Can this industry ever evolve to not needing brokers anymore? Think about it

Funny how when the FMCSA talks about more regulations for truckers everyone says they need to stay out of our business, yet now there needs to be “laws” to protect truckers from making poor business decisions. Lol

If @PureLeafTea is a business owner then I would think the last thing they’d want is the government regulating profits for anyone’s business. Truckers want to regulate a broker’s profit, well what happens when shippers get together and decide there needs to be a “law” regulating a trucking company’s profit? Maybe it’s more of the “everyone should get a trophy” mentality.

 

If you need a law for your business to make money: you don’t have a good business.


If you can’t keep track of hours, customers, AP, AR, rates, equipment location/service needs, drivers wants and needs, payroll, sales, favors, traffic and regulations: do yourself and every other motor carrier a favor and lease on to a carrier.

 

Simple. Don't use brokers then. Go find some direct freight then. Brokers serve a purpose.

 

yeah here is how it would work if you don’t have those little hands in the pot, the consignee who pays for the load will see a possible reduction in their costs when you eliminate the layers, and they will be willing to pay less to move freight to the point that they expect now to pay that $1350.

 

The transparency the OP is asking for, will not, change any of your concerns.
Does stuff happen? Yep, every day. Some of your details may have been wrong information given by shipper or receiver. It could also be Broker trying to cover a load.
Too many variables to determine in a single post. When I get a rate confirmation I call the shipper and receiver to verify information. If the information doesn't match the RC, I call broker to find out what and why. Then decide if I will not take the load or have new RC sent over with accurate information.
Good luck

 

I have said it before and I'll say it again...I love my good brokers! They allow me the diversity I crave and save me the mundane stuff I would encounter if I were to seek out my own customers! I don't like seeing the same freight as close to ever as possible!

 

I see both sides of it. While we have our own trucks, trucking isn’t our core business, and we end up having hauled as many loads as we haul. So I have experienced as a trucking company and as a shipper.

I have basically 3 trucking companies I work with, one for heavy haul/oversize, one for conestoga loads, and one for standard flat, van, and step loads. I try to avoid brokers at all cost, but sometimes any of these small outfits can’t get to the load or don’t have a truck in the area, and I have to use a broker. The broker I use is the best I’ve ever dealt with, but still not good. Some of the time our brokered loads end up on the load boards. Those are the worst of all, getting mostly non English speaking drivers, not dressed properly for the job sites we work on, and with junk equipment or not the proper equipment. I hate brokers, but sometimes you just have to deal with them, because I don’t have the time to call 50 trucking companies to find somebody with availability in the area. I’d much rather use small local companies, but sometimes they just can’t handle it.

 

I never really understood the concept of worried about what somebody else is making. If you take the load, you should be getting the money you need to turn a profit. It really doesn’t matter if the broker is making $5 or $5,000 on a load, as long as you get what you want. If you are not able to get what you want, then maybe you should change professions.

Getting rid of brokers isn’t going to give the truck driver more money. There will still be the same drivers out there, running for the same low rate, adjusting the market accordingly. Only people that would probably see any savings is the shipper.

I have never asked a shipper or a broker what they were paying for any given load. I tell them what I’ll haul it for. On this flip side, as a shipper, I never tell a broker or a trucking company what I’ll pay to get the load hauled, I ask them to price it. The trucking companies need to be setting their own prices, not just be taking what a shipper or broker is offering.

 

Necessary evil @m16ty

I like em for the fact that we're not dedicated to anything day in and day out. Wanna take a day or a week off, go take it no worries. As long as your happy with the rate that's all that matters.