Any brokers here? What is a broker?

[curtis50]

Intro: Hello, from New Mexico. A friend and I have a trucking business. We run it by ourselves. My friend is more of the person who does the trucking work and has the mechanic skills...etc etc... I am more of the student and computer guy and paperwork...

Now my question is what subjects should I research in order to become a "broker" which my friend wants me to cover. From what he explained he said we have different types of loads, and a couple drivers ready. He said basically I need to find people who need loads and people who needs drivers, this was the gist of what a "broker" in trucking does. If I am wrong correct me.

Now with that said, so far I have checked out sites like getloaded.com . Is this pretty much the standard way of doing this? What other ways are there? Any advice will be really appreciated! Thanks

 

[freightmaster]

Hi and welcome Curtis,
What a broker does basically is he or she finds a customer base"some company needing to move a commodity". Once he has done that and finds out what the customer is willing to pay to get the freight moved, he can post the load, via a website or contact trucking companies and have interested truckers that are in that area with the right equipment to contact him. The broker is basically the middle man and should only charge a fair amount of the gross pay the shipper provides. You are responsible for collecting the revenue from the shipper and paying the trucking company, minus your fee. You will have to be licensed and bonded.
Good luck in your endeavors.

 

[BANDIT]

In my opinion from past experience, you can only be a successful Broker if you are good at screwing hardworking people, and not have it bother you. You have to be an asshole, a good liar, and able to disappear at the drop of a hat. I have never met or dealt with a truly honest Broker. They are in business to try to get the highest price for hauling a load of freight, and in turn finding a trucker to haul it for as little as possible. It's the way they make their living. Kind of like a leach. If this is your thing,,,Good Luck and make sure you have nothing in your name.:tiphat:

 

[freightmaster]

Kinda like a politician is more like it!

 

[BANDIT]

Kinda like a politician is more like it!

Exactly like a politician, only the politician doesn't try to hide it, they do it right under your nose whether you like it or not. And unlike a Broker who runs off a disappears, the politician sticks around and screws you again tomorrow and the day after that and on and on and on.

 

[Robert929]

Exactly like a politician, only the politician doesn't try to hide it, they do it right under your nose whether you like it or not. And unlike a Broker who runs off a disappears, the politician sticks around and screws you again tomorrow and the day after that and on and on and on.

Sounds like you done ran into some real bad people. Sorry to hear that, but for the person inquiring, I think that, as bad as it sounds, you are getting pretty accurate advice. A broker wants something for nothing. If I'm wrong just tell me why if all you have invested in a shipment is a phone call, why in the hell do you deserve 10 - 25% of the money involved in said shipment when the driver and his equipment is doing all of the work. Capitalism, it's the American way!!!!!!......You may be a good guy and all, but if you want to excel at being a broker, your gonna have to become the opposite of a good guy. I'm sure there are good brokers out there, but most of 'em got a bad rap, because they deserve it. Hadn't heard many good things said about brokers? Must be a reason, they earned it!!!!!!! Good luck..........Peace.:blah:


P.S. Just what the industry needs another uninformed broker....WOW

 

[Flatbedpete]

In my opinion from past experience, you can only be a successful Broker if you are good at screwing hardworking people, and not have it bother you. You have to be an asshole, a good liar, and able to disappear at the drop of a hat. I have never met or dealt with a truly honest Broker. They are in business to try to get the highest price for hauling a load of freight, and in turn finding a trucker to haul it for as little as possible. It's the way they make their living. Kind of like a leach. If this is your thing,,,Good Luck and make sure you have nothing in your name.:tiphat:

I just love this guy. Bandit for President. LOL

 

[Zapco]

I just love this guy. Bandit for President. LOL

Being a broker I totally disagree. I do not lie, I dont not hire cheap trucks and we have been in business for 24 yrs. We have the highest Blue Booke rating you can achieve and trucks keep coming back for my rates. You need to find a GOOD broker that does look out for the trucker. I have 100's of companies that haul for me before they haul for their own customers even though I send them to their own friggin customers. Why? because I pay them more than they can get directly and pay them WAY faster and give out advances for less than 1%!:thud:

 

[lunachic]

Being a broker I totally disagree. I do not lie, I dont not hire cheap trucks and we have been in business for 24 yrs. We have the highest Blue Booke rating you can achieve and trucks keep coming back for my rates. You need to find a GOOD broker that does look out for the trucker. I have 100's of companies that haul for me before they haul for their own customers even though I send them to their own friggin customers. Why? because I pay them more than they can get directly and pay them WAY faster and give out advances for less than 1%!:thud:

What is your % ?

 

[Zapco]

$12.50 per $1000, so my mistake 1.25% per $1000

 

[lunachic]

$12.50 per $1000, so my mistake 1.25% per $1000

know not on advance, % out of the rate?

 

[cyaugersr]

WOW, one would think that those who have been in the industry for such a long time would know the difference between a good broker and a bad one. Hmmmm, what do you think about someone who keeps going back to people who continually screws them over and over again? One bad decision after another says someting about an individual. Then again stand next to a pile of crap long enough and you can't tell the difference between the two.

 

[lunachic]

I'm not going to say every broker was a bad one, we had 2 that were great, total honest. which is why everyone stayed loyal to them till the end. When they started getting screwed over and could'nt get the rates up for the trucks or compete with the under cutting, they closed down.
But then both had been driver's first. Now other one's I have a few words for.......
every now and then when I get bored I'll call on some loads on the board. What a joke....lol

 

[Blakowt13]

I just hauled a load from Laredo, TX., to Rural Hall, NC.
The "rate" wasn't great because it was cheap haul rob-u-some and after the deadhead (San Antonio-Laredo) was factored in, we made a whopping $1.31 a mile.
WE're DONE with BROKEred loads and WE're very close to closing our doors.

WE've tried the so called "good BROKErs" only to be screwed again and again with a bigger Dildo and no Lube. The old "I didn't get your Fax, therefore I didn't put your payment in for this month", or the "You didn't include some load number or some other number (nobody knows about) on your Fax, therefore we can't pay until it is submitted" crap lines happens constantly.
These "lines" happen with Local customers as well and WE have over a 300 customer base.

WE've heard ALL THE STORIES about how a new BROKEr is fair and honest and WE've been continuously screwed by believing these people.

When YOU, the supposed honest BROKEr say that YOU'RE the real deal, I want YOU to prove it by putting up YOUR Business as collateral because when YOU screw someone, that someone can then acquire YOUR business as payment in FULL because YOU don't deserve it, or be available for a good old fashioned ass whipping.

 

[marko_cheetah]

Are you still in business?

 

[freight81]

Not all brokers are bad. I have sales agents under me and they are honest people. I tell them it is better to make a small amount on a load and have a relationship with a truck than to whack their head off and have to always search for a good truck.

 

[Tn. Truckers Wife]

Not all brokers are bad. I have sales agents under me and they are honest people. I tell them it is better to make a small amount on a load and have a relationship with a truck than to whack their head off and have to always search for a good truck.

Welcome to the forum.. Where are you at in TN?

 

[marko_cheetah]

I understand all the negative talk about brokers because as a dispatcher I deal with them all day. In my few years dispatching experience I have figured out that really a few brokers out there really know what they are doing and are looking at the big picture. The rest just see green and stay in business for a very short time. Another thing that has been upsetting me in the last few months is the excuse brokers use on cheap loads "Hey it's the economy, you know how it is". The economy is not that bad for a broker to be offering a load from Chicago to Miami for $1550 and saying maybe I can squeeze in an extra $25 in. That's not right at all...

 

[freight81]

That is bad when brokers use the economy as an excuse. If they are getting the same rates as when the economy was better, they should pay the same. They see it as a way to make more money for a short time. I personally would rather pay the same to the trucking companies I have dealt with in the past. Because if the tables turn, those trucks could burn you when freight is paying more. Its all about Kharma. Its like the "produce chasers" of truck drivers. It does work both ways

TN. Truckers Wife - I am in Jackson, TN. You?

I also want to add that in some cases when a broker is an inhouse broker for a company like CH Robsomeone, they are required to make certain (min. 18%) margins. Independent brokers are more likely to establish a relationship where both parties win. I used to show my customers rate sheet to my trucking companies and only keep $75. Do enough of those a day and $75 adds up. And, the truck is happy.

 

[Tn. Truckers Wife]

I'm in Joelton...Just north of Nashville...