Fighting cheap freight

Nope, LS is right, it is absolutely a two way street, but you are building your business on reputation. If you have a reputation of being professional, along with being on time, delivering good service, etc, you are going to gravitate to the top of most brokers, call first, list, and therefore making it easier to make money by getting better loads.

It works the exact opposite, if you have a reputation of acting unprofessionally, then brokers won't call you when they DO have good freight, it's that simple.

Yes, $1.00 a mile is an insult, do you have the right to get pissed and act unprofessional towards them, absolutely, you do run the risk of developing a reputation if you repeatedly do that. I've been offered $1.00 a mile, less than that, said no thanks, moved on. It's not worth my time to get pissy towards brokers who offer that, I make a notation, and next time I see a load from that broker, I have an idea of what they offered last time, and go from there, if they get too many notes about cheap freight, I stop calling them. I've been offered $1.00 a mile, then called two weeks later, different lane, and they were paying $2.20 a mile. Good thing I decided to handle it politely and say no thank you, imagine if he would have remembered the way I acted last time I called on a load.

 

Never said it was good business for the broker to offer an "offensive" rate, but if you let one rate quote burn a bridge with a broker, you need to develop thicker skin, you don't know if it's the customer or the broker, make a note of it, then next time you call, if it's the same offensive rate, you can get a better idea, and eventually two things will happen, either you will recognize the broker right away and won't call because out of 5 calls he has never offered a good rate, or one of the times you do call he will have a decent-good rate that might make you think about taking it etc.

The difference is always going to be his perception of you, and however you portray yourself is what they will remember.

 

A good broker would never contract out crap freight in the first place. And a good broker wouldn't undercut his rate so much to skim so much off when the rate IS good.

 

And good trucker will never be late, etc, it goes both ways, why is this hard for some to understand?

It's like you think I am saying the broker is good no matter what, and that's absolute rubbish.

You can't judge a broker based on one load, just like you can't judge a trucker by one trip,

But hey, you guys go at it...

 

Ok! Im busted! but there's a lot of brokers taking advantage of truckers especially in this market! there also are some good brokers like you SIR! That are fair with us common folk.. And i commend you on your effort! May the good lord bless all of us that are getting out of bed in the morning to try and make a difference..


Originally Posted by FREEBRD
Just a never ending love song! one im sure they wrote for you and me! 3 Dog night! Same old story same old song and dance!
FRICK! a sheep ### broker! WHY! do u say! cause there out to frig u one way or another every load. Short miles, deadhead, rate, load info, detention, tonu, days too pay etc. etc. etc! oh! how i love thee let me count the ways!



You know better and are more intelligent than this. I've read enough of your other posts to know this. Please stop trolling.

 

I personally know of a shipper in Miami that paid $14k to move 43k lbs to Los Angeles... TWO different brokers offered me the load for $2700... That is just CRIMINAL in my book... 11K+ profit for stapling 2 pieces of paper together and signing a Fax?!?!?!?! THAT's why brokers get such a bad rep... they do NO hard work (yes, I've worked in an office, too), but expect 90% of the shipper rate whilst the carrier gets costs or less to haul the load... anyone who ISN'T offended by such conduct is a piece of crap unworthy of being included in the human race and, basically, an oxygen thief.

Just my opinion, of course.

 

1st question, did you take the load at $2700?

2nd question, did you know what the shipper was paying before or after?

To make a 8500 profit on a load is criminal, I agree, but you are going to kill yourself worrying about what they make instead of what you make and that does no good. Instead of wasting good energy getting righteous and pissed off, put the energy to good use by focusing on what you can control.

 

It's a lot easier and less stressful to just say "We're too far apart, thanks for your time." End the call like the pro you are and move on. Personally, I'm hot-headed enough without riling myself up by taking a cheap load offer as a personal insult. Don't make it more difficult than it already is.

 

How come you did not move it for the shipper direct if you knew so much about the load?

 

I DID move it for the shipper... that's how I know the rate... too many people assume WAY too much outside of the information provided... there's NO WAY I would ever take a load that far for that little... I was merely trying to highlight how pervasive the gouging is that takes place... the REASON I managed to get with the shipper is because when I asked the brokers (Cheap Robinson and HUB), what the commodity was, I knew right away who the shipper had to be and I made the contact directly. Knowledge is power folks, but I could never be polite to someone who thinks I'm a total moron... the insult STARTS with the broker, not the M/C or O/O in 99% of the cases I've been involved with or know about.