Hey there! Welcome back to part three of our love/hate relationships with freight brokers series. These posts will give you a perspective of what to look for when working with freight brokers and will discuss how we can potentially make your job easier. If you haven’t already we encourage you to read part one you can review by clicking HERE. If you have read part one might as well go ahead and read part 2 which you can review by clicking HERE.
Before you get into our last commentary on love/hate relationships with freight brokers I want to discuss some details about expedited freight. As a premium freight service provider, we understand businesses typically try and reduce the amount of expedited freight shipped and received to their warehouses. Why? Simply because this is considered a premium service and as you know premium services equals premium costs.
We work with businesses that sometimes ship expedited freight only once or twice a month! There is no certain amount of freight that we will accept or decline, as long as we are able to find a suitable carrier to fulfill your needs.
We like to consider ourselves as a fire extinguisher enclosed in a glass case, you may not need it now, tomorrow or next week but when you do need it, it’s critical you “break the glass”! With that out of the way let’s jump into part 3 of love-hate relationships with freight brokers.
Love
‘Eliminates the back and forth’
Ever been to a food restaurant, ordered food only to see that they did not do what you requested? I think we all have and it can be rather annoying to consistently go back and forth with servers or managers to get your food order correct.
Well, when it comes to the freight world, working with freight brokers eliminates the back and forth conversations required to get the freight moved. Freight brokers should provide a one to one communication with the clients to ensure they receive all the requirements of the load that needs to be transported.
No more calling dispatchers, truck drivers, sales people etc. Having a one to one communication with your freight brokers allows for you to efficiently do your job on a day to day basis.
Hate
‘No static pricing!’
Have you ever called a freight broker one week for quotes on a load only to see that a similar load you requested quotes on the previous week was cheaper? Yes, believe it or not, this happens all the time! In the freight brokering world, static pricing is pretty much nonexistent. Things are consistently changing because the world around is consistently changing.
As an example we recently had Tropical Storm Gordan make landfall in the Gulf Coast. Prices of gasoline have increased with the impact of the storm which in turns affects the pricing of freight in and out of the gulf coast regions.
This is just one of many examples where its virtually impossible cannot predict static pricing on your freight. Having a truth worthy freight broker comes in handy because they will keep you updated on what’s going on in the world that can potentially impact the costs of transporting freight.
Wrap up
I hope you enjoyed our 3 part series of love/hate relationship with the freight broker. Again, our goal is to provide you with content on what to look for when working with freight brokers. If you enjoy our blog, please feel free to share or like usual our social media buttons. As always, if you have any questions in regards to fulfilling your freight needs please contact me at ray.mcdonald@insurelogistic.com. Until next time! Happy Shipping!
