Check Calls! Is it time to charge for check calls?

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A good broker can be a carriers largest client, As they have multiple loads from mulitple shippers.
If you have a direct shipper as a client you are limited to only the lanes they ship. If you have a broker as your client then you are open to getting shipments from all their clients.
 
First of all opinions are of my own and not of my employer.

I knew that I will make few people mad (especially brokers) after posting comments but please note that this is just a debate so please don't take this personal (like most of people are doing here)

Regarding hiring rookies, how many of you hire a rookie to give a poor guy The break? The only reason you hire them is because you have to pay them way less than person with a experience.

Regarding check calls If I have screwed up someone's freight one time they will be stupid to give me any more freight. So please don't say that I get check calls only because I have screwed up someone's load.

I think people think they can get better results out of carrier by bombarding them with check calls. Bad carrier will still give you wrong answers and screw up your load, no matter how many check calls you do on them. So if you are calling a carrier 5-6 times to just do a check call then you are just wasting their time and preventing them doing what they should be doing in order to provide you with better service.
Yes anyone could hire a person to answer to your check calls and provide "current location" of the truck 5 times a day, but there is a cost associated and SOMEONE has to pay for it.

I'm in favor of check calls but 4-5 a day is crazy.
I have had brokers call me 5 days before pickup to get an ETA of the truck for pickup, Driver name, Phone number, truck and trailer number.

Brokers: Who do you call first? Carrier with a cheapest rate for that lane or carrier who is most reliable. I bet you 90% of the brokers sort their carrier list in order of cheapest to most expensive.
I haven't seen any dispatch program(unless its custom) that can tell you who is the best carrier but all of them sure does tell us who is the cheapest carrier for that lane.

There was time when there was no freight brokers and I think industry did okay at that time also. Now the problem is that there is too many of them. I think there are more Freight brokers than there are trucking companies in North America.

Please don't pick on me, come up with a backup to your claim. Again this is just a debate and you and I cannot change this industry by posting comments on this forum.
 
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To road king ,you are obviously quite jaded. I could sit here and dispute almost everything you wrote below but it wouldn't change your view, so what's the point. You are set in your ways but transport isn't what it used to be. You can either adapt and thrive or be jaded and fail. If the worst thing you have to deal with in a day is some check calls from a shipper or broker who is paying you than I don't know how you can sleep at night.
P.S. Almost every time I have to resort to the link to cover over flow our established carriers can't handle I pay more and get crappy service. Not all about money my friend, try building a relationship or two.
 
Michael K said:
To road king ,you are obviously quite jaded. I could sit here and dispute almost everything you wrote below but it wouldn't change your view, so what's the point. You are set in your ways but transport isn't what it used to be. You can either adapt and thrive or be jaded and fail. If the worst thing you have to deal with in a day is some check calls from a shipper or broker who is paying you than I don't know how you can sleep at night.
P.S. Almost every time I have to resort to the link to cover over flow our established carriers can't handle I pay more and get crappy service. Not all about money my friend, try building a relationship or two.
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well said!
 
Spot on Mike K.

And Roadking... You should have a bit more respect for us brokers, chances are it's our freight that is paying your salary!!!
 
Most of my business is from direct customers and they don't call me 5 times a day for updates. All I have to do is send them one update a day and they are happy with it.

I'm not bitching about one check call but
what about this?

8:00 AM: Broker: Are you guys on track for delivery at 12:00? Answer is Yes!!
11:30 AM Broker: Is you driver on site? Answer: Yes yes he is.
12:15 PM Broker: Is your driver at the door? Are they unloading him? Answer: No sir they have not given him a door yet. There is one truck ahead of him and he is next.
12:45 PM Broker: Did he get a door yet? Answer: yes he is in a door now.
1:30 PM Broker: Is he clear now? Answer: No sir they are working it.
14:00 Broker: Is your truck empty now? Answer: Yes he is all clear now.

Their reply: Okay great. Can you FAX me POD right away my customer is asking for it. ANSWER: WTF??? (in my mind that is) Driver has not even made it back to the terminal yet we will send it when driver hands in his paperwork

So sometimes I wonder if they want POD's more than their freight delivered on time?

I just had a call from a broker for an update about a truck that we delivered yesterday. And funny thing is we had update them yesterday via email that we are clear and load has been delivered without any problems.

Michael K I would love to hear your comments and would love to see you disputing even few points I had raised.

The reality of the trucking industry is "brokers are a necessary evil".

I can't wait to see you people bashing me with your comments now after this statement.

Dealing with CH Robinson, TQL etc is like shopping from Walmart, everybody (including myself) hates them and but they still do business with them.
 
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MADBOOKER said:
Spot on Mike K.

And Roadking... You should have a bit more respect for us brokers, chances are it's our freight that is paying your salary!!!
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There are few brokers (I said few) that we love to deal with and respect them from bottom of my heart.

But a trucking company that is fully dependent on brokers is not there for the long run. That is my opinion anyway.
 
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First off there are plenty of carriers who don't deal with CH or TQL (A lot of them on this board) Secondly, if you don't like getting that many check calls from certain brokers ( Not all make 5 on a load) Than don't deal with them.Thirdly, I take offense to the necessary evil statement. We provide services here above and beyond booking and tracing loads. Like I said transport is not what it used to be. Do you think a shipper that moves 2 million in freight a year out of multiple locations cares that you run one lane. they don't. They want a transportation solution geared towards them and built to there specs. That's what a 3PL provides that most carriers can't (Not all of them). That is today's reality.
 
RoadKing said:
14:00 Broker: Is your truck empty now? Answer: Yes he is all clear now.

Their reply: Okay great. Can you FAX me POD right away my customer is asking for it. ANSWER: WTF??? (in my mind that is) Driver has not even made it back to the terminal yet we will send it when driver hands in his paperwork

So sometimes I wonder if they want POD's more than their freight delivered on time?
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And there you have it - 99% of the time - that is what the 50,000 check calls can be attributed to. Our customer service is constantly flooded with calls - all day long - by the same company - sometimes 3 people from the same company...and in the end after delivery is completed and they have bugged her all morning/afternoon - she is asked to forward the POD immediately....

Then "so and so company" can utilize quick pay and/or get their money in a flash....that's what all the calling and checking comes down to...the money....

My 2 cents - from a credit perspective...
 
8:00 AM: Broker: Are you guys on track for delivery at 12:00? Answer is Yes!!
11:30 AM Broker: Is you driver on site? Answer: Yes yes he is.
12:15 PM Broker: Is your driver at the door? Are they unloading him? Answer: No sir they have not given him a door yet. There is one truck ahead of him and he is next.
12:45 PM Broker: Did he get a door yet? Answer: yes he is in a door now.
1:30 PM Broker: Is he clear now? Answer: No sir they are working it.
14:00 Broker: Is your truck empty now? Answer: Yes he is all clear now.
Their reply: Okay great. Can you FAX me POD right away my customer is asking for it

.......If a broker is really calling you that many times, and then looking for a POD, its probably because they don't believe you are really there.
 
Road King uses owner operators, so he too is a freight broker. He brokers his load to the owner operator and keeps a percentage. He uses that precentage to cover his office overhead and pay his salary. He then calls his owner operators multiple times per day to see if he has picked up and delivered.

Welcome to the broker world Road King!
 
Just use it to your advantage and send your invoice with the BOL. You will also get paid faster.
 
Check calls

We don't mind the check calls at all, as long as they're within reasonable hours. It's their job to keep track of things.

The only problem we face sometimes, with a couple of brokers is who want the truck trailer and driver info, and will only give dispatch info to the driver, and not to company dispatchers.

Since we have city drivers that pickup and deliver our loads, we have request them to call these brokers in order to get full info, and then the city driver's keep getting calls, for 2-3 until the load is delivered. The city driver will politely tell them that he only picked up the freight, which is now being hauled by the highway driver and to call the dispatch for an update.

This sometimes drives us crazy. What you people say ?
 
MADBOOKER said:
8:00 AM: Broker: Are you guys on track for delivery at 12:00? Answer is Yes!!
11:30 AM Broker: Is you driver on site? Answer: Yes yes he is.
12:15 PM Broker: Is your driver at the door? Are they unloading him? Answer: No sir they have not given him a door yet. There is one truck ahead of him and he is next.
12:45 PM Broker: Did he get a door yet? Answer: yes he is in a door now.
1:30 PM Broker: Is he clear now? Answer: No sir they are working it.
14:00 Broker: Is your truck empty now? Answer: Yes he is all clear now.
Their reply: Okay great. Can you FAX me POD right away my customer is asking for it

.......If a broker is really calling you that many times, and then looking for a POD, its probably because they don't believe you are really there.
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Or it could just be double brokered freight, the party making these calls, need to have all the info, when the actual broker calls them for update ?
 
ranger_dispatch said:
The only problem we face sometimes, with a couple of brokers is who want the truck trailer and driver info, and will only give dispatch info to the driver, and not to company dispatchers.
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A broker who 'prefers' to dispatch a carriers driver directly is opening up a whole can of worms with regards to liability. There is already some precedent in this. Quite sure it was CH held liable for dispatching a driver directly. If memory serves, the driver was running over hours of service and caused injury/death... Broker had to cough of serious $ in said case.

I've no problem tracing a delivery (or pick up) with a driver directly if it is during hours that the dispatch team is not 'on duty' but ensuring that drivers have all the information that they need to perform their job is partly why carriers have good dispatchers.

Keep well,

Mike
 
MADBOOKER said:
8:00 AM: Broker: Are you guys on track for delivery at 12:00? Answer is Yes!!
11:30 AM Broker: Is you driver on site? Answer: Yes yes he is.
12:15 PM Broker: Is your driver at the door? Are they unloading him? Answer: No sir they have not given him a door yet. There is one truck ahead of him and he is next.
12:45 PM Broker: Did he get a door yet? Answer: yes he is in a door now.
1:30 PM Broker: Is he clear now? Answer: No sir they are working it.
14:00 Broker: Is your truck empty now? Answer: Yes he is all clear now.
Their reply: Okay great. Can you FAX me POD right away my customer is asking for it

.......If a broker is really calling you that many times, and then looking for a POD, its probably because they don't believe you are really there.
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No they want POD so that they can Bill their customer right away. Carrier would be stupid to say that they are there when they actually are not.
If they don't believe a carrier then simple don't give them freight. Rather than calling us call the receiver and see if the truck is there or not. They probably will tell them.
 
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MikeJr said:
A broker who 'prefers' to dispatch a carriers driver directly is opening up a whole can of worms with regards to liability. There is already some precedent in this. Quite sure it was CH held liable for dispatching a driver directly. If memory serves, the driver was running over hours of service and caused injury/death... Broker had to cough of serious $ in said case.

I've no problem tracing a delivery (or pick up) with a driver directly if it is during hours that the dispatch team is not 'on duty' but ensuring that drivers have all the information that they need to perform their job is partly why carriers have good dispatchers.

Keep well,

Mike
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Our policy is not to give driver's in at all. We have been asked so many times and our simple answer is NO, whether they give us freight or not.
 
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