Are Freight Brokers Necessary?

Sorry to hear about this. Just know, not all freight brokers are bad.

 

No they're not. Check their sources, and check them well. You're on freightquote.com. Try Landstar, or any of the other megacarriers with a broker board. Quit small timing it with freightquote and uship.

 

No actually, I'm an agent with Landstar and we get our freight directly from the customer and pay our Landstar BCO's the full rate and get a portion of it for doing the paperwork, appointment scheduling, customer relations, and problem solving.

We don't bottom barrell scrape like the people you deal with. Hence why Landstar is posting large 3rd quarter profits and our driver turnover is around 30% as compared to the majority of the other companies who are in the 70-80's.

Don't hate...appreciate! I go get the good paying freight, so you can stay on the road and not sit for days on end trying to find your own customers.

 

Our corporate office has over 1,300 employees first off.

Secondly, I take great offense to you saying we do nothing more than shuffle some papers and make a few phone calls! As a broker, how do you think we pay our bills? That's right, with the profit off the load for what we can get it moved for. Not to mention, we split the profit with Landstar. So let's do some math here...

$300 x 50% = $150 per load (if brokered and we're lucky enough to get that much).

Office Rent = $1,200/mo
Utilities (Electric/Water) = $200/mo
Internet Bill = $100/mo
Phone Bill for Toll Free, Fax, and VOIP phone system = $450/mo
Load Boards = $200/mo for employee count of 8 (2 sites)
Cell Phone Bill (So we can be available for drivers/customers emergencies) = $400/mo
Health Insurance, Federal, State, Local, and Payroll Taxes = $2,500+ a month.
Liability Insurance = $150/mo
Renters Insurance = $50/mo
Workman's Comp = $75/mo
Office Supplies = $150/mo (essential pens, pads, TP, paper towels, etc.)
Food/Drinks for employees (for when we're so busy handling your problems that we can't leave the office for a 30 minute lunch break) $150/mo

I'm not even including the odds and ends that go with travel expenses, sales expenses, customer costs, etc. etc. etc. And these are conservative estimates as to what we spend each month.

Total: $5,625 in total expenses. Which means we have to make $11,250 a month in profit just to make ends meet. This is before we have any profit to live on ourselves. That's 75 loads that must be moved before we even see a dime of it to provide for our families or pay our employees anything. And that's if WE BROKER THEM ALL OUT! We get far less (7% of 98% of the linehaul) using our own Landstar BCO's, but do it because we're committed to them and the great job they do!

We find the customers, get the freight, schedule appointments, make gate reservations and equipment reservations with the railroads, ports, shippers and receivers, call and give you directions, help you find phone numbers, addresses, and ensure you're paid in a timely fashion so you don't go broke. We call and deal with irate customers and consignees when you miss your appointment, and fail to check call, or get placed out of service by DOT for being ignorant or just plaid stupid, and we deal with angry drivers when they show up on time and the customer up and decides they aren't going to unload them for whatever reason and negotiate layover and detention pay for you to ensure you're well taken care of.

In addition to all of that, I answer phone calls, emails, and make customer visits on average of 14-16 hours a day, 5 days a week and often work weekends and speak to customers and drivers both on any vacation I'm able to take. As a broker/agent you're never able to step away from work like you drivers are and just walk away from the truck for a few days because our customers rely on us being there regardless of the time of day or day of the week.

I don't insult you for doing "nothing more than holding on to a steering wheel" do I? No...quite the contrary actually. It's not like you have to be the most educated person in the world to drive a truck...people have said it themselves on this very board about how they are ashamed to be a truck driver because of the way some drivers act, dress, and look out in public, but you don't see me treating you any differently do you? No. I'm very appreciative of drivers because without them, the world wouldn't operate, and I wouldn't have a job.

Truthfully, we're not the only reason rates are down. Feel free to blame the thousands of immigrants who've appeared overnight and are happy to drive a truck for $1.20 a mile because it's more than they've ever made in their entire life. They fail to pay taxes on it and send it allllll home. They operate illegaly, and under the guise of reputable companies and lowball you right out of the business.

All I ask is you show a little more respect. I hate the scum bag brokers and fly by night operations out there just as much as you do because they give honest people like myself and many other good agents within companies like Landstar a very bad name.

/end rant