Please help for my class project!

Landstar:

1. Freedom to choose my work hours/days, products and tools provided to help me achieve my goals, support and a network to help me with any issues.
2. There are a few, but they are few and far between. They do take a large cut of our revenue for what they offer so we have to work twice as hard to make money. Probably one big disadvantage at times is the fact that we have non-forced dispatch and often times are at the driver's mercy on whether they want to take our loads or not. It would be nice to have a small division of fleet trucks we could move stuff with if needed.
3. Strong network and backbone of support. Friendly staff. Good people. and the yearly convention we have with education on changes in our industry is very enjoyable.
4. See above
5. Go back to being the super personable group that Landstar was in the 90's. It's gotten quite big and according to some of the staff and drivers has become more about the bottom line than the people. I haven't personally seen this, but if it's the case, I would love to change that.

Good luck. Is this for a logistics degree?

 

CH Robinson

Pretty good to deal they have a ton of freight going to anywhere you want to go 50 % of their rates are ok other 50 % are cheap cheap cheap.

Landstar

The ones that I have dealt with seemed to understand the trucking industry I feel that is a direct reflection of the agent system they use.
That said good to deal with and rates in general are not bad.

Hub Group

Do a little intermodal work with them in Charlotte and Atlanta pay is ok and they do pay fast pay all additional charges and fuel surcharge direct to truck.

TQL

They suck offer nothing on loads and then slam the phone down or cuss at you when you dont take a load paying 1.75 a mile that is 150 miles away going to Florida (sorry experience from about 10 minutes ago). Will post loads they do not have to do a "bait and switch." The new thing I noticed they are doing is posting the same load out of many different towns in the area. Very difficult to get any layover or detention pay from them.

Freightquote

Perhaps worse than TQL employ similar tactics. Also I have been now trying to get paid on load that I did for them 126 days ago and they will not pay because they said I double brokered the load. Did not double broker the load driver was driving a rental truck that said Salem on the side so the shipper wrote Salem as the carrier. The shipper has since told freightquote that they made a mistake and freightquote is "researching it" I guess I will need to file against there bond.

Sorry for the rants brokers get my blood pressure up some times.

 

I was going to post a "me too" to what cominghomesc said, but after some thought decided to be more specific. So here I go thinking...

CHR
Positives: Good to work with and I agree with the 50/50 on rates others have mentioned. By far the best use of technology for carrier check-in and electronic invoicing I've experienced. Fast pay too.

On the negative, just not a real user friendly way to find loads you still have to call on each one and posting up on their board has yielded zero action for me. They only have a few agencies that handle reefer freight and I haven't taken the time to figure them out. Too many other easier customers to deal with instead of wasting time cracking their code. I've loaded them twice, both times in tough markets when I got pressured enough to deal with their system for finding freight.

Landstar
Good: The WYSIWYG company. As a registered carrier, you can see the rates offered. Huge time saver. Except that everyone else can see their rates too and you have to be on top of it to get the good ones. The e-mail notifications are the ticket for that if you can follow them. Very predictable and nearly all agents have been a pleasure to work with. Fast pay with a good fuel card program.
Bad: Just a few minor gripes. Not much reefer cargo, and van-only loads often come up on a reefer or van search. Electronic invoicing system looks like it rolled out with Windows 95 and requires a twain compliant scanner. Time for an update to run on something besides IE on Windows, maybe take advantage of other technology from the 21st century like cell phone cameras for images of documents.

Hub Group - never worked with them.

TQL
Good: Their system works pretty well with one caveat: when good people are working their end. Consistent pay and never had any issues with collections. They have an iPhone app that you can dial from for searching their load board and contacting brokers.
Bad: Their staff go through about a 2-3 month cycle. They have a few actual brokers who have several agents working under them to book loads. They bring on a bunch of new agents who set out to grind carriers and show how profitable they can book loads. That runs off the good carriers and certainly must increase their claims and late deliveries. Then those guys get fired and things improve a while, since you're either taking direct to the real broker or an agent that isn't trying to prove their worth. Good rates without a lot of BS and I'm back to carrying more of their freight. Then the next wave of new agents starts and I quit calling again LOL. I have also seen the same load listed in surrounding cities and have also been booked on a load that didn't exist. It's not been often and I know what markets they do it in. I don't even call on those loads, for any reason. Another bad is that their confirmation is two steps. If you've returned a rate confirmation, you cannot bill a TONU unless you've also gotten the dispatch (this is how they weasel around with loads that don't exist). Rate confirmation + no dispatch = you're screwed if you moved your truck to the shipper. They've also been known to drop rate confirmed carriers without dispatch in favor of a cheaper offer that calls in after the fact. On top of all that, their web load board only works in IE on Windows too.
Jerry Springer final thought on TQL: If they'd improve their staffing quality and quit the dishonest business practices, I'd just about haul their cargo exclusively. They have a lot of cargo moving with mostly good shippers. The good brokers there are really great to work with, and unfortunately few and far between.

Freightquote
I've called on one or two loads and was unimpressed. Too much BS just to call in, and that starts with having to punch in a 12 digit reference number just to get through the auto-attendant. Phooey. Too many other easier customers to deal with that call me instead.

Hope that helps and good luck on that "A"

 

Now that you put it this context... your talking about a different creature all together from what I originally thought you were going with all of this.

 

So I guess the answer is to not use them and they won't be taking any money out of your pocket.