new thread: WHORING YOUR RATES AND WHAT TO DO TO STOP IT

Guess what? Not only are there too many trucks, there are too many brokers as well. In a supply and demand industry the market always corrects itself up or down no matter what. Ever get that email about not buying fuel from Esso until they have to lower their price and then all the other oil companies will lower theirs as well. All we have to do is work together. Great idea, will it ever happen?
 
In agreement

I am in full agreement with Pablo. On all the points he has brought forward. He is a professional in sales and I for one beleive it is the strong point of a freight broker.
As a carrier , our focus is on operations.

He hit the nail on the head with the rate issue, the higher the rates are the more we all make, seeing we take a margin!
Removing the Freight broker would not be feasable nor beneficial for small to medium sized carriers, advantgeous only to large carriers.
 
bull958 said:
If I could be so bold, why doesn't freight broker go out and buy some trucks and run his or her own freight if he or she is so good at it.
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If I may be so bold..because I just don't want to..good enough reason for ya?
 
Rob said:
If I may be so bold and usually am. Freight Broker are you for real? You may know the business and maybe could run a sucsesfull transportation company but to say that 90% of brokers know more about trucking than trucking companies get off the pipe crack kills.

I on a daily basis call brokers and explain there freight, weights, dimensions, rules and regulations to brokers. case in point broker yesterday looking to move a tridenm load to Texas. (ya ok I will get right on that Sunshine)

You may know the business but if is not to bold to say 99% of the people in the brokerage end of the business wouln't know how to start a truck never mind the difference between a banjo and a pogo stick.
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Who said anything about 90% of brokers??? I didn't say anyhting about other brokers..all I say is don't assume all of us are talking heads in suits..some of us (don't how many) are very conversant with all aspects of trucking.
 
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Freight Broker; And some of us brokers understand the carrier end of the business better than most carriers do..[/QUOTE said:
I never said that you did say anything about brokers but this statment is pretty bold when standing behind an anonymous name on a message board. I said 90% of brokerage employees and some if not most brokerage owners dont know there ass from a hole in the ground!
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I said some of us brokers...which you equate with 90% of brokers. I really don't know about other brokers as I don't deal with them (why would I) nor do I care about how they operate. Not such a bold statement and you're as anonymous as I am.
 
I knew this would start something. If their were no carriers who would the brokers call?? If their were no brokers who would the shippers call??? The carriers maybe?? yes their might be a few good ones(brokers) out there but like Rob says carriers have to explain to the brokers what equipment "they" need to move "their" freight. And carriers should stop buying trucks and broker more????? WTF? Broker to who? the carrier who is not suppost to buy any trucks?????????
 
We all have our business models and hopefully they are successful but like any business the ones who do not have a clue will eventually not survive. This should be a big red flag to anyone who is dealing with someone who does not have a clue because they will not survive long. They will survive short term but not long - whether it is a carrier or a broker.
 
Let's not get into a pissing match. Rates need to be increased, everything is costing more and most rates haven't increased they have decreased! Our company hasn't increased our rates for 3 years! Our rates are still competive with most other carriers but are expensive compared to the carriers that are crappy carriers. You pay for the service and that is one thing brokers need to tell there customers (which I am sure most of you do)
The key is we have to work together Carriers with Brokers and Brokers with customers! One big happy family, I know it'a a far stretch but it is possible.
We all have to band together and get rid of the rip off arrestest in the industry! Get the word out (which we are doing with this website)

Can you tell I am in a positive mood as it is Friday!
 
Idea

I think the first thing that could possibly make this industry better would be that brokers collectively should subscribe to an association that holds them accountable to certain industry standards. Industry standards such as trust accounts or bonds, and a way that complaints can be dealt with in a professional manner. The association should police their own and offer certificates that expire much like the carriers require an insurance certificate. If this were to begin, carriers would ask the broker if they belong to the association and request a cert.

(**Rant**One used to think that the Link would want something like this but more and more they are trying to get customers - any customers who will post freight. I believe that there is less and less intervention going on causing the Link to become the trap for unwanted brokers who generally double broker loads or use the Link to find quotes. Back to the topic)

I think eventually the carriers will become to expect that all brokers belong to the association and if a broker does not belong to the association, they will choose to limit their liability to that broker.

The next step would be that the association could rate the carriers on a collective basis. Freight brokers could send in data based on carriers proficiency and other freight brokers can use that data to find better carriers.

This would be a win-win solution and I am surprised that something like this hasn't taken off. I know that the National Transportation Brokers Association exists and am always glad when I work with a broker who subscribes to that but I don't think they police themselves like I suggest above or offer that kind of service. I have seen the topic on the main forum board but there is not much information in there. There was even one who asked what could be gained by joining but there was only one posting commenting on one issue.

I know that internally, we all have a DNU list but this would help immensly.
 
Outrageous Rates

In a posting above, someone mentioned that carriers give outrageous rates, only to accept the same load from someone for thousands less.

Now I know that this person was trying to exagerate to show his/her point but I want to give this person a little insight to why rates are different.

Last week on Wednesday I saw some freight posted by two brokers with the same information- truckload, same ship city and same destination city. The one end was a city that you don't see very often in fact I had to look it up in PC Miler so I don't think that it was a coincidence.

I called the first broker who said that the freight had to be off the dock today, the freight was a full truckload - 45000lbs and must be at the destination city by the end of the week and will require an appointment.

The next broker told me that it was posted as a truckload because he thought it was going to be hard to move 20 skids, 15000 lbs as a partial. The load had to be picked up by the end of the week, the shipper has 2 shifts and can be delivered any time before the end of the next week. I asked this broker if he knew that the shipper was trying to use another broker and he mentioned the first brokers name as being his competitor so the two postings couldn't be a fluke.

Obviously I gave the second broker I called a rate much less than the first guy. Maybe the first broker didn't read his e-mail properly or got the information wrong from the shipper but the second broker got his facts straight and won the freight.

I know that some brokers try their best to give false information so that you don't arrive with other freight on the trailer or they want to give their customer such great service (getting it picked up the same day) so that the next broker cannot get the freight from under him. Why do they continue to think that this is helping? If this was the case in this scenario it backfired. If he would have just been honest he would have received a good rate, I wouldn't have called the second broker and he would have gotten the freight. I was able to put other freight with it and operated more effectively. Too many times carriers are running back and forth to try to keep customers happy but causing some inefficencies. The more effective the carrier can operate, eventually the lower the costs can be.

Now I know that I just opened up a can of worms and can expect load brokers to post back that carriers are doing the same thing and you're right - some carriers are not truthful and open with the load brokers. This hurts all of us and is not right. I was just trying to put out the carriers point of view on outrageous rates.
 
Great point...accurate load and pickup and delivery information is important not only to get the load covered but to ensure the carrier can do his job efficiently. Too often brokers and shippers are inaccurate or leave important load information out...thereby inviting all kinds of problems. Weights that aren't accurate, incorrect skid counts or shipping hours often contribute to inefficiency. Sometimes these are mistakes..sometimes these are intential misrepresentations in order to lure trucks in for loads that may otherwise be hard to move..bad tactics.
 
This is a business. OF course brokers are going to get quotes from carriers. I will say I call 5-6 carriers I trust to get a quote on a shipment. A FREIGHT BROKER is a CUSTOMER, no different than a SHIPPER, because that is who they represent. As a carrier I knew what I quoted and kept tabs on what I had on the go, if I got a call back on something I quoted on, I would not budge from the original quote. At the same time, now as a broker I am required to find the best price for my customer, which I do, but at the same time if a carrier quotes me a rate I will pay that quote if I can.
Carriers need to realize that sometimes brokers will quote on shipments and not get the freight at all. F1 Transportation has stopped giving me rates because they only get 2% of the freight that they quoted on for me. I am the first to say that they received 60% of the quotes that they quoted on. On the others I either found a better rate for my customer or I told my customer I'm not interested. Many times I have gone with rates from carriers that I trust rather than the lowest rate, reason being I can sleep at night.I have integrity, at the same time I don't think carriers want to hear what has happened with every quote. I know if I were to call a carrier and say I have ABC carriers that will do this for $500, instead of $550 then I am a sleaze ball or trying to get the carrier to drop their rate to take the freight. Not only that I don't have time to follow up on every quote I go to carriers for. Which is only a small percentage of the freight that I move daily. As a broker I can find another truck as I pay a fair rate.
F1 merely lost an LTL customer
 
Godfather

PM or call me... Would like to discuss this as I do not know who you are and you have mentioned an issue you have with our company in your post.... - Chris @ F1
 
Wiley One said:
my 2 cents. Without carriers brokers can't move freight. Without brokers carriers can just move the freight direct.Who needs who more?
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If you don't need brokers, why do you haul freight for them?

Don't deal with brokers! Fill your own trucks. Move the freight direct. It's that easy.

Leave this forum to members who want to post items that truly help our trucking industry. The only thing that your negative posts generate is ill will.
 
The reality is this. Freight brokers are here to stay until we get told we can't operate.

Just because we can find a truck to do the load for cheaper than you - and maybe with better service - don't get upset because you can't do it anymore!!

It's called competition - if you can't compete, don't get upset because we can do better!

One carrier does not have the same costs as another, so get used to it!!!
 
well well Mellaw once again you miss the piont. If you can't figure out that brokers need carriers more than carriers need brokers well.... just leave this forum to all the load brokers to pat themselves on the back and tell each other how great they are and how better their service is than those d#$ carriers.

I guess you are here to stay until another load broker declares you can't operate. Because we all know load brokers rule the world.
 
Relationships

What I have found is that 99% of the carriers we deal with we have a relationship with. We work together to get the business. With up front honesty and integrity any time an issue comes up whether it be rates or service, it gets worked out and business continues. I am willing to bet that the majority of reputable carriers AND reputable brokers work together and move freight because they find common principles that they share. Those that conflict....well .....read above....
 
Wiley One said:
well well Mellaw once again you miss the piont. If you can't figure out that brokers need carriers more than carriers need brokers well.... just leave this forum to all the load brokers to pat themselves on the back and tell each other how great they are and how better their service is than those d#$ carriers.

I guess you are here to stay until another load broker declares you can't operate. Because we all know load brokers rule the world.
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Wiley...I am both a broker and a dispatcher and I think you dont see that there is a lot of work put in on a "good" brokers end. They deal direct with the customer, and beleive you me, sometimes you dont want to deal with them. This is the transportation world, there will always be brokers (good and bad) as well as carriers. just as in every industry. We both need each other and if your brokers arent treating you that well then I suggest changing or getting freight somewhere else.
 
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