Good day!! I hope everyone is staying safe!! I am trying to do a little research on broker service. I am looking to see what the major problems are when using a broker basically the pros and cons and as far as the cons go as and o/o what could be changed to make the service better. Any good feed back or suggestions will be much appreciated! Thanks Rob
Are you a driver? A company owner? A broker wannabe? To what do you plan on applying the results of your research?
I drove for 15 years about 20 years ago. I have spent a lot of my career as a big bore diesel mechanic That built a company and sold it and I have bought some rental properties over the years. At this point I want something to do and my wife don’t really want me to buy trucks because she knows I will go on the road sometimes so I have been checking into doing some brokering and starting a business I can give to my granddaughters. I guess in answer to your question it would be a broker. I don’t know about wanna be I filed for the LLC today, Monday I will file for the authority but as I am sure you know that takes time to get. So I have learned over the years find out the bad from people that use it and try and change it. Kinda called a niche. So back to the question do you have any ideas or were you just trying to find about me??
The more we know about you and what exactly you want to do the better we can tailor the advice to fit you.
There is a lot of anti broker sentiment on this forum right now to warn you ahead of time. Get your authority, get your bond, get your insurance and give it a go! The barrier of entry, like trucking, is fairly low. My negative comment would be your grand daughters probably won’t care for the transportation industry and will just piss it away. Do this for yourself, not your offsprings offspring.
Thank you, I think you may be wrong I am very close to them and spend a lot of time with them. I have always talked to them about First responders, military personnel, and Truckers these are in my mind industries that people do for the love. None of them ever get Enough ada boys. They have learned to have respect for that kinda thing. So how about what would you want to see out of a broker? Keep in mind the broker has to make money too. I have been kinda toying with the idea of a flat rate charge on a sliding scale. So then the driver would no what is being charged. And as the broker for me to increase income I better be gotten the streets and make some sales.
O/O want $3+ per mile when the shipper and other broker are moving the freight for $1 per mile. That's the problem you have to solve. Plus you still need to make money also. Everyone want to believe the broker are taking a crazy pay and holding back. When it probably more just to many trucks now. Since they stopped the economy to stop Covid19 now we are seeing some of the effect as their is no freight to move. So the rate drops
Get good customers with good paying freight. Don’t play the game of slashing prices and squashing the carrier. Easier said then done sometimes. I. Think finding sensible shippers and finding repeat carriers where the shipper is happy and the carrier is happy while you get your cut is ideal. Maybe you can make 10% on the deal. It’s all way easier said then done. The carriers always think they are getting screwed, the shippers always want a lower price or another broker is trying to work their way in. Or, a carrier is back soliciting your customers. It’s very cut throat. However, there are great shippers out there, and great carriers out there. It just takes time to find them. Right now are hard times. If you want to get insight into how some people feel then check out this thread. After reading you may just decide to enjoy retirement. “The brokers make too much”
Well from some of the checking I have found it is kinda along those lines. A rep at DAT told me the other day that right now it is a brokers market. Meaning more trucks than loads. But I have also heard that some brokers will take a fee off the top the discount the mileage pay as cheep as they can. But what I have been having a hard time finding is what the average broker charge to the shipper is. Thank you for your response.