Bypassing the Brokers

Just be careful with who you load,because not just anybody can haul produce correctly. Some of the Russians and the turbin powered fleets will take any load anywhere for any amount of money (meaning haul for nothing almost)and run like crazy with it only too have a large claim on the recieving end. I do not mean any disrespect here but this has been a pattern in produce for several years. Thier used to be a big difference between the old produce brokers and the frieght brokers we have today.

 

Let me play the devil's advocate. You go direct with a few carriers and in the short term it saves your company a couple thousand dollars because you didn't have a broker's fee in there, until that day the carrier you went direct with hits a car with children in it, that was a completely unfortunate accident. A child is killed and as a result your company is taken to court. In discovery, it's found this carrier had several violations for things one would think would be minor... a bad inspection for brakes here, a citation for tire tread being too low, and a speeding ticket or two. You wouldn't think that's a big deal, that is... until the plaintiff's attorney informs the jury that you as the shipper were "negligent" because you failed to maintain regular checks for safety that are readily available to you. Worse yet, you have nothing in place to say what levels a carrier must maintain to pull for you. Next thing you know, your company is being nailed for a $40 million dollar judgement. That few thousand bucks you saved by cutting out the broker still worth it? I didn't think so.

We are your shield. A broker is not only their to move your freight, we're there as your representative. I can't speak for CHR or TQL because I don't know about their safety practices, but I can tell you as a representative for the company we're contracted with, we get a daily download from FMCSA on every carrier that is approved to haul for us. If they happen to fall outside of our stringent guidelines put forth by our carrier qualifications and safety departments that night, the next morning they can no longer haul for us... period. We go to great lengths to reduce our liability and our customers liability by being a safety first company. When an incident does happen, and they do from time to time because some accidents simply aren't preventable, we have a legal team and the money to back up judgements and settlements. Think about that while you consider trying to pinch pennies.

Another benefit to using us versus some direct O/O's is capacity. Let's say you do cut out the broker(s) and go direct. Everything is great at first, but six months goes by and these small mom & pops can't keep up with volume or demand of your rapidly expanding company... what do you think they do? That's right, they broker it out. All of the major carriers today have a broker division because they are biting off more than they can chew promising their customers the world to try and win the freight bid. Then they get more frieght than they anticipated. There are simply just more loads than there is capacity.

Instead of cutting the brokers out, why not talk to one and find out how they can help you become more successful? Have you looked at outsourced logistics? What Transportation Management System (TMS) are you using to optimize your shipments? Do you even have a TMS? What about warehousing? Do you have a cold storage sufficient for your product?

I guess what I'm getting at is... we're more than just some schmuck who posts a load to a load board and waits for a phone call. There are those of us who take great pride in what we do and do it well and we save our customers money by doing more than just cutting a rate to give them the illusion of "cost savings."

 

you've touched on what I think is an industry problem here. There really should be a way for shippers who wish to use O/O's directly to be able to find them easier. You can go to some of the states websites and search for carriers by zip code, but it returns a list of carriers with active and inactive authority, they may be farmers or a garbage truck company. It would be nice if you could search and find carriers either in your area or looking for loads in your area, and be able to focus the search for carriers with the type of trailers you require. I'm not sure what type of options the load boards such as truckstop.com or getloaded.com offer to shippers in this regard.

LSAgentOZRmakes a good point , insurance is important. I'm not sure if it is worth paying a broker $100 or more when it can be checked with a phone call or email before loading the truck. One would hope you would develop a good enough relationship with some of these O/O's where you could be confident they are paying their insurance anyways.

 

It's not so much about whether they are paying their premiums as it is their percentages with CSA and what levels you as a shipper have set forth in your SOP's.

 

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS/Data/Search.aspx enter MC#, free, five seconds. I'm not just out to knock brokers. I think they're great when they really understand the shippers needs and also establish some trust with good carriers. However, let's remember the whole idea of freight brokers came about before cell phones, before internet load boards, even before fax machines, let alone ACH payments, email, .pdf files, etc... A lot of the reasons we used to need brokers no longer apply.

 

When I was an O/O I was approached by shippers and receivers all the time to work directly for them.
I did a lot of oversize and delicate machinery and i suppose they liked the way I took care of their cargo.
It could be a totally different kettle of fish to produce or general freight , so I don't know if my 2c means anything.
I was always diplomatic as not to offend and told the one asking me to bypass the broker to rather ask the broker to request my services on the next move.
I think it unethical to bypass a business partner and that is what a broker is.
I had my share of bad experiences with brokers but after a while the good ones grow to respect your level of service and expertise.
I never cared what they were charging , only what I was getting paid.

My advice to the OP is to find a good committed broker.
Build a transparent relationship with them.
If there are some good O/O that you like then recommend them to the broker.
Unless you have scheduled deliveries you will have a hard time engaging dedicated O/O as they will invariably be busy with other commitments when you need them.
You will then be back to square one.
A good broker who understand your needs can match appropriate equipment and expertise from a much larger pool then you ever could.

 

Danny, re-read my post. You and I are talking about two completely different things.

 

If I were still an O/O and using brokers I don't think I would want to be a direct carrier for a shipper. The reasons are thus. It is a very large responsibility to be dedicated, or even semi-dedicated, to a shipper. What if I want to take time off? What if the shipper has financial troubles (which can happen with a broker)? What if the shippers traffic lanes change? Can I always count on the freight to be there? Do I really want my eggs dependeing on one basket? NO, I think I should want to build a working partnership with a few very good brokers.

This is unless your business model is to grow into a fleet. Then you may consider a direct partnership with a shipper(s).

 

you get a daily download from FMCSA on your carriers, I provided a link where anyone can get access to CSA data on any carrier by entering their MC, USDOT, or name. for free, takes a few seconds.

This is two different things ?