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- Thread starter Walkonsun
- Start date
When they suddenly offer you load after load where historically they did not. Could mean the "go to" carriers have cut them off...
Huh that's not one I've thought about before, makes sense to work with new people when the old ones don't wanna deal with you.
Sketchy Signs of a freight broker.
1. When a broker or forwarder can't pay a freight bill in 30 days or less, its not an ideal client.
2. When a broker offers you freight at a rate higher than you previously quoted, and was previously told you where too expensive (did the incumbent carrier cut them off)
3. Broker who has moved 20 times in 3 years, all to different "shared office space" firms...
4. Brokers who all of a sudden have lost their cross-border authorities, and never had local freight, but all of a sudden have a influx of local freight.
5. Brokers who had a website, but now its a go daddy landing page.
6. Brokers without a "proper contact us" section on their webpage, with a phone number or address listed... sketchy brokers going under try to avoid posting that info on a website or have it redacted I've noticed.
1. When a broker or forwarder can't pay a freight bill in 30 days or less, its not an ideal client.
2. When a broker offers you freight at a rate higher than you previously quoted, and was previously told you where too expensive (did the incumbent carrier cut them off)
3. Broker who has moved 20 times in 3 years, all to different "shared office space" firms...
4. Brokers who all of a sudden have lost their cross-border authorities, and never had local freight, but all of a sudden have a influx of local freight.
5. Brokers who had a website, but now its a go daddy landing page.
6. Brokers without a "proper contact us" section on their webpage, with a phone number or address listed... sketchy brokers going under try to avoid posting that info on a website or have it redacted I've noticed.
Harder to spot but when they are on the larger side and they start losing sales reps.
Replacing tenured reps is nearly impossible. You got a guy who was at XYZ brokerage for 5 years... and all of the sudden he leaves. Start poking.
Replacing tenured reps is nearly impossible. You got a guy who was at XYZ brokerage for 5 years... and all of the sudden he leaves. Start poking.
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Regardless of who the customer might be, broker, shipper, whoever, an unexplained increase in the number of days to pay is red flag number 1. A slow drift to the right on the receivables list, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days speaks volumes.
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Telltale signs? Lots of negative commentary on sites like inside transport.
If you were at 30 to 40 days and then it becomes 60 to 90 days, you might have a problem.
15
I got this exact call/email yesterday from a 3PL asking me to quote container moves - which I can't since we're a broker, but all the same, did a little digging on them for fun since it seemed like the guy I was talking had really NO IDEA what he was talking about. Asking me to provide drayage, warehousing, and cross docking in Regina when we're based in Ontario, and then when I told he we're not even based in SK, he wanted me to quote the freight move from whomever does the drayage / warehousing down like 80miles to the drop location. Huge corporation contract freight. That conversation was a sh*t show, but totally hilarious for me. So once I told him I couldn't and wouldn't be interested, I dug up their google profile - and oh yeah - LOTS of red flag reviews - all mostly - they don't pay blah blah blah. Trucking = good times! haha
30
Interesting..I thought it would be the other way ‘round..i.e. flogging loads for big name shippers lends credibility to my little brokerage. I move loads for some big shippers..wouldn’t carriers think..gee that broker managed to get set up with Toyota, Ford, Pepsi etc..he must be legit?
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@Freight Broker - Sure, this isn't a one size fits all comment - but its an indicator in my mind - all that proves is you've done some paperwork and won some lanes/work (not you specifically, nor am I trying to minimize your efforts). Let us all remember the Cola Credit Crunch of 2024.