How do Freight Brokers make their money?

Very good explanation and detail.

 

My company policy only allows me to tender freight to carriers who possess excellent SMS ratings on Safersys.org with no yellow flags on the current record. When I find carriers with no flags then I know to ask what they need to be happy covering a load for us and if I can't afford it then I have to pass and allow them to find somebody who will pay their rate. If I can't find somebody then I have the luxury of using our assets to keep the customer happy. We go from South Central Pa to MA/CT/NH/NY with dry vans but is difficult with getting back hauls. I pay $3.00 to $3.50 a mile which is decent to get carriers back to their home but not as a head haul to those destinations. New customers seem to be looking for carriers that they can depend on rather than getting the cheapest rate. Our goal is to cover loads with carriers happy with the pay, and our customer with the service. It sounds simple but lately has been challenging to find carriers with clean scores.

 

I wish I had inherited my father's salesmanship as as his technical knack. I've just never been that good at rainmaking and sales.

Still, I'm guessing from what the brokers here are saying, if a broker ever calls my company up and specificly asks for ME do drive a load for them, (because of my rep) then I should take that as the highest complement. I've gotten raves from brokers when I get my loads in ontime and undamaged and in a professional maner (dealing with the shipper & reciever) but I haven't been requested (yet). Something to watch for then.

All I ask is you brokers make sure you have as much acurate information on the load as possible. There's nothing worse than getting to a shipper and having to call dispatch right in front of the customer and chase down information that wasn't provided in the order. (p/u #'s, destination addys, receiver's names, secret handshakes, etc.)

 

No such animal as a back haul

 

I get brokers praising me like crazy when I do something right. I've yet to screw up now. I just had one load that went an hour late due to the snow in NY/CT/MA yesterday. I told them first thing I was running behind, and even only needing to average 50mph the rest of the way, I wasn't figuring on making it on time. I drove 10 straight hours averaging 42mph for the entire day to get there on time. Told them ETA would be 60 minutes late, and got there only 57 minutes late. Receiver was quite happy to see me, and the broker was quite impressed I got there when I said I would, and that I got there at all based on the weather.

I do agree with you on the shipper info. I want to know: PO#, purchaser (if needed), weight, pallet count, special instructions, etc. I also like to know, if I've never been there before, how early can you show up (some places don't like you getting there early, or earlier than a certain time), overnight parking, detention policy if different for that customer, etc. And accurate phone numbers.

If I don't get that from the broker, I'll be less likely to deal with them in the future. Seems shady. Which usually means double-brokered.

 

I am not sure every carrier would agree with this statement. Some have specific lanes taking them from their local operations to various markets. Their business model does not include staffing sales in each of these regions. Instead they use brokers to "back haul" their equipment to a specific area

 

Why not just select a driver with a clean score for whatever carrier? Every carrier I lease to always drags me down to their lowest level. I have perfect CSA score - 0 but my carrier has some equipment numbers from running old junky trailers.

 

Brokers. As an Independent o/o I have few problems. I can always count on the load not being what they said it is. The weight is way off, and their lying because I can hear them breathing. They help me from dead heading.

 

Google "Freight Pimp".
Check out www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/test2

 

Are there any brokers that will charge a fixed percentage of the total cost of freight?, or they always hide the cost of freight that they actualy paid for?