Why Want Brokers Or Shippers Post Their Rates On Loads

Ya that makes no sense. If you have work I'd maybe interested.

Alright, I'm gonna jump in on this.

The answer for me here is very simple. We as brokers and you as carriers get ahold of eachother and negotiate back and forth over a fair rate to haul the load. If the rate is posted, and lets say I have my pricing too low for whatever reason, noone is going to even bother calling me. If there is no price listed and I'm trying to sell a load for $100/T and everyone is asking for $125, then I can realize that I have a pricing issue and will look at why. Maybe there is a hot commodity out of the area? No trucks? My facility is notorious for being difficult?

Unfortunately, there are times I may have something priced wrong (especially on say a cross country trip) and I offer the rate, and get hung up on, only to call back and find out the guy would do it for another $300. Some carriers are horrible about negotiating and they honestly can leave themselves good loads or better rates on the table.

At the end of the day, you guys hate calling us enough as it is, if we post the rate we would like to see, noone would even bother. In rare occasions I will post a rate if it is say $3+ per mile the day of pickup.

The guys that run full time for me know exactly what the load pays me. We run on an 8% commission. When the drivers call in for the load they are told what the load pays me. When they get their confirmation, it reflects the rate to them with the 8% taken out. I normally don't do that with outside trucks. We still take our 8% when offering out a load to an outside truck. It's the way I learned how to do this job and it is the way I have continued to do it all through my illustrious and glorious career. As far as demurrage goes, yeah i do have a dog in that fight. My responsibility to that load ends when the load is delivered, paperwork is turned in, billed, collected, and paid out to the driver. I don't take anything on demurrage or fuel surcharge. Those particular charges are meant for the truck. At least that is the way it was when I started out and I am too damned old to change my thinking now. Another recent developement is in washouts. With the advent of these new clean food, clean feed regs that have come out, washouts have become a major expense. I spend more time on a daily basis arguing that point about that being a customer expense and not a driver expense. It is going to become a bigger and bigger issue as time goes on. Cross contamination is such an issue now that even supplying a brand new trailer that has never hauled a load, doesn't make a difference. What gets me is that we have some customers that will require a washout on anything that comes into their plant no matter what you hauled prior, washouts are not required when they sell their product to an outside customer. I got my tail chewed on the other day when i missed a load because my driver stopped to rinse out. Wasn't required but the soy meal was loaded hot and stuck to the side of the trailer. My customer was ticked because the driver washed out but didn't concern themselves with the fact that their product could have been contaminated to their customer, again laying all the responsibility on the driver. A little off topic but it ticks me off. Anyway, don't assume that the broker is just out there to make a quick buck. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that you as a driver or owner operator don't see. I have made the offer several times to drivers to come in and do my job. I know I can do yours because I spent several years doing it. I would be willing to bet there aren't many drivers that could come into my office and do what I do. I have tried to train several drivers in what I feel is the correct way of doing things and with the exception of 3, they have all went back to driving a truck instead of driving a desk because the pressure behind the desk can be extremely intense. Come walk a mile or so in my shoes before you complain about ALL brokers. I am proud as hell of all of my drivers, They have my back and they know I have theirs. That is the way it is supposed to work.

Duane, you are exactly right. My intended target was those who do exactly as I described and not just lump everyone in the same pot. I started out calling several brokers for loads and now I have reduced my call list to those I trust and am comfortable working with. I have stuff that works for me 10 months out of the year and I only need to run Broker loads to fill that gap. A mile is a mile to me. It doesn't matter which way it goes. If the load offered by a broker doesn't work for me then I move on. Hell I can go broke by myself but that's another story.

Sorry for the confusion.

Quite simply, we take a load for say $1000 pay. If we find a truck to haul it for $900 or $1100 then we either make $100 or lose $100. We do not make a commission per load. There is no guaranteed money in how we operate. If there's another way to do it. I'd be interested in knowing. I've only ever known this way of operating that I've inherited.

As far as detention/layover or other accessorial charges, we rarely if ever make a buck off of those. If we get it from the customer it's passed on, and honestly there are plenty of times that we pay it even without customer compensation. If the carrier deserves it they deserve it.

If the pay is there call me 309 208 1827 thank you. Peace

If you don't move the load you don't loose anything. The only time you make money is when it is on the back of one of our trucks. When you and other brokers act like you loose money on loads it really steams me. I have seen brokers keep the detention, and other accessorials, so don't act like it does not happen. Don't tell us you pay it out when the customer does not pay you for such things. Please do not insult our intelligence with such statements.

You personally may give as much as you can to the truck. That sir would make you an honorable broker. Your segment of the industry on the other hand has a tendency to lie, scheme, and keep as much of the pie as they can for themselves without assuming hardly any of the risk.

I will admit that there are a lot of truckers out here that lack a lot to be desired as well. Throw in the cheap ass shippers and then what do you have. A cess pool of an industry that is getting stinkier everyday. It is time for those of us that have Integrity to help drain this cess pool.

Let us be honest with one another for starters. Is this such an impossible thing to do anymore?
Let us not worry about the piece of pie the other person is getting only worry about your own.
Let us not be railroaded by others into not being profitable while their firms are posting profits year after year.

Good Lord Folks use some common sense in 2017. If you don't know you numbers then get out of the business and drive work for somebody that does.

By the way Mr. Broker you should be taking the trucks price for $1000.00 and then marking it up to the shipper. You are doing it just like most of the others, so what makes you different again.

I just blew your bragging about your company out of the water. You want our respect and business then do it the way I described. You may find that we will talk highly of you like we do Duane and others. Not all brokers are bad, but bad brokers are more prevelant than good.

Call me a liar all you want. Anyone who has worked with me will tell you otherwise. I've ate plenty of losses over the years. Hell. I lost a few grand on a reefer load this week that we quoted wrong but that's a cost of doing business. If I take a load it's getting moved. I don't play in load blast lists and all that crap.

end of the day, I take care of my carriers, I'm 24 years old and intend to retire in this business. I'm not going to do that treating people like shit.

Well...now I understand where some brokers and truckers come up with there numbers. They must be "non profit" organizations.

You have lumped yourself into the big bad broker club my boy. We now know what your company is about. Quantity insteam of quality. You are about the volume and not about what is truly best for your customers, shippers and truckers alike. You own no trucks most likely, so how can you promise something you can not deliver on?

I will take this stance for you. I am a bad assume trucker that just schooled your millennial ass. Have fun with that one my boy.

Been driving in this industry for twenty years and used to hate brokers.but now I have been managing a small company ( 3trucks)for past 4years and have got hooked up with a shipper that wants me to broker out loads so got everything set up to be leagal broker.i hold $50 per load to cover my cost of bond my time booking haulers and time billing and writing checks .i agree there are bad brokers out there but are also good ones.just as there are good drivers and bad ones.

i have had a similar experience, when i post rates, it is never enough for the carrier, but when the carrier gives me the rate, usually it is bang on or lower. i always scratch my head at this.....

Also it would better if they actually posted the honest origination and destination. Be upfront,direct,and I bet they would move the loads.

Duane Well put,have ben at this 50 years as Carrier And Broker,I Pay the same way you , have never added to this Forum before, just Had to on Good Man

I disagree. A broker has a right to protect his customer base. You think it's so easy to find the loads then I suggest you sign off the forums and start making the phone calls yourself.

I've been driving for twenty years and always hated brokers.now I manage a small company and a shipper came to me to move their freight.they don't allow me to post my loads . I have to use established connections or find new ones if no one is close.i hold 2 dollars A ton. To pay my wages and a office worker.we are definatly not getting rich off brokered loads.people gripe about brokers but brokers are a nessasry part in this industry.without them you would have to find your own shippers everywhere you go and getting set up with some shippers take weeks.

If you post your full rate everyone wants that full rate so how long will the lights stay on making nothing.

So do you tell everyone where you getting good loads .how long before everyone else is hauling your freight.

The shippers don't know what the broker is paying you. If you do the leg work and find shippers that will let you haul and spend the time getting set up with them.then you don't have to use brokers .some times it takes weeks to get paper work straight on shippers.

I work with both, you would be surprised at how many times when a broker and I partner up on a gig that I make more money.

I have watched truckers sit there and tell the shippers that they will do the gig for .25 per mile cheaper than they were doing for the broker just to eliminate the broker.

Does that make a lick of sense to you?

the more info you broadcast increases the odds of someone cutting your rate so keep it quiet and keep the rates up.just like the guy using brokers to find loads then going around him .he is worse than the double broker. more than likely he is taking it at a lower rate than broker.

I don't give a shit anymore if they undercut me. I just move on to the next opportunity. IF they are stupid enough to bid it cheap then it will be a matter of time before they are gone out of the business. I used to get upset when that happened, now I have seen many a trucker and broker go down over the past two years. It is just a natural culling of the herd.


Here comes the new group of feeders as we speak.

I am a Broker but when I was just a freight broker agent, I would ask myself the same questions. I almost always post rate along with commodity on load boards and I guess to me it helped me not waste my time or someone else's. I prefer be thorough once and then when the calls come in to bid, it is quick and easy vs tons of calls all asking rates and other info that could have been disclosed in the first place on the board. By placing the rates I honestly have been more succesful with loads even when the Shipper is not paying much on the load but I have had other Brokers try to tell me not to put rates but I stick to what works for me. Now one reason Brokers do not post rates has to do with competition sometimes. Some Brokers work with the same Shippers so then it becomes a race against time on who can get the best rate for the load. If a Broker is in that situation, there may be 10 or more Brokers on same load board with same load and to put it simple, no one will let the other know what they are doing in terms of rates. Some Brokers want a load so badly that they will take a load from a Shipper knowing they will have to find a very very cheap truck if they want to profit and they don't once think of a truckers loss at that point. My husband is a driver and I have become friends with many carriers so I have respect for carriers and in doing such I try not to touch Shippers who are tight and the shippers I have as consistent shippers know I will almost always return with a call to increase their rate a bit so both me and the truck can profit. Most Brokers have not figured out they can negotiate with the Shippers but I have no problem doing so. See if your Shipper is happy, you stay busy as a Broker. For that to happen, I must keep my carrier happy with a fair rate and that keeps me with a reliable carrier I can depend on. Carrier keeps me happy, they stay busy and profit. That is how a Broker succeeds but for some, greed is their objective even if not intentional and they don't profit long term.

Now there are many instances where a Shipper contacts a Broker and does not give a rate and waits on the Broker for a rate. If the Broker has his carriers info in their system right they pretty much know what they need to charge but if not, then the Broker pretty much has to blank rate post it to the load board and wait on carriers to give rates and as with any bid system, they usually take the lowest. I would say about 90% of the time that is why you see postings without a rate.This is why you see Shippers not post as well....they are waiting for the best rate. It is just how it goes and oftentimes no disonesty intended. Sure there are Brokers who are bad, dishonest and greedy but it exist with truck drivers as well. Carriers have a job that is to be respected and until a Broker gets in the shoes of a carrier, they will never understand te complexity of the carriers job and what they face and so goes for the Broker. Being a Broker is not an easy job. It is more frustrating than can be imagined and loads do not just fall in our laps, we have to establish relationships with our Shippers. Carriers have more power than known. All it takes is an unfair rate and the Carrier saying they are not interested and the Broker and Shipper both are back to the drawing board. This is probably the only justifiable reason I know Brokers and Shippers not to post and is understandable although maybe not always fair to Carrier but perhaps this may shed some light on why...now other reasons of greed? I have no idea. Maybe a bad shipper or broker cares to answer :)

This is all crazy. Always has been and always will be. Everybody is looking for the best price. Nothing is ever going to change. Because one persons greed in their eyes is another persons sucker in theirs. It's all about getting the job done and either keeping or putting a few extra Benjamin's in the pocket.
Bottom line is knowing what it cost to operate.
Do I haul cheap freight? Yes I do. But not all the time.
Im not saying I know everything but I pencil the figures on every load I negotiate.
I know the broker does it as well as the shipper and why shouldn't you?
Your not always going to be in an area that pays high dollar to move a load.
Believe it or not I can make money on a cheap freight rate. As long as it puts me back to an area I know that pays well.
I work on averages. I'm always negotiating what is extra. Not my operational cost.
I couldn't give a rats about how much the broker makes. I hope he gets rich. More power to him. I hope the shipper same.
As long as I know what I need and make. That is the main concern. Some months I work my butt off to maintain and some months I don't hardly work at all, but I still make my average and put money in the pocket.
Most everything I do is line-haul flate rate. Everything is factored in. Even my fuel is averaged.
My biggest problem with brokers is they don't like to post the actual area of where the load is coming from or where it is going to.
It's always 50 or 70 miles away. Blows all my figures out the window. It never fails I'll have to to tell them, I have to run the numbers. Let me get back to you.
DH miles has to be factored in.
Brokers don't seem to care about per mile rates and averages. They love line-haul flat rate.
But being a carrier I do. We have to deal with constant changing operational cost.
Dead head and fuel cost is always changing. A simple flat rate is nice for you but it still has to be broke down into a per mile rate. Fuel and dead head, if wasn't for that life would be good.
Not posting a rate I understand. But it sure would be nice to see the actual from and to locations posted.