Posting For Good and Bad Brokers

Two questions: first, what kind of numbers are you talking when you say it ends up in Facebook?

Second: As far as i know you have not put out any contact info here or anything to identity you or the firm you are an agent for so that puts you in the perfect position to have no downside of being completely open in discussions. I'd love to see your input in the ridiculous accusations whiny guys are making about how huge a margin brokers are keeping. There is just no way you guys are consistently pulling in those 30 to 50% figures some of these idiots throw around. The market is just way to competitive for that. What would you call a realistic average? 8 to 12% sound about right?

Edit to add: this could of been addressed to @PPDCT. From our interactions here on ttr you both seem to be pretty onest in your postings.

Also what's the name of that bourbon bar in downtown Louisville. They have 300 different bourbons on the wall. And made a great steak. I asked in another thread but didn't get your attention.

 

My average margin for last year was 11.xx% yeah. And that includes the fact that there are a few smaller accounts I still work that have substantially better margins.

There are situations where brokers are taking crazy margins... And I think these special situations account for the vast majority of the times truckers saw what the brokers were getting paid and freaked out. I told a story on this site sometime in the last year about a situation involving a cash customer (a one time transaction... obviously you give these people the super crazy high price. This time they said yes.) and a carrier accidentally getting sent the customer RC and freaking out.

So yeah brokers also have those loads where they make an absurd amount of money. We also have those loads where we lose money, sometimes a LOT of money. Average for me at least is 11.xx% lol.

 

Making a lot of money on a single load is no different than me gouging you for an additional thousand when you need a truck NOW and its 5 pm. No one in they're right mind would fault youth for the occasional big margin.

Now about the important stuff. Bourbon.

 

Absolutely. And I have a remarkably chill attitude towards what I call scalpers. Scalpers are trucks who wait to book loads until 4-5pm and then work with whoever is the most desperate. These guys are providing a legitimate service to the market in offering destination flexibility and availability in exchange for cold hard cash. I have absolutely no objection to their dispatch strategy, and in fact consider them a key part of the freight market eco system.

That being said I avoid dealing with them in the same way that deer avoid wolves. I've generally built a reputation with my customers for being reliable and having a reasonable price (in the context of where the market is... obviously my pricing is crazy high right now like everyone else). That's not really conducive to dealing with scalpers unless I'm eating the overage. I don't like losing money any more than any of you do.

 

While i don't like the term scalping, that last minute stuff is a full third of my operation. The other two thirds are targeting the loads no one wants and the high value stuff that absolute must arrive damage free and on time (a 16 wide aircraft wing for example)

I search for those loads going to a crap middle of no where area delivering on a friday(northewest nm or miami for example). Those are the loads that my high bid is most likely to be accepted.

 

I took the term scalping from futures markets. They are super short term traders who will be in for 30-60 seconds and take two or three ticks before getting back out again.

 

I'm currently hovering at 12.7% for the month. I run around 11-15%, depending on what we've got going on. I make a little more percentage points on my smaller partials. Otherwise, I've been seeing an uptick in full truckload and dedicated runs, and my OS/OW work. I've been trending pretty steadily upwards in terms of money made as well.

In the past three months, I've had one 35% load, 30% load, and one at 28%. The 35% was bid at 1600, and moved at 1100. It was a moment where data told me one thing, and a random "Oh hell, $1100?" was accepted by the carrier.The 32% was bid at 600 and was moved for 400. Small partial, there 28% was bid at 700 and moved at 500. Small partial, here, too.

On everything bigger, we're looking at anything from 7% to 20%, but mostly in the 10-12% range.

 

How about that Spyder7723 . So let me ask you are you Moving a lot of produce, Van freight or flat bed freight PPDCT. The big margins I keep referring to the 20% 30% 40% That brokers are making is on produce and Seafood

 

One Van, two flatbeds on those. I'd say that I run 70% flat/step, 15% OS/OW, 10% Van, and 5% other stuff (drive away, LTL, etc.)

 

How about what? 3 loads in 3 months he made higher than normal. That's exactly in line with what I've been saying. No one consistently pulls in 30+ %. That's no different than me occasionally catching a broker or shipper in a bind at 4 pm with that load that just has to go no matter what it costs.