G Roch, we want your opinions & how to change them!

[ShawnR]

We're trying to change how we work to have better working relationships with all carriers.

We've dealt with most of you in the past, if for some reason you no longer want to deal with us, please message me, email me, or call me... we want to mend these broken relationships!

If we were considered the "cheaper" kind of broker, we also want to change this and be a good broker for all you good carriers!

Anytime anyone from my office calls any of you, you can always ask for me to talk pricing or just tell them what you need to get the job done!

Thanks in advance,

Shawn

 

[jeff p]

hi shawn last to years one of your staff call me every week for price ltl or full .very nice person .but on this time your price is little bit to low and now i never heard about groch.

 

[ShawnR]

thanks Jeff, could you email me your company name & info and lanes you service? I'll be sure to have someone call you so we can figure out how we can give you freight at your price and with requirements that make sense for you too.

shawn@groch.com

 

[Howsmydriving]

Not sure about GRoch I dont think we mind, Fuel is on our DNU blocked list YAY

 

[Freight Broker]

There may be nothing wrong with your working relationship with your carriers.. it s a bitch of a market right now all 'round..don't beat yourself up.. understandably carriers are going for the better paying freight. Sometimes that's us.. and sometimes it ain't. Bottom line is we're still moving loads...Your OP sounds a bit self depreciating... don't sound like that. You know that in this business you need to come out swinging all the time.

 

[ShawnR]

yeah but I'm aware of where we've been, where we are, and what comments have been made verbally to my team over the phone.
So with that in mind, I'm trying to put out a good word for us and ask people to have an open mind when we call them or when they see one of our load postings.
All rates are up, and we still pay pretty quickly.
Adjusting to the industry isn't always easy, but we want to be around another 40 years, so we're trying to put in a better effort to listen to the demands of our carriers.

 

[Freight Broker]

Sounds like you're on the right track. On a positive note, sales has become almost like shooting fish in a barrell. Call a shipper.. get a customer. Over here we've "realigned" resources... used to be that 80% of outbound calls were sales and 20% were to carriers. Now that ratio is reversed.. most of the time we're making calls to secure trucks. Personally I'm enjoying some aspects of this situation.. can get through to shippers easier.. they're more open to discussions.. etc..

 

[Rob]

Shawn

My only question would be why now? Did what the carriers say and needed not matter before because their where lots of trucks around? It is well versed that you and I do not see eye to eye Shawn and I am blocked from GRoch postings for awhile now and I am perfectly fine with that. I am just wondering why all of a sudden the carriers needs and needing an open mind about Groch have become so important? Will it all change and revert back to what is your rate ( we will let you know) and no we are paying this only bs that it has been for the last 40 years once the markets level off? I for one think that will be the case.

Good Luck as you are not the only broker having issues as all the carriers I know are going full blast just trying to keep up with customer demands. We are not taking on any new brokers or putting brokers we never heard from in the last 4-5 years ahead of the ones that stuck with us through the good and bad. Relationships matter and the low rate brokers and the rate shopping how low can you go brokers are really starting to feel it. Too bad but they made the bed they have to sleep in by never taking the trucker into consideration before and Karma is kicking there ass now.

 

[bull958]

It's about time Rob. Been waiting for your reply since Tuesday...

 

[Freight Broker]

The answer to your question, Rob, is likely supply/demand. Absolutely.. now that there's a tight supply of trucks people who need trucks are going to be more attuned to the carriers' needs. Should they have listened more to carriers all along? Absolutely.. but before there was less of a truck shortage and shippers, too, weren't in much of a mood for rate increases. Now the tide has turned.. shippers are open to meeting market demand more so than they were last year or the year before. I get where Shawn is coming from.. he's trying to make things right.. to get his operation up to snuff with the current realities of the marketplace. We're all trying to do that regardless of what "place" we're coming from.

 

[ShawnR]

Well @Rob exactly what @Freight Broker wrote, we all have to adjust, we can only work with the hand we're dealt. If this means booking cheap freight, then we can't really just close up shop because the rates didn't work for some carriers. Customers were also aware that the marketplace was flooded with trucks, so they took advantage of that.

Now things have changed and so has the customer's behavior, they're 100% willing to hear us out when we ask for more money, whereas before they just said no and gave it away to the next cheapest guy in line.

We're even seeing those carriers who were doing those "cheap" loads adjust their rates to the same as everyone else. Before all this there could sometimes be a HUGE gap between different carriers. Example: paying $1250 to a guy, same lane we got offers for $1600, $1850, and $2000

From my point of view, the playing field is being leveled off and it's about time!!

 

[thebluffs1]

I think what @Rob is saying is that he's willing to ignore some of the purely business aspects of the relationship in favour of prioritizing integrity in his relationships. Assuming here, but I would imagine that he would turn down an offer of 40.00 per mile from someone who conducted themselves in a manner that he didn't appreciate, because as he said, relationships and principles matter. Yes, there is such a thing as playing the hand you are dealt, but its also perfectly fine to decide to sit out the game, or not play at all.

I could be misconstruing what he's saying, but thats what I see.

 

[Rob]

@Freight Broker Oh I understand the supply and demand as we have the trucks and see it on a daily basis, That is why I asked if it all reverts back to the how cheap will you work for when things level off. To me coming on here and asking too for lack of better terms wipe the slate clean and lets work together is just a simple act of begging as they cannot get trucks and no one is calling them on postings. Their past business practices that they and other brokers will revert back to once the markets level and it being all about the broker and profit will once again prevail. Don't get me wrong Shawn you are not the only one I feel this way about you are just the one who posted it and I do so love busting your balls.

 

[Rob]

[QUOTE="thebluffs1, .

I could be misconstruing what he's saying, but thats what I see.[/QUOTE]


Put so eloquently you nailed it my vertically challenged little buddy.

I would and have run a truck 500 miles to help someone out of a jam with a customer if I feel they would have my back if I need it and they would do it for me in return. Some people I would not walk across the street to piss on their grave.

 

[ShawnR]

Our business has always been up and down, things have been bad, things have been good, but when they're bad, it's hard to figure out why and if we can change behavior to fix it. Sometimes it's purely sales and problems within the company, and other times it's not reacting or listening to what's happening outside.

Kind of like a horse running with blinders on, until he stops to look around and notices he's running alone...

So to try and fix things, I'm reaching out on a forum where I think people would rather help each other out instead of put each other down. We're not begging and we're not here because we "cannot get trucks and no one is calling them on postings", we just think we could be working with more carriers that we used to deal with not too long ago.

@Rob if you don't appreciate what I put up here you don't have to respond nor get involved, just ignore me, but consistently coming here simply try to put me down or put down my business is not helping anyone at all. Plus you don't actually know what happens within our company walls, it's all just opinions and assumptions of what we do that are written in the posts...

 

[wright]

Rob hit the nail on the head. Come July after melon season your going to see the cheap brokers go by the wayside if they haven't started all ready.

 

[Rob]

How can I help out if I don't point out the flaws like I have been doing to try and help you all along. We all have flaws Shawn. Hell some people may even think I have a big mouth (I do) . I come on here and call things as I see them and type my feeling (I only have one) on the subject. Am I right or wrong? Sometimes yes and sometimes no but I really am just trying to help you.

Shawn you and I can go round after round for hours until Bull busts a nut from laughing but in all honesty I have asked questions of you and never gotten an answer in this forum so I will just quit trying to help you. It is beyond me also not to reach out and try and help my fellow man as I have stated before I will do anything to help anyone as long as they will help me in a time of need also.

If you think I am picking on you or just putting down your business you are more of a snowflake than I imagined you to be. You do have a special knack for inserting your feet in all the wrong places though and making it easy on me.

PS I wont say no more Promise

 

[loaders]

I know absolutley nothing more about GRoch than I what I have read on this site. From what I have gleaned from different posts, it appears that there are a number of carriers who have had either bad experiences (delayed payment, short payment, etc,), or have been offended/insulted by being offered a low rate. There has also been reports or suggestions of double brokering, or co-brokering, something that many members of this site find somewhat distasteful, to say the least. Having said that, it does seem to me that GRoch may be sincere in wanting to change their image, especially with those who have had previous, unpleasant experiences. Whether this desire to change their reputation in the industry is a direct result of the "new normal" truck shortages, who knows. Any attempt to polish one's image is usually a good business decision. Maintaining the new lustre into the years ahead is the hard part.

 

[ShawnR]

@loaders this is precisely what I'm trying to change. The image of our company is not as good as it could be, and to some we're still strangers. This has been an ongoing problem for us for a little while, much before the shortage, this is just a good time to try to polish the company's image.

If anyone has trucks anywhere near a load of ours, call us, make us your offer, if we can get that much we'll move a load with you, and we won't make any low ball offers nor require you to bend over backwards to haul a load for us!

 

[chica123]

I don't personally want to get involved in all the back and forth...lol. But I do agree with Rob that we are definitely working with the brokers that have always had our backs and treated us fairly. I could post a truck on loadlink and milk that broker for a very high rate right now for a one-time load that we likely won't see again anytime soon. But we are sticking to the brokers that have always supported us by paying fair rates, getting the pick and delivery details fine-tuned so we don't sit around waiting, get us customs docs...the list goes on. And when the market settles down we know they will still be there for us and we will be there working hard for them. I can't see us wanting to take on any new lanes right now because the ones we have been servicing for years are just too appealing to drop.