what happens when you brokers fail at getting loads covered?

Very much depends on the shipment. I think for some loads 200 is hilariously high and for other loads it's ####### crazy low.

The more complicated the arrangement is, the weirder the lane, the more commitments the customer expects you to make (and later keep), the customers credit risk, and the loads risk all play a part.

I'm super happy making 200 bucks for moving a load of basic produce at the market rate from one of my major produce shipping areas. At least I was in 2016. Then 2017 came along and the number of trucks I could find in a week fell from 40-50 to 20-30. So obviously my profits are now north of 300 on those loads. They are also way more expensive than they used to be in general so the margin hasn't moved too much.

 

Those are peak week numbers by the way. I get 3 weeks like that a year lol. Doing that much produce in a week is a borderline spiritual experience in terms of the amount of stress you're under. The money is great those three weeks of the year, and pretty solid the rest of the weeks of the season... But then comes the off season. If all I did was produce I'd have made like 300 bucks this month so far.

Produce also tends to demand all your time for the part of the year they use if you want to make real money at it. That's a pretty serious problem as it makes it very hard to make consistent volume commitments to other customers. You can very easily end up in my spot where years into the business the (admittedly this is like 2.5% of the people who started around the same time as me... the rest are gone. Call me the worst of the best lol) people you started with are doing much better than you are because they are busy EVERY week not just 3 weeks a year.

 

Yep my buddy works his nuts off for 2 hours before the help arrives. Than spends a least another hour right before he goes to bed following preparing load sheets for the next morning.
At quitting time on a bad day he is beyond stressed and he is a pretty level headed guy.
I have a lot of respect for the business he conducts.

 

I just hang up on my first broker...lmao

dude starts yelling at me, demanding a time commitment (fyi, I dont even have a p/u address), when I ask for RC and carrier setup forms (never dealt with him before)...he says, and I quote "...I know I did not send them, so u need to shut your mouth and..." Well, all he heard was a click.

bye!

sounds like he getting a hard time getting them loads covered

 

Well, that's ridiculous. I still don't get why people feel the need to be discourteous about this work, especially in that position.

Anyway: To answer OP's original question- as with many things, it depends. It depends on my relationship with the shipping guy, and it depends on what stipulations they've set on a load in question. I don't give many loads back, because we quote the loads to move, not to be dirty cheap. I also don't win everything that comes through, either. I have lost a customer over a returned load (carrier had purported mechanical issues on a Monday morning after booking him on a Friday, and it needed to pick up Monday, by noon. It was a bad spot.) and others thank for me giving them a heads up, and explaining why. It's all situational.

To answer the question about percentages: I'm currently averaging 14.2% this month. Last month, I was at 12.5%, and in September, I was at 13.6%. I try to be between 10-20%. It depends on what the load is, the customer, the risk, how difficult it is going to be to book, and the amount of volume that I do with them. It all varies, and it's all predicated by what is actually being loaded, and where it's coming from, and where it's going.

 

"Is there any way you could move it for 900?";
"Oh...sir can you help me out...I got only 890 on it...do it for me and I'll help you out some other time too";

I have to admit that squeezing a broker at the desperado state does not feel like a human thing to do, feels like a thug beating a baby seal with a baseball bat. However, when you run your numbers and notice that you are merely at driver's salary level, you wish you were brutal all the time. Being ruthless is the only way to survive.
Otherwise, you'll be a baby seal.

 

Honestly, that's why I try to pay a fair rate out of the gate, and bid my loads accordingly. I got stung a couple of times early in this job, and being that desperate broker on the other end of the line effing sucks. I'd rather not get a load from a customer for cheap, than waste hours of my life being laughed at or hung up on. For me, it's a zero sum game. If I'm wasting time that I could be using more productively to further my business, then it's a loser in my mind. There's no point in spinning my wheels to have you guys either sharking me, or just ignoring what I'm looking for- that's no fun for anyone.

 

I really genuinely hate people who beg for money at work. Have some dignity. Brokers doing it isn't any more appetizing than carriers doing it.

We're all at work and we deserve to have as pleasant a work environment as possible. If someone does something ####ty it's fine to try to make them feel guilty. They should feel guilty. But that's very different from begging during the negotiation. Or begging when something normal goes wrong on the load that has already been discussed and is baked into the rate already. These behaviors are scummy and deserve to be called such.

 

A-####ing-men. You're supposed to be processing a lot of freight as a freight broker. Spending hours of your life trying to cover garbage loads isn't doing anyone any good. Prospect instead.

 

Yeah it is an interesting question, it sounds like a really clever sales pitch a broker would use and the ruse would soon be exposed when you offer to do it for a few dollars higher than what he's willing to pay.