Whats is with rates and freight

I hate posting only to say 'ya, what he said'. But everyone can be right on this topic and I believe everyone is to some extent.
Different brokers handle spot quotes or orders differently. Different carriers handle spot quotes and orders differently. We all encounter a spectrum of replies, responses and reactions to how we approach the magical realm of negotiation. Some people want to hear the other parties rate first, some want to 'sell' a rate that is predetermined by recent and historical data (or the boss), or sometimes a customer gives us an aggressive target and we're seeing if the number is possible in the current market.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this, carriers actually do dictate rates, their rates, and brokers can take it or leave it (and do more work trying to obtain a move at their budget).

2 simple examples.

OH - ON (never mind the actual cities as it's not relevant), Monday we had people begging for TL's on the lane and were receiving carriers asking us for the business for $900-$950. SAME LANE today - I received rates all morning of $1500-$1800 from carriers until we accepted a carrier that agreed to do it for $1100. Our rate to the customer has to be the same Monday and Friday so we do what we have to in order to keep them happy.

NJ - ON - 1 skid (I know, sad that it wasn't a one call booking). Katrina was out for the morning the other day so I figured I'd book it. We have a target price that we want to pay for this kind of move, I called the last 4 carriers that have all done for this price and all were booked into next week. I call carrier #5 (who did a 1 skid load this week from NJ) who gives me a rate $100 greater than the one from earlier in the week. Maybe he likes Katrina more than me, or maybe he's running out of space so the last few seats on the bus he's going to try and make some extra dough. Anyway, I'm not upset that he would ask for that rate, that is his rate all things considered at that time for that move. I just couldn't book him on the load.

random ramble over. sorry you won't get your 2 minutes back.

Happy Friday, is it Martini time yet?
Mike
 
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Reactions: marylou and Freight Broker
Wow, everyone’s memory seems a little short this Friday afternoon. What happened a year and a half ago shortly after ELDs were mandated in the US? No offence Rob, but that tired old rate from Mississauga to Chicago sure flew out the window pretty quickly. Things were so upside down I was calling carriers to ask what my own name was!! Look, I am sure we can all agree that constant, repetitive calls requesting rates to the same locations is tiresome and really not necessary. We should also be able to agree that getting the proper information about a job you are quoting is not unreasonable and your supplier should welcome the opportunity to assist you in getting some work that will most likely end up on his trucks.
 
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Reactions: Rob and Freight Broker
As long as "us brokers" continue to have to compete in the "spot quote" market, which is the majority of our business, we will need to "spot quote". I agree with all carriers here that we should know the average market value of certain lanes and I think most of us would agree we do. However, with the volatility of the market in the past year with fuel, ELD's, freight to load levels, we have no choice but to reach out to our PARTNERS, (carriers) to get a feel for the market trends. We will from time to time post loads on the link to get a feel for the current market rate to ensure we are still in line. I am assuming the frustration from the asset based carriers here are from the brokers that are constantly posting to get the 'deal of the day'. I get that, as it would annoy the f#$ out of me also. So I think that us brokers, who are long standing ones in Canada and on this forum, don't really apply to some of the comments made by our partner carriers here.
 
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Reactions: MikeJr and loaders
We absolutely do not respond to random people asking us to quote 10 to 50 different lanes because "they" have a great shot at getting the business. If you are serious talk to us first let us know what you are thinking and the strategy to get the business, because if it's a race to the bottom we are definitely not interested. If you are serious about the quote you would have talk to us, get to know how we do business, decide if our expectations align with yours and see if we are a good long term partner. Our regular brokers get what they need from us no problem but don't send an email with no intro and we have never heard of you.
 
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Reactions: Bulldog5221, aaaa, Pasha and 4 others
Lets face it - the true decision maker is the Beneficial Freight Owner BFO or freight payor, the end customer. Brokers and carriers work together to get the load moved.

The BFO, with the help of the internet, has a long list of brokers and carriers on his email for a freight shipment. In the times where there is an oversupply of trucks, such as right now, there will be lots of back and forth communications to try and secure the load but in the end it will come down to the lowest price. The person with the dollars makes the ultimate decision.

Gone are the days that a freight broker or carrier gets all the freight from a BFO and if one does, they have to keep their pencil sharp because when there is an over supply of trucks, everyone is supplying the BFO with numbers. If those freight numbers differ significantly there is a risk of someone else getting their foot in the door. We see these complaints now because some carriers think its the Freight Broker who is trying to take advantage of the market. It was exactly the opposite last in Jan/Feb 2018 where brokers thought that carriers were trying to take advantage of the market.

For now all we can do is continue to monitor the rates on the lanes we run and be cognizant that some carriers will run similar lanes for less money. If you are in the spot market trying to get that freight then you will have to compete with these carriers - either choose to race to the bottom or hold firm at a rate that you accept and understand that you may not get the load.

This is how we got to this problem of over capacity of trucks. Many carriers added capacity in Q1-2018. The demand was there to keep things going for the rest of 2018 but as the year crept along the rates demanded in Q1 started to diminish. Now in Q2-2019 we see a softening of demand so spot rates sink lower to the point that those carriers are desperate to keep them going or shrink their fleet - both tough choices to make.
 
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