What do you ask your brokers? This is what I ask:

If I can't get the answers I'm looking for, I move on to the next load. I've had too many occasions where I'd send a truck in to get loaded to find out the load is oversized/overdimensional and my driver can't haul it without permits, and the shipper or receiver won't pay the permits and expect me to eat those costs. I don't play that game. There are too many places that will try to screw the carrier out of the extra money needed for permits, trying to ship the freight cheap. I get all the information I need as a driver before I accept a load, then I move on to the rate negotiation. At that point, the shipper is pretty committed to using my equipment to move the load, and getting a fair rate is easier. What makes it easier for me is the fact my equipment is pretty standard (I work for a company, remember.), and I am developing very good relationships with my local shippers in my area. Single O/O's don't always have the time to do "small talk", because they gotta boogy to make that payday. I have the time, and try to get to know my customers on a personal level.

 

Yes, but for instance, today, I'm not getting an answer from my driver or dispatcher.

 

Have you committed to the load? If so, farm it out to someone else (another driver or carrier you work with). This industry moves way to fast to play phone tag with one set of idiots. If they aren't staying in contact with you, they are working on another load for the truck and WILL leave you hanging if they get something else. Again, freight moves fast, and we have to move fast too or we will lose the freight.

 

why agree to the load, email me at 8:30 am saying they will be there at 10 am, then not answer the phone for the rest of the day? Just tell me, I will find someone else.

 

Sorry I've been offline, gotta work for a living sometimes.

Chances are, they found a better load and totally forgot about you. Or they are just naturally rude. When one of my guys calls me for freight, they will let me know if they found something else up front.

Additionally, I don't commit to a load before I have a truck also committed to it. Here's how it works for me:

1. Shipper calls me looking for a truck

2. All information exchanged, rate negotiated, NO COMMITMENT AT THIS TIME! "Let me see if I can dig up a truck for you."

3. I start calling my drivers (if this is a broker load, not something I'm grabbing for my company guys. When it's a company truck, I shoot everything through the home office to get a truck)

4. Find a truck, discuss the rate I've gotten (I take a percentage off the line haul, so there is no reason for me to shortchange the driver) and see if it will work. Generally, it does. Then I can go ahead and commit to both the load and the truck, and everything runs smoothly after that. If not, go to step five.

5. Cannot find a truck to commit for the rate offered (rare for me, your experience may vary), negotiate an acceptable rate increase between truck and shipper (this is where a personal relationship between all the players plays the biggest role, in my opinion) and either step back to step four, or if an agreement cannot be reached walk away from the load.

My shippers have learned to rely on me to serve as the go-between specifically because I will not commit to a load unless I am sure I can cover that load. I also get a better rate from my shippers because I cover my loads. They also know that if I have not committed to a load, I'm not going to cry and snivel because they gave it to someone else. My reputation is of critical importance to me, and I will protect that reputation on both sides of the desk to the best of my ability. My shippers know if I commit, their load will be moved. My drivers know if they take a load from me, they will have everything they need in terms of information to get and deliver the laod, and that they WILL get paid eberything they are owed for pulling that load. It is that reputation that makes me (and my company) good money.

 

Update: They (dispatch) finally email (same email I've been trying all day) in asking me to call them ASAP (same number I've called 15 times that day), they give me some story about how the dispatcher I talked to got sick. When I ask why no one else picked up the phone or answered the email, they just reply with "I don't know". The load got picked up, but I am not happy about this, why would I use them again?

 

I wouldn't. Either they are feeding you a line of what we normally feed to mushrooms, or they are so disorganized that you cannot be sure they will be reliable in the future. What many carriers and some O/O's forget sometimes is that when they use a broker for freight, that broker has a reputation to protect. Our reputations as brokers can be absolutely destroyed with a good shipper based on one missed load. Me, I'm INCREDIBLY picky about the carriers I work with. But, I'm also INCREDIBLY picky about the shippers I work with. Remember, that reputation we strive to protect goes both ways. Our shippers need to know we are reliable in finding trucks AND our carriers need to know we are reliable with our load information and pay.

We, as brokers, live our professional lives stuck squarely between the rock and the hard place. Makes me glad I only broker part time inside an already established network!

 

So I'm guessing we're the only two people who visit this forum?

 

On this side, it does seem so.

Brokers have a bad reputation industry wide thanks to some of the idiots at C(heap and) H(eavy) Robinson and TQL. So we have an uphill battle when dealing with a new carrier, because we carry all the bad karma of the brokering industry in their minds. It takes us that much more work, and that much longer, to develop a level of trust with new carriers. Then, on the other side of the game, we have shippers trying to get their freight moved for as little money as possible. These are the ones that call us as the last resort, finally ready to pay a fair rate to get their crap moved off the dock and on to the receiver. Like I said, a rock and a hard place.

As I said, I'm grateful of the fact I stepped into an already established network. If I had to step out and do this on my own (setting up my own brokerage firm), I'd probably pack it in after the first month! Yes, the money can be good. Yes, it is possible to be a broker and run a fair business while sleeping well at night. But the time and stress involved in getting set up independently would more than likely have broken me.

 

This forum doesn't get the comments but it does get read by a lot of eyes. Go easy on CHR and TQL. No kidding, they are 2 of my favorite brokerages. I get paid excellent rates by those guys for time critical services without hesitation, eye blinking, the usual sounds of breathlessness, nervous laughter, etc - which is more than can be said for some of the other jokers who claim they have a hot load. What do you mean you can't tell the customer this is how much my truck costs and get them to pay the rate? What kind of cheapskate deal has your customer got you set up on? It's hot until they hear what it takes to book my truck. Always is. And then the gasps righteous indignation - buhahaha. There are some professionals at the various 3 letter megas that have my respect and that is a fact.