Can I Make The Brokers Be Transparent?

You're an idiot for taking that load then. If you feel that wrong about it call the shipper and tell him you'll haul it for 1600 or something. But I've typed that a few times now and it hasn't sunk it so why should it now?

 

To be clear: you're saying that the government should step in and make life/business "fair" so that those who are ignorant will still be successful?

I have to repeat that because I'm dumbfounded by the rationale there.

If you think brokers take too much: cut them out completely. Get your own customers. I have a bunch of my own customers, and the loads that I take thru brokers have to pay at least as well.

If you need someone else to set your rate and give you a specific percentage for your world to be "fair"
Lease to a percentage based company with direct customers.

No offense and I'm in no way personally attacking you @freight-time: life is what it is; if you aren't a good negotiator then being the guy that sets the rate isn't the job you're most qualified for.

Thats part of being a successful independent carrier/rate setter/salesman: Knowing your numbers, knowing the going rate and what the market will bear.

 

That's perfect. Life is not fair and it shouldn't be equaled out by the government or some rule. I am not big enough or fast enough for the nfl so should I say that's not fair? I agree with the last post so much I have a feeling that guy has a successful company. If the shipper agrees to the rate the broker commits to and you agree to haul it, no one is getting screwed in that scenario everyone agreed to it. You are welcome to call the shipper and see what you can negotiate with them, when they say they need a carrier to do 20 loads a week and they need 5 trucks to complete that and they want to have one person as a point of contact, what's your plan there? That's where the broker comes in and takes on the responsibility of getting X amount of loads. If the broker doesn't get it done they will find another broker or an additional broker. If you find the work and for some reason your truck goes down how are you planning on moving the freight? The load you called and said you could move you still have to move. It's a dog eat dog business like most of them are. I wish everyone well but the poor me I am getting screwed by the broker or by the shipper or the company I am leased to is never going to get anyone anywhere.

 

Life isn't fair.

 

Let me make something clear that you don't understand guys! You drive, for, etc. Ok! I find a customer in China, Japan, India, he probably produces a product for dirt cheap. I find him a customer. Only thing I bill him for is transportation. I charge him 7,000$ and I sell it to you for 2,000 on 500 miles. You're happy for 4 bucks a mile. That's my buisness!!!! I get left with$1,200 after everything! That's what smart people so. Now let me ask you, you wouldn't haul for 4 bucks a mile? Why don't you find that customer, shipper, еtc. You don't want 4/mile on 500 miles? Lol this transportation has do many angles. I'm going to write a thread about this. This is all a business!!! Realize that!!!!

 

A broker can pay me $10,000 on 1,000 miles, you wouldn't cry about me paying you $4,000 on it? That's how some brokers work! If you want money treat it as a business! Every person gets successful on bad economy! It's a reason! Think outside the box of your precious 2/mile loads!

 

Really a brokers job is to be the go-between with the carrier and shipper. That's no different than real estate where they do the same between seller and buyer. No-one has explained yet why it would be a bad thing if freight brokers had a set percentage they take off every load. Why is it you have people making 6% or, in most cases where the agent is not the actual owner of the brokerage but just affiliated with it, a cut of that 6% revenue and these people when they hustle and make a lot of sales they drive fancy cars, live in nice houses, the so-called "multi-million dollar producers"?

I also agree that equating this with the government setting maximum or minimum rates is a red herring non-issue. That is not how prices are set in real estate. Prices are set by the buyer and seller in the free market. There would be no need to change any of that for trucking. The free market works just fine finding that balance.

I'm not talking about welfare for truckers who can't figure out how to run a business. It's transparency in the transaction. You're still going to have the ability to set rates, or not depending on the market. I think the reason this is a non-starter is because the big players in the brokerage business have too much to lose. It would increase competition for them. It would make the business really simple for brokers. And the fact of the matter is it's a simple job that doesn't really require a special skill set, other than sales.

The little brokers could count on a set percentage and never have to worry about losing in a capacity crunch. The way to win business would be not who could hold out the longest by keeping the most money off the top and lying to both customers and carriers. But with their set percentage brokers would actually have to get good dependable carriers connected to the freight reliably with carriers ASAP. Those who couldn't or don't would cause service issues. And the market would weed incompetence out.

And a set rate of 8% or whatever number is not a bad thing. Naturally as rates ebb and flow that 8% will be either a larger or smaller cut. Maybe that is just too convoluted I don't know. But again I have to ask, why does it work so well for real estate, and yet gets wrongly accused of being communist for freight brokerages?

 

If I keep you at 10k a week gross on 3k miles aweek, would you care I am getting 50k on that?

 

You're ignoring the question. Why does it work for real estate? Why wouldn't it work in trucking?

As it is now no I don't really give a rat's ### what any broker makes out here. I laugh to myself when they say that's all they got. Whether it is or isn't I'll never know. So what is the problem with a little honesty though?

 

Rc, I don't think you can compare real estate to transportation. There are just too many differences. Volume for example.another is real estate is not as much a free market as it Lisa at first glance. There is a limited amount of mortgage companies, and they are able to influence market rates by limiting the supply of houses on the market. Think back a few years when foreclosure rates were so high. The mortgage companies kept many of those foreclosed homes off the market to keep the price up on the few they put on the market.

Also, I'm a capitalist free market guy at heart. I firmly believe in the principles of a free market. Because I do not want the government to tell me how much money I can make, I do not want the government to tell brokerage firms how much they can make.