I'm a broker, I joke but I don't play..I'm fair but I lie.

Years ago, many of us had a little black book (mine was red) with names of shippers and brokers that we could contact when we needed a load. While brokers do provide a service, carriers can get along without them. Thirty years ago I don't recall us having nearly so many brokers as we do today. Often we could utilize other owners to share a contact or just drive by a shipper and ask if they needed help moving some loads. Not all truckers were willing to share their contacts. Communications were not nearly so easy. If you needed to make a call you had to find a payphone. Communication is much easier today. But, not everyone is good with sales or dealing with customers. Brokers are not necessary for those willing to put forth the effort to make cold calls on shippers and to build their direct contacts. However, for those who either don't want to spend the time and effort to make their own contacts, brokers can serve a useful purpose. Part of the problem is greed. There are honest brokers and one cannot expect them to work for free. There are also those who try to take 50% of the rate for themselves and passing the rest on to the carrier. I think that is one reason for the resentment many trucks feel about brokers in general. Not all brokers try to take that much profit out of the rate. I have known some brokers who take as little as $25-50 per load, most take much more. There is a cost to generating your own shippers. You either give up your time (which can be translated into money) or you give up part of the rate in the form of a commission to a broker. Most of the time I have found it much easier to negotiate a better rate directly with shippers than with brokers, but not always. I recall a few years ago that I was offered a higher rate from a particular shipper than the shipper was willing to pay me direct. Most carriers who have been established for any length of time have a combination of direct shippers and brokers.

 

Good post JayBroke