WTF?

Right, rage at them not you for doing everything you can to get these nimrods to haul it at your cheap rate. Lol
Not say I don't understand that drivers are a large part of the problem.

 

This is a good thread with good points on both sides. I wonder how long it's going to be before the right tech company finds a way to cut out the middle man by rating trucking companies on the level of service they provide and having then qualify to be on a load board that direct shippers can use. Seems there's a market for smaller manufacturers or even the big ones to be able to book directly with different trucking companies and just eliminate that middle man cost. And it would definitely hinge upon a rating system based on on time delivery, damages, etc.

 

I do worry about this. Definitely part of why I'm strongly considering getting more into the trucking side. I really don't see myself as a freight broker, I see myself as a business man. My job is to figure out how to keep on surviving no matter what the industry throws at me. The true death of my main hustle inside the industry is definitely near the top of my list of things that need to be hedged.

 

I think we just found our newest millionare! Act on it!

 

The. Entire. Problem. Again brokers do not set rates. Brokers find the cheapest reasonable truck and use him. Think about it this way:

A customer spends money on transportation. That money can be split up a variety of ways. If the customer doesn't feel like they are any good at transportation they opt to spend a bit more and hire a broker to find them a truck. If they feel like they are good at transportation they go out into the market and hire the cheapest reasonable truck and use him. Same rate as the broker would have paid because they paid a skilled employee to go out and find that truck. If a large trucking company hires salespeople to go out and find customers who don't feel like they are very good at transportation and offers to handle it all for them the large trucking company gets the same rate as the broker would have gotten from the customer... Because again they did the work of finding the customer so they are entitled to the brokers cut.

If you take a load of Pepsi direct from Pepsi logistics there is money being paid to someone who sources the truck. That's the brokers cut. It exists on every load. The only way to get it is to do the work of finding the freight yourself. Then you will have earned that money. This work is SUPER time consuming and incredibly miserable though, so generally it only makes sense if you can fulfill a reasonably large amount of the customers freight. Otherwise you'd be better off just letting the broker have his 10-15%. I'd NEVER go out and sell a new B2B customer for 450 dollars. That would be hilarious. When I first got into the business I was pretty happy if I moved a load with one new customer per month and I was working 50+ hours a week. I was making as many cold calls as I could will myself to make. Today I work with 5 customers total and have made maybe 10 cold calls this month. #### this forum has been a wonderful distraction from doing what I'm supposed to be doing lol.

 

There are like 8 startups doing this right now. The one that worries me is the one Amazon is funding called Convoy.

EDIT: Of course I have plans for what to do if one of these things gets traction. Basically I'll start selling my services on a per load basis as a direct consultant for companies that aren't good at transportation. I'll also own as many automated trucks as possible and spend my day moving them around the map collecting money. I could also just get a job as the director of logistics for a melon shipper I guess. I'm not in love with jobs though.

 

Stop it man.
Your stating to many facts and making too much sense.
They don't want to hear that.

 

Yeah I messed that response up pretty good

 

Hey man I'm not sayin it's wrong I'm just sayin what I do. Can I change the system? No. Can I make a decent living navigating the system? Sure. Is it annoying? Absolutely. Is the OP presenting succinct and logical points? Dang straight. I learned something today. Do I still hate most brokers and how they comport themselves? Um...yeah.

 

Me too dude... Me too. You won't get any disagreement from me about brokers in general. You know how clear and concise I've been able to be about this issue in this thread? That doesn't come close to the dirt I know about freight brokers. The stuff some of them do to customers is borderline criminal.

The way I see it brokers have a moral, ethical, and legal responsibility to their customers to provide what the customer paid for. A great many brokers (perhaps even the majority) steal from customers by providing them with solutions that are sourced from a cheaper section of the market than the customer paid for. This is how a lot of them get these bigger 15-25% margins. They effectively sell the customer steak and give them hamburger. I sell them pot roast and give them pot roast. I know people who sell filet mignon and give filet mignon and some day maybe I'll get to be in that business. I sure hope so.

EDIT: I totally used a meat metaphor on purpose. I wouldn't want to misrepresent how brokers see truckers. No offense meant by it.. you guys are just the commodity we sell. I actually like most of you guys a lot more than my peers and bad dispatchers. Dear god do I hate bad dispatchers. I feel a sort of kinship with the kind of independence an idealized trucker has. It's what I've been seeking my whole life. (Yes I have control issues lol)

 

That metaphor was awesome. Cept now I'm hungry.