Who cares what the broker makes anyways?

Who cares what the broker makes anyways?

While I personally may feel that freight brokers commissions need to be regulated more like a real estate brokers. It is not, so they are allowed to glean from a load multiple times from multiple brokers. The gooberment does not care as long as they get their share. The gooberment on the other hand loves to over regulate us truckers. It is our job to know how to be successful even with all the rules that are seemingly set against us. There will always be a market for those that have the desire to succeed, even if that market is black in nature.

Who cares what the brokers make anyways, it is your job as a small business owner to know your numbers and your profit margins. There is no magic rate per mile that will work in every segment of our industry. I will guarantee you that operating on a profit margin will work in all segments. This is how the shipper works, this is how the broker works. Why is this not how the trucker works?

I and others at the Independent Carrier Group only care about our profit margins. This is why we are still in business. If we focused on a particular rate per mile, that might not work for the next business model. By focusing on our profit margin we can all be successful in our little kingdoms without having a detrimental effect on our market and each other.

Like I tell everybody about the FMCSA and DOT it is their job to catch us and ours to not get caught.

Here is the game between us and the brokers, it is their job to make as much as they can and yours to make as much as you can. If the load falls below your established profit margin then you should quite simply not haul the load. You are taking a greater risk hauling their freight than you will hauling air to the next good market.

Learn how to stand pat with your margins and always remember that some profit is always better than no profit. Do not feel sorry for the shipper/broker, they are not your friends they are business opportunities Do not do favors for them, as often times they will never repay the favors, favors are only to be given to close trusted friends and allies. They will not be loyal to you after your haul that load for them, so why should you think that being loyal to them will pan out.

Good customer service is what is expected of all of us, that is what they hired you for. Thinking that supplying good customer service is going to land you the account is often times overstated. You as a smaller carrier need to accept the fact that you are a gap fill widget. You generally do not have the capacity to service the customer's full needs. If you believe that you do, then you often times will find that you will over extend yourself and end up losing that customer as well as other opportunities. If you want to be involved in bigger contracts then you should saddle up with an honorable broker or larger carrier that has such opportunities for you.

The broker does not care what you are making they only care what they are making. So I will end with the original question.

Who cares what the broker makes anyways?