Brokers - uggh....

[Jim L]

Forgive my bluntness and forwardness. Is this what new age brokers have diminished themselves to? Is this what long-standing good brokers have to compete with? I regularly see posts on this site from people who book a carrier, see if Loadlink and Carrier411 checks out, gives them the load, then promptly create a post looking for comments on the carrier.

Do brokers not check references any more? Do they not look at the myriad of other sites, including this one before giving the load? Do they not look at SMS, CVOR scores, the number of trucks or the number of years of experience? Are they only interested to get this one load moved right now in as little time and with little work as possible?

If I had a nickel for each time I see a post about a carrier when there are other threads about the same carrier, I'd have an Extra Large Tims Coffee by now. Add a nickel for the times I see that same carrier with an SMS score of +40 or not authorized and an extra nickel for the times a trucking company is run out of a house in the center of a large metropolis, and I could take the family to East Side Marios.
Then add a nickel for the times the same poster cries about being taken advantage of, being double brokered, having a business relationship ruined with a shipper, being held financially hostage, I'd be looking forward to going to get steak at The Keg.

That's my rant for the day...yes, someone messed around with my corn flakes this morning....

 

[Fr8Guru]

Your second paragraph sums it up, and this is coming from someone who works on the brokerage side.

I constantly have to reel in my ops staff from doing stupid stuff. I work with 5 ops staff on a daily. When I say ops, I am talking about the people physically booking the truck. 2 of them give a sh*t, 1 it depends on the day. The other 2? Young kids who are looking to book the cheapest truck possible regardless of red flags because they don't have to deal with the consequences if things go wrong.

Now imagine what it is like at the TQL's of the world where they have 200 people and they are all young kids...

 

[TMLJ13]

Forgive my bluntness and forwardness. Is this what new age brokers have diminished themselves to? Is this what long-standing good brokers have to compete with? I regularly see posts on this site from people who book a carrier, see if Loadlink and Carrier411 checks out, gives them the load, then promptly create a post looking for comments on the carrier.

Do brokers not check references any more? Do they not look at the myriad of other sites, including this one before giving the load? Do they not look at SMS, CVOR scores, the number of trucks or the number of years of experience? Are they only interested to get this one load moved right now in as little time and with little work as possible?

If I had a nickel for each time I see a post about a carrier when there are other threads about the same carrier, I'd have an Extra Large Tims Coffee by now. Add a nickel for the times I see that same carrier with an SMS score of +40 or not authorized and an extra nickel for the times a trucking company is run out of a house in the center of a large metropolis, and I could take the family to East Side Marios.
Then add a nickel for the times the same poster cries about being taken advantage of, being double brokered, having a business relationship ruined with a shipper, being held financially hostage, I'd be looking forward to going to get steak at The Keg.

That's my rant for the day...yes, someone messed around with my corn flakes this morning....

I could say the same about carriers asking about broker pay patterns after waiting 60 days to get paid on an invoice. Do carriers not check references? I cant tell you the last time I filled out a credit app in order to do business with a carrier...Due Diligence, or a lack there of, seems to be contagious.

 

[loaders]

The lack of care and due diligence on both sides of our industry is astounding to say the least. As Fr8Guru accurately described, maintaining operational standards amongst all of your employees is a full time job. To some extent, the blame lies with management, myself included. On one hand we are constantly reminding our people that profit makes the world go around and without it we are all out of a job. On the other hand we are regularly preaching proper vetting procedures. I can see how some folks can be confused. However, Jim L is absolutely right, and the party doing the crying after the transaction has gone sideways, carrier or broker, has no one to blame but themselves for failing to thoroughly check who they are dealing with. The tools are out there and readily available….use them!

 

[Jim L]

I could say the same about carriers asking about broker pay patterns after waiting 60 days to get paid on an invoice. Do carriers not check references? I cant tell you the last time I filled out a credit app in order to do business with a carrier...Due Diligence, or a lack there of, seems to be contagious.

Yep, I'll agree that we have been guilty of this. Sometimes we have our backs against a wall with a driver who needs to be back for a wedding and has sat a day already. There are less and less loads posted and the great brokers that we work with on a regular basis have had some of their options diminished by the bottom dwelling brokers offering cheap prices - the same brokers I made the post about. We reluctantly succumb and take a risk. At this point there is no asking for reference checks and credit apps because we know there are options out there. If you ask too many questions, you don't get the load. The broker will move on to the next phone call. They only want to hear one thing, 'YES, I'll take it at your price'. Anything more results in no load. We'd always work with a cheap broker (TQL etc) that always pays before taking this risk but even those are starting to be hard to find.
BUT.
We do understand the risks we take; we look deeply into the brokers online presence and if need be, we will take action. I've gotten some pretty awesome broker customers because we found the load to be double brokered and took action. I've taken quick pay (up the caboose) to avoid the problem in sixty or ninety days and by doing this can identify the problem before 30 days and get the shipper/receiver or their bonding company involved. These brokers are put in our system as a one load only customer and pertinent notes are being added to all the time. Like @Fr8Guru we have some employees that are better at it than others, some empathize with the driver and put an option on my desk that we choose not to use. It's the human factor. It's a horrible position to be in.

Brokers should have ample opportunity to choose some long standing, click all the boxes, all around great carriers. There should be carriers out there who check a lot more of the boxes than a less than a year old, two truck, run out of a residence with a post office box address, a gmail email address carrier, with SMS scores of 50, and doctored documents, who you have to bite your nails to the beds and lose sleep over. Sure, a double drop flatbed load from Punkydoodle Corners, ON to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT might get you less options but certainly, your customer is worth a lot more to you than this, if it is actually a customer and not a 're-brokered' load.

 

[BrokenAxle]

I agree with lots of the sides of this I do not feel too bad when brokers manage to use a carrier that has been all over this site as no go. Everything is changing too the digital world and whatever makes the human less active. I have also seen many generations just use the emailing practice and never pick up the phone that's new as well. Gone are the days of handshakes and everyone playing in the Sandbox together she is a tough world out there be safe everyone my moan and groan is that all the above is way too common

 

[loaders]

In spite of my agreement with all of the posts on this topic, I do believe it is important to remember that the vast majority of transactions that take place every day in our industry, do so without issue or concern. Yes, these are definitely different times compared to 20+ years ago. New players of dubious morals on both sides require increased scrutiny and precautions. Reporting bad payers, bad service providers, criminal or unethical behaviour is all very important and actually useful information, however, equally important is reporting good carriers and good brokers. It would be just as beneficial to see more of that on Inside Transport.

 

[BBL_Cody]

People don't report good carriers/brokers that often for two deeply human reasons:

1. They tend to remember the bad stuff better
2. They want to keep the great partners for themselves.

Everybody is more selfish than the face they put on here

 

[TMLJ13]

Yep, I'll agree that we have been guilty of this. Sometimes we have our backs against a wall with a driver who needs to be back for a wedding and has sat a day already. There are less and less loads posted and the great brokers that we work with on a regular basis have had some of their options diminished by the bottom dwelling brokers offering cheap prices - the same brokers I made the post about. We reluctantly succumb and take a risk. At this point there is no asking for reference checks and credit apps because we know there are options out there. If you ask too many questions, you don't get the load. The broker will move on to the next phone call. They only want to hear one thing, 'YES, I'll take it at your price'. Anything more results in no load. We'd always work with a cheap broker (TQL etc) that always pays before taking this risk but even those are starting to be hard to find.
BUT.
We do understand the risks we take; we look deeply into the brokers online presence and if need be, we will take action. I've gotten some pretty awesome broker customers because we found the load to be double brokered and took action. I've taken quick pay (up the caboose) to avoid the problem in sixty or ninety days and by doing this can identify the problem before 30 days and get the shipper/receiver or their bonding company involved. These brokers are put in our system as a one load only customer and pertinent notes are being added to all the time. Like @Fr8Guru we have some employees that are better at it than others, some empathize with the driver and put an option on my desk that we choose not to use. It's the human factor. It's a horrible position to be in.

Brokers should have ample opportunity to choose some long standing, click all the boxes, all around great carriers. There should be carriers out there who check a lot more of the boxes than a less than a year old, two truck, run out of a residence with a post office box address, a gmail email address carrier, with SMS scores of 50, and doctored documents, who you have to bite your nails to the beds and lose sleep over. Sure, a double drop flatbed load from Punkydoodle Corners, ON to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT might get you less options but certainly, your customer is worth a lot more to you than this, if it is actually a customer and not a 're-brokered' load.

I feel your pain and I could say I was in a jam on a Friday afternoon and needed the load moved for one of a hundred reasons and gave it to a carrier I didn't know/trust. We took the same risk, just different. Will the load pick up, will it get double brokered, will it be held hostage, OR will it deliver on time and in tact? Every scenario has a "BUT" from every point of view. .. The statement "Brokers should have ample opportunity to choose some long standing, click all the boxes, all around great carriers." could just as easily be viewed in the other direction. I don't recall the last phone call I got from an unknown to me carrier looking to establish a relationship so that we knew each other (or at least had somewhat a level of comfort) before a shipment is available. I guess my point is, We all take risks, (often ones we shouldn't), we all have regrets and we all develop solid relationships through those same risks. I hear carriers on this platform often sharing regret for dealing with ABC broker after the fact. Its just not a one sided coin

 

[loaders]

Also, keep in mind that a carrier offering a lower rate does not automatically make them a risk. When deciding whether or not to use a carrier, the rate they are offering should be less important than their years in business, credit references, proper licensing, etc.. Just as a carrier should consider more than just the rate he is being offered when contemplating doing business with a new broker. A juicy rate doesn’t necessarily mean they are a reputable operation.

 

[Jim L]

People don't report good carriers/brokers that often for two deeply human reasons:

1. They tend to remember the bad stuff better
2. They want to keep the great partners for themselves.

Everybody is more selfish than the face they put on here

A business entity who does their job without issue is the expectation - not the exception. Although the industry has stacked everything up like a house of cards - when it goes without issue it is the exception now a days. Doing the job many times over without issue is uncommon. I've done a run for two years, twice per week, on time every time, delivery on time every time, not even a breakdown or snow storm that made us late. I lost the lane because I was $18.00 too expensive to some other carrier who may or may not have the same track record. Doing the job correctly is not the expectation any more its doing the job cheaper than anyone else.
Nobody writes a Google review about the hamburger they got at McDonalds to say how perfectly the patty was sandwiched between the buns, how evenly the toppings were spread out and how squarely it was placed in the box.