Another Classic TQL comment

Well that would be against the law according to MAP21.

 

Might you be in need of a driver for one of those trucks?

 

Brokers should be outlawed. Most are greedy and take half not the 10% or so they claim. You have the right under the FMCSA to know what is paid by a shipper to ship a load and all incidental costs as well if YOU or your company hauled it. A shipper can use the load board and deal directly with the trucking companies or owner operators saving them money from paying a middle man. This would cut down on inflation and the trucker would profit after they were not RAPED by a broker. The shipper would profit as well as the consumer. They can post the loads easier than dealing with the broker and having him play middle man and cheat the trucker out of the money. They shippers have the same access available to as many trucks as the broker has if they would just realize it. Most brokers post a load and wait for a trucker to call. A shipper can do the same with a monthly load board payment and save money making them more profitable and keeping inflation down on their product. If only they were that intelligent...........

 

There are quite a few shippers that post loads on load boards. They are generally just as cheap as any broker. If they are posting on the load board they are probably trying to save whatever the broker was making on the load plus you're likely not going to get quick pay and you better check their credit before hauling. I don't worry about CH Robinson paying my invoice, Joe's Nut Hut on the other hand might worry me if I didn't know them and make sure they had solid credit.

 

Shipper's also do not have that $75,000 bond we can file against for non paynent. Saved my butt more than once.

 

then who would get you loads? You can solicit work just like they do. If a broker is taking half, youre not doing a good job at negotiating your loads. It has been posted many times over and over by wise knowledgeable members, if a load does not make you money, don't take it.

I understand your frustration, Ive been there, but learn to say this is what I need to do the load and that's it, if not truck doesn't move. Youll get a big satisfaction out of it and make more money.

if youre not getting the rates you want , read up on negotiating or choose different lanes .

 

You are right it is a new trend shippers posting loads. And sometimes you are also right they are as cheap as the brokers. They have watched what brokers pay and think hey lets do it ourselves and really save. usually though you can talk them up more. If they are posting they have a MC number look up their credit rating first. That's what I do I have been doing this for years now and have yet to be stiffed by a broker. And yes many times shippers do offer quick pay. I unfortunately use a Factoring company again after a financial setback ate my savings. I have a Non recourse deal with ABC I am paid in usually 24 hours I negotiated a better percentage with them than normal due to my good service with no issues. But I do have to use brokers on their approved list. If they are not approved you probably would not want to use then anyway. They are a Big company out of Texas with a Triple A better business Bureau rating. My dealing with them have been great any issues we had were easily resolved. they are easy to work with. But when I see a broker that is not approved and I have taken their load I have them write me a check first of 60% of the load before I do it explaining their poor credit issues so at least my fuel is covered if they were to not make good on payment. I invoice the trusted names I have dealt with on 30 day invoice. You know by law they are supposed to pay you in 2 weeks after delivery including weekends and holidays? too bad we sign our rights away with their contract that circumvents the FMCSA rules. that should not be legal............

 

btw, I wasn't implying that w.out brokers you cant get work, Im just saying you can solicit direct work now if you like. Many guys on here have direct shippers.

 

I just graduated from college (although I'm a lot older than the average college grad, had an entire career before going back) and I've been looking to get into the freight brokerage field. I got an offer from TQL and turned it down after doing some research.

I've been in sales/business long enough to know that having that much internal competition means that there is very little to no low hanging fruit left. Low hanging fruit is a necessary and nutritious part of any salespersons diet... And anyone who actually understands business gets this concept immediately.

As for banning truckers from having their own customers... Wow. If a customer has the necessary ability to hire a trucker THEY are the broker in that transaction. In real life most of the customers O/O's encounter are either people who deal with O/O's all day for their business (large firms with steady shipping needs), or freight brokers. Your 'customer' is just one of the former or someone who in a past life had freight experience. Freight brokers are very necessary in some situations, but does anyone honestly think that if UPS needed to hire an O/O for a load they would need a freight broker to arrange it for them?

Freight brokers are a necessary part of the trucking ecosystem because most of the people who need loads hauled really, truly do not have the skillset to source a lane. They don't know anything about trucking, and trucking is complicated. Truckers also don't have time to make 300 cold calls to find a load, or (not always obviously) the social skills to turn them into a long term account that runs multiple lanes per week. Even if they did it probably wouldn't be that practical because they couldn't possibly service all of that customers needs. (Customer needs 4 lanes per week from CA to Washington DC... they do not need anything resembling return service)

The reality is that freight brokers and truck drivers have a lot in common. Both groups cannot do business without the other, and both require a fairly significant amount of skill and in the case of drivers capital investment. All of the freight brokers I've ever spoken with have haulers who they absolutely love and have a great relationship with. Most of the truckers (I assume this is true. Honestly if you're an O/O and you don't have any brokers who you have a longer term relationship with it's probably you. Like most situations where someone says "the entire world is full of ########" they're the #######.) have a broker or two whose phone number they love seeing on caller ID.