Shippers don't need brokers?

I do know how much it pays and how much it cost to do the job and still make a profit. I also know if I can do the job right or not. I have hauled loads that were under 100 miles because they were more profitable then longer loads. The fact of the matter is that I still get paid by the mileage whether it is from a shipper or a broker. I do clear 6 figures and have done so for years because I have put my time in and made a name for myself that is respected. Do I have to run cross country to do so no but I like to. I enjoy the long hauls and get paid to do what I enjoy. For me a broker is just an added cost in the equation that I don't need.

 

Shippers use brokers because carriers, small ones included, can't cover all the loads and in most cases won't even try to. For instance...

Some carriers don't run east coast but the shipper has loads that go there so a broker will reach out to several carriers and find one that will move the loads. (just one example) Rather than have a carrier base of 200 carriers the shipper uses a broker with a big carrier base.

Some shippers have loads that don't go to the same place all the time and carriers don't like to adjust lanes because they have a specific pattern that is profitable for them and they don't move off that. Brokers will find carriers that will move one load at a time for them and keep the customer's freight moving.

Small carriers and Owner Operators can't move all the loads most shippers have. They don't have enough equipment and they are usually more selective than even the big carriers about where they run. A small carrier might have a great relationship with a shipper but they still can't service all of their needs.

I think any Owner Operator should spend a day in a broker's office and even sit in the chair and take and make some calls from customers and drivers. It's probably not what you think it is.

 

Just scanning this one over please let me know if I am in the general area

If you hate dealing with brokers so much why do you not just approach the shippers you want to deal with and show them what great service you are going to be able to offer them.

Not sure why brokers are such a bad thing they are a customer who pays you, what you agree to move freight. It really should not matter if they are getting a million dollars and only pay you $1.00 to move a load that is the rate you agreed to.

 

That sounds like more fun than a barrel of monkeys. How would that work exactly?

 

many other businesses have done it like farmers all over the nation. What you do is something like having a central point for all the paperwork, pay etc. each trucking company.. Ie.. Yours. Would pay a fee per month for the service. And each truck would have a specific truck number from the co-op so any money that came in would be routed to you. You still keep all of your own authority, but by belonging to a co-op you could go to venders and get cheaper insurance, possibly fuel.. Don't forget.. That Co-op could be the size of swift, or any of the majors.. But we would have a wide range of trailers. You could get your own sales team to go to the shippers, and get rates that aren't cheapened .. You would get 100% of the agreed rate that the shipper pays plus fuel surcharge.. As you already paid X amount of dollars per month. Then their would have to be strict rules like not allowing people to be in the co-op if they don't show up to pick up the load. The shipper sends the money to one address and that special truck number gets pulled up and then forwarded to you.. As truck number abc is you and not just truck number 1. As the co-op is a major carrier. But you still keep all of your independence and authority. In other words.. You would be part of a major player in the freight hauling industry.. But yes until enough trucks got into it and the growing pains.. It would be like a barrel of monkeys.. But isn't any start up that way.. Setting up the dispatching, everybody being legal with insurance authority.. But I believe once things got worked out .. You would be a person of one.. In a people of what? Thousands? I don't want to take way your individuality. Or your independence.. But I would want to give you better power. Remember united we stand.. Divided we fall.. And how's that free falling going? That's why a co-op might work.

 

If the trucks have their own authority well guess what? The co-op is a broker unless all moneys are payable to the truck without anyone else hands on the money. Couldn't be made to the co-op. At the very least it would be a 3PL. Kind of defeats the purpose. And who decides which truck gets which load? Who sets the rates? If each truck is set up with a shipper then what would keep one truck from undercutting the co-op rate? The co-op would have to have a contract with the truck and shipper. That makes it a 3PL or broker.

 

My Grandfather always told me to never bite the hand that feeds you, unless you are certain you have plenty to eat. Whether the hand belongs to Joe Blow Brokerage or Sears and Roebuck makes little difference to me. I haul products for specific rates, from whom that rate comes is of little concern as I do due diligence in assuring that I will be paid in full on time with a rate that is satisfactory to me. Period. Business is business, remove the emotion, if you are not getting paid what you are truly worth there is only one culprit.............

 

Amazing how bent out of shape some guys get. Why unnecessarily stress over what somebody else makes on a load? Who needs that? Get your rate and move on. Or go get a fax line and tell us how all how easy it is to make 30-50% or better off a brokerage, with no expenses.

 

both true, but not really what the thread was about. The thread was if shippers need brokers or if it is possible for them to ship without brokers. Of course the answer is clearly yes, many do. I believe many more could ship without brokers.

I don't know why brokers get bent out of shape over the mere suggestion that freight can move fine without them.

The argument isn't that brokering is cheap and easy. The argument is that it's expensive and difficult (for the broker, the shipper, and the carrier).... and often unnecessary.