays much more.??
It’s known in many cases that brokers pocket up to 60%of the load rate…no joke.
Why they think they are entitled to do this? Because the carriers let’s them .
The carrier is the one that has the equipment,has the insurance, his work and time , regulations….they are entitled to ask for a fair price.
But lately these rates are highway robbery. Why are they so upset when a carrier asks to see the shipper rate sheet,(which by law they have the right to ask for) if they don’t steal from carriers.
This industry needs transparency and carriers should demand better rates and refuse the trash loads posted for insulting rates.
Free market does not mean you have the right to rippoff the carriers.
I couldn’t agree more, I got to the shipper today ready to load and found out that the shipper was paying $6000 to the broker and I was getting $2300 to move the load 🤬, I didn’t move that load
All we need is the customer rate sheet from the broker , only then can a realistic rate be negotiated, till then brokers are going to keep stealing money
I’m a specialized hauler, I have one rig for local and one for long haul. I have been in business over 15 years, every one of them profitable. the secret is do not deal with the broker that you cannot get your hands on. If he’s local to you even better or just make sure you can get in your car or your truck and go knock on his door. That keeps them honest. It is amazing what a “personal” visit will do. And if you’re not going there to collect money and you have time stop in and shoot the breeze with them. Good customer relations goes a long way.