“The brokers make too much”

1. When i sell a house or an excavator, if someone on the phone asks what i paid for it im hanging up, theres no further point in me dealing with such a fellow who has no connection to reality. We can haggle about what its worth to me or to them or to other potential buyers and its condition relative to comparable units like gentlemen all day but not about how it came to be mine. No ones business.

2. Transparency in housing is easy. I can drive by a piece of land, google locate it, pull it up on a parcel map and instantly see when and what they paid for it. But that has ABSOLUTELY NO INFLUENCE on the market price. It is worth what the market will bid TODAY, not anything to do with the owners purchase price. It has to do with how many potential buyers have the cash. If there are none i must lower the price. If there are many buyers i can get them bidding it up. No matter what i paid. Even if i got it free.

Adding "transparency" to brokers hand will do just the same. Nothing.

It is all in the load to truck ratio and the ease or difficulty of getting a truck to put it on.

 

The broker is trying to dictate what the broker makes. Maximum profit.

The carrier is trying to do exactly the same thing.

In 2018 the carrier was beating the broker from a position of strength. In 2020 the carrier is in a weak position and the broker is strong. Thats just how it ebs and flows with extremes of loads vs extremes of trucks.


I do agree with you that covert double brokers are a scam artist and should be punished as ordinary con men. Meaning book as a truck, flip to a broker MC and repost for a cheaper truck. It makes for tremendous liability and unpaid claims. Should be a crime.

 

The scale pic is a masterpiece. I'd give you 100 thanks, if I could.

They say, they don't haul cheap freight. The pointer on the scale tells them what they will haul it for and if it is too cheap for them they will have to step off the scale. Only then they can say "I don't haul cheap freight".

Still, the very transparency is not 1 ounce of weight to tip the scale.

Among other things, it is about letting people see how the scale mechanism works.

 

I totally agreed with part of your argument, however, I don’t know if you noticed , but our business has been and it will be more regulated. Think about that .

 

Yep. In this specific case , it is our responsibility to say NO to cheap load rates , in my case I refuse to haul for less than 2.00 pm. And I can do that because I’m 100 % independent and responsible O/O and I’m a very proud.

 

How do you manage that now? Unemployment?
Because that fact that you refuse does not mean they are going to pay you what you desire.

 

Thank you for the kind words joe. Youre right, transparency wont change a thing. but it will unleash govt to "come up with a bill" and you all know how bad that can be.

Just remember that the scales is a rough analogy that applies to spot freight more than dedicated long term contract stuff.

The only thing needed to bring spot rates up is more loads to land on the right or less trucks on the left of that scale. We cant influence how many loads there are. Our only option is refusing to contribute to the number of trucks in competition, by having our finances in order and savings reserved to live off while parked throughout a bad rate spell. That is what sound operators have always done, refuse to run for less than profitable rates in order to force the rates to recover. "Leave it on the dock" as they say.

Now when you see the heated arguments online and the cold shoulders given to the guys who admit to running cheap on a shoestring budget because they "have no choice"... Well the animosity should make more sense. That guy who has no choice but to haul cheap because he is 100% debt financed is undermining the whole scale system for the other guys. Especially when dollar hauler augments his income with a youtube channel encouraging other idiots to jump in the same exact way. 'Whatup youtube its ya boy dolla haula shoutout to my man jim at Loan Mountain ..'

This is the point i hope everyone understands. It is not legitimate brokers cutting trucker's throats. It is an oversupply of trucks continuing to operate at a loss. Youve got the desperate, undercapitalized small time truckers who only have spot freight, on one hand. And on the other, the very capitalized megas running on earned capital from the good years, or leveraging huge lines of credit off their massive property equity, who are in a price war with other megas in order to keep their current accounts and gain market share when the other mega folds.

The legitimate brokers are along for the folly and may be able or likely to pull more blatant stunts these days because theyve got the powerplay, but they arent the root cause. Theyre a scapegoat. Regulating them will not address the root of the issue. And then a new scapegoat will have to be found when the issue persists. It wont be the shippers, itll be us.

 

Boom. Theres my cliffnotes on how to fix it.

 

I wait until all those cheap haulers mfkrs leave town and when the broker must move his/her load ... I’m ready.
How can I do that ??? When we have good rates , I save it and when bad times comes I can relax and wait until I get at least 2.00 . I’m not in a hurry.
I got a load las week, Wednesday. Salt lake UT to tolleson , -10 f. 33,000 lbs $1450 Phoenix - West Jordan UT Friday , 1 pallet 34f $ 2500. Deliveried Sunday.
I’m at home sitting in my back yard watching the birds. That is freedom .