Advice on finding better freight brokers?

Yeah. Its pretty slow this time of year. Everywhere.

 

The problem started when you started hauling cheap for them so they know you will haul cheap and not going to give you a dime more. Most of the brokers can pull up what you have hauled for them and at what cost and the put you in the cheap hauler list. Time to cut them loose and get on the board and find some good ones. Once you let them know you are desprate to make a dollar then they will offer you cents. If I posted my deadhead % on here people would tell me I am crazy but I wont haul anything under $2 a mile most of my runs are short and if I go into an area with low rates its no less than $2.75 a mile that will pay my rate there and fuel back. Once you start working with some good brokers they get to know you where you wont go and what they need to pay you. I know you have heard about brokers saving the loads with good rates for their friends or buddies well I am one of them and if you want good rates you might want to become friends with a few as well

 

First lesson I ever learned: $2.50 loads aren't always necessarily the best load to take.

The best load is the load that I can unload, and then get reloaded only five or ten miles a way.

Lets say you accept a load for $2.50, and then you have to deadhead 300 miles to get reloaded for $2.00. Or you can pickup a backhaul load for $.80 at 100 mile a way. Add the two together = $3.30, but you still had to burn 100 miles of fuel on the dead head run.

Now lets say you accepted a load paying $1.80 and youve found a load back home thats only ten miles from where you unloaded. Do the math, and dont forget the time, fuel and deadhead miles that were avoided.

If your dealing with a new broker and they offer you $2.50 a mile. There is probably a real good reason, and 8/10 times its because there aint any good freight for a couple hundred miles to get you out of there.

$.80 a mile gets offered to you because there are too many trucks fighting over the same scraps. Avoid that truck lane.

What you gotta do is find that happy medium. Use the same brokers again and again. Once you get to know that broker, ask them on the front end if they have anything coming back to your home. Dont ask after youve unloaded, but ask them before that truck ever leaves the house. They actually appreciate knowing youre willing to cover another one of their loads.

Never act desperate for a load lol. NEVER EVER act desperate. They can smell your fear.

 

It's tough right now. I've been getting by. I get usually right between 2.25- 2.50 leaving home. Coming back depending on where I go ranges from 1.30 - 2 bucks. It's hard right now. But just wait till produce kicks up. Then a lot of reefers will be done with the dry freight.

 

There are a lot of undercover brokers here who are telling you that time is tough, but in reality there are 35000 trucks shortage in the industery. Tons of loads do not get booked and get rolled over to the nest day. If you look at the reports how many people were looking for loads and how many available loads, you will know that people looking for loads in these months (what these brokers call tough times) much lesser than the good months. There is a shortage of carriers in the industry which is going to increase by June of 2012. Don't let these undercover brokers abuse you. Take a day or two off and read up on news.

 

MB, not sure what current data you are looking at but traditionally good markets are seeing 3 trucks to 1 load. Don't need the broker to tell me it is slow. When they would give a list of loads they needed covered and now they "may have something tomorrow".

Year round we have a shortage and I agree as CSA moves along we see more and more shippers looking for certain scores. This will create a two tier system. If you fit in the upper tier then you will be on many brokers call list.

Other issue that will play well in spot market is the better carriers are getting brokers and shippers to lock them into good paying dedicated lanes. We have started doing this and even thinking of starting a separate fleet for one of these opportunities.

 

When i was in the van game, I would only go to the hard to get to, nobody wanted to go there places. For example ND, MT, ID, ME. Nobody wanted to go there so i could get the rates up to about $4.00 mile loaded. Then I knew I was going to make $2 mile roundtrip and I was happy. If I could find a backhaul on the way, then great. If not I just ran back home to Chicago and did it all over again next week. Like everyone has said, supply and demand. In the winter, everyone wants to go south of I20. To make money, you have to point that truck straight into the snow storm!!!!

 

I'm gonna have to agree with Bill on this one. Last week I was using a brokers account on Transcore. They don't even have to drive around to the truckstops and see how many trucks are sitting around anymore. There was over 400 posted trucks in the Chicagoland area and it was only noon that day. I dunno but when there was only 150 loads available you tell me theres a shortage. Maybe elsewhere like podunk middle of nowhere. But not in the city there wasn't.

 

Good stuff! I guess I'm a freight ##### because being from Florida every winter I'd say "No running the north" and ultimately run I-80 all winter. Can't tell you how many times I've busted my ### on the ice at the Petro in Laramie!

I've also had good luck going where no one wants to go for the big bucks. Now that I have drivers they do not seem to understand averages and get bent when they get $3 a mile going in and $1.50 a mile coming out. I can show them the math but they mostly don't get it.

Lowboys/RGNs are super dead and I'm afraid that capacity has now equaled or exceeded demand for them. You cannot hardly find a used lowboy or RGN anywhere. Same thing happened with step decks 10 years ago.

My direct customers are not offering any lower rates than normal which leads me to believe that the brokers are making larger margins. I often see the same loads posted by different brokers for as much as $1,000 difference in price. Never take the 1st offer on a load that's posted multiple times.