What makes a broker good?

Our hearts bleed for you. for someone telling others that they "look down their nose" it must be tough to be in such complete denial of how they treat others differently, than they expect to be treated.

Refer to: The Golden Rule. I would recommend Wikipedia.

 

I dont think he was trying to take anything away from what truck drivers help the country to accomlish. But for every blue collar trucker who works his bag off and takes care of his commitments, there are plenty who are just as bad as the perception of brokers seems to be. The point was in what it takes to accomli9sh becoming a truck driver. To which the comment "so easy a caveman could do it" stems from. It is easy to become a truck driver. To remain a truck driver and to make a profit to support a career is a different story, no matter what business you are starting.

 

We find you freight on the lanes where you need it
We pay within 30 days or faster if you need it (for a fee)
We go to bat for you if the shipper is taking too long to load (or receiver is taking to long to unload)
We get you detention if you are held up too long on either end (if I have to work really hard for it, yeah I'm keeping 10-15%)
If you're late, we take the heat from the shipper
Many of us provide t-cheks or com-checks for unloading so you don't have to spend you own and wait to be reimbursed
Did I mention that we find the freight? If you were good at that, we wouldn't exist.

 

Here is a idea since you want to find out what makes a good broker . What ever freight you you like to work with flat,reefer,van ect. take 2 weeks get out of the office and go on a ride along if you can find a O/O willing to have a rider. And you be his/her dispatcher they say call on xyz load you do the calling and get the info from abc broker . Once the O/O accepts the load do the ride along and see the crap abc broker ,shippers and receiver pull . Have the pleasure of sitting there waiting on them while they take there 1 hr lunch in a air condition lunch room while you sit in a truck in 100 degree weather in a NO IDLE CITY sweating like a pig in a oven. Or as pointed out earlier about correct weight O/O deadheads in for load of xx lbs if they fuel up to save money cause the way they came is is cheaper for fuel then the way the load is going and that load is more then was disclosed there is the possibility they may be over on gross or even 1 axel that cant be adjusted. Are you going to pay that ticket for him since the weights are off and his is over weight? So now the game of phone tag begins and the blame game starts and lots of wasted time that everyone involved accept the O/O can make up or not have effect them.
Brokers do not have federal laws mandating how many hours a day you can work truckers do so every minute is valuable to us . Not saying your time isn't valuable but you have a kids ball game you want to go to you take the time off that day and just put in a few extra hours later in the day . Truckers we take 3 hours off we loose that time and can not make it up . We can not come it to work early either.
As for calling in and getting price right off the bat . That is a easy fix cut out 90% of the calls post your all in price give your self 10% and drill the shipper for all the info . If it is a blasted email send them a email or call to get all the info . If they get enough calls they may get the hint the more correct info they give the less time they have to spend on the phone.
Just my 0.02 that does make a difference to a truck driver.

 

On the other side maybe go spend sometime behind the scenes with a broker and get a perspective of the CRAP they deal with.

 

I know brokers deal with a lot of crap just like we do. Many of them are forced to work with a ridiculos budget that the shipper gives them. My beef is with the brokers trying to keep upwards of 50% of the budget. I know they are doing it by comparing what other brokers are posting as a price on the load boards for the same load. I cannot fathom the difference in prices these brokers post for the exact same load. I saw one just yesterday, Idaho Falls to Miami $6700. Another broker had it listed at $5000 and he actually expects to find a trucker dumb enough to haul it. I see that all the time. Just organize the postings by price and you can see them right next to each other. I call some of these brokers just to ask them what they are thinking. I tell them I see another broker posting at the much higher price and their response is "well go haul his load then". WTF!

 

Why can you not fathom different brokers posting the same load at different rates? A price is a price not everyone looks at things the same.

 

I tell them I see another broker posting at the much higher price and their response is "well go haul his load then". WTF! Well THINK ABOUT IT, would you not tell them the same thing if they said they know of other truckers pulling the same load that you were offered for less $.

 

Texasmorrell has a good list going and is correct on the list part. We look for ones that will answer all our questions before talking rates. But we also keep a "Do Not Call" list of the ones that screw us over. That includes TQL and CHR brokers. We have good relations with a few brokers from both, but also a list from both that we definitely won't call again.

If you are getting started, keep an Excel spread sheet or some type of notes on the brokers you deal with. Those that are honest and give you good loads, keep going back to. Those that bend you over, make a note not to call again. Especially those that "cancel" loads for a cheaper carrier.

The reverse is also true of drivers. Don't keep a broker hanging if you can't make the load. Keep in good contact with the broker and updated with load and unload times. If you are honest and dependable with a broker, then they tend to reciprocate and keep you on their "good" trucker list.

 

Flatbed, Yes I agree and brokers do have allot of crap to deal with also it probably would be a good thing to go sit in with a broker for a bit that broker your go out of business if I did though . I would be laughing at shippers about there rates . Like Gentleman says they need to keep a list of good/bad shippers/consignee and carriers and not do business with them. If a shipper is a pain always wants to pay low rates and is nothing but drama for them stop moving there loads. Let the shipper go find a bottom feeder that will move there headache free loads.