Bypassing the Brokers

I see all this broker bashing.
Brokers are the idiots for choosing idiot truckers to do precious loads.
Okay but truckers are idiots when choosing to work for idiot brokers.
There are idiots and decent operators on both sides.
You are more likely to be dropped by a trucker then a broker.
I'm a transporter but broke out 60% of our work to other truckers/trucking companies.
About 50% of what we make on brokered loads is ploughed back to cover for short comings of truckers in order to keep our standards and service levels up.
Things like supplying proper chains and binders when at the client when truckers pull out crap quality equipment.
The client sees the truck that loads as ours so we cant hang our reputations on poorly prepared truckers.
When they load we have our own people on site to ensure standards are up to spec.
The differences between a good trucker and a poor trucker are usually in the details.
On general cargo there is not enough meat in it to do this whole hand holding exercise.
We do work for brokers but only on specialized types of cargo.
We have a reputation for being very expensive but when we get called we are all on the same page as to the load needing special attention with price being a secondary concern.
We don't move thousands of loads every month , maybe a couple of hundred with 60 or 70 being of the "special" nature.

 

Thank you, king Q. You got it correctly. You can't put every trucker and/or broker in the same bag. There are good ones and bad ones. Going with "special" freight is the way to go. I know this guy that worked at my office briefly, and he was in the military handling their logistics. He gained a lot of knowledge over the years.

Once he retired, he went to move all oversize freight and super loads for Siemens, GE and others. Boy he makes some silly money. He showed me pics of this project he did a few years back moving some turbines. It took him about 6 months to get it all together, with special road permits thru many towns and such, but he made a fortune and so did everyone involved.

Too bad the son of a gun moved to Costa Rica before I could learn a thing or two from him!!!

 

Anyone know about hauling beer was thinking of getting permit for that I hears theres money in it

 

Have to check exactly from where to where. Different states have different rules on it.

 

Depends, not much money in it from what I have seen

 

I don't see any difference in money hauling beer, just like hauling any other beverage load such as water, pop and juice. A lot of my carriers will only haul beverage loads when there is nothing else to haul as they usually haul other freight that pays a little better.

 

I get over $2 / mi on Coca Cola (water) loads out of Texas. Not great, but not dirt cheap either.

 

Could this have something to do with where the load is going?

 

No, it is because the agent agreed to get me out of Texas for $2 or better if I ran a bunch of intrastate loads first. Back scratching thing.

 

Most likely out of Grand Prairie, correct? Short runs. They work if they are same day delivery. Otherwise it is not worth it.