Brokers Aren’t All That Bad

Many owner operators think Brokers are all bad because some brokers can not be honest with the fuel sur charges now days. There is a misconception that all brokers are stealing the fuel sur charges from owner operators and that they are getting ripped off every which way but loose.

This is not the case. I used to own a dispatch service and had worked at a trucking company prior to my dispatch service. I have dealt with a lot of brokers in my time. I’ve even made a lot of friends because I’ve called on some honest brokers that were very fair to the carrier I worked with and my owner operators who were contracted under my dispatch. These brokers were very helpful and nice. The good brokers I had found went to the extent of bumping up the rate for me so that my drivers and company I worked for could make a little extra money, or would give my drivers a comcheck to help my drivers out with lumper fees so that my drivers wouldn’t have to take the money out of their pockets which was the carriers road expenses to live on. The carriers under my dispatch would not have to wait for the money to get reimbursed a week later. I’ve even made some long term friendships with some brokers who were honest and still stay in contact with most of them.

Yes, like in any industry you have good people and bad people and the trucking industry is no exception. I was told a few months back by a broker when I was trying to find a load for one of my carriers “if you see an extra thousand dollars wouldn’t you take it?” my reply to them was “no, that is the driver’s fuel money to help compensate for the fuel its not the brokers to take. This money should go to the carriers not in your pocket; they are the ones paying for the fuel.” This had gotten the broker vary angry at me because I am honest due to my up bringing.

These kinds of brokers who take the carriers fuel sur charges, all they are thinking about is money, living the high life and getting their loads hauled as cheap as possible. They have not had any formal training to learn right from wrong, but work according to what they had learned as a broker agent under another dishonest broker. They do things the wrong way and do not doing things according to correct procedure (yes there is a procedure to being a good broker) that is taught in a formal classroom setting.

I’ve recently noticed that a lot of brokers have gone out of business due to not only owner operators going out of business due to the fuel crisis this nation is undergoing but who are also taking the fuel sur charge away from the owner operators and small carriers who had ran under their dispatch.

Now I am not a broker yet, I am going to school to become a Broker, I have been taught not to be a dishonest broker. I was taught that if your honest with not only the shipper and owner operator and treat them fair, you will keep an on going business relationship with both the shipper and the carrier for many years. I was taught that if you’re dishonest to the owner operator and the shipper they will turn their backs and go elsewhere or there will be to much liability bestowed upon the company that these brokers who do not do things according to procedure learned in a classroom setting will have a lot of liability claims bestowed upon them.

Mind you there are a lot of brokers now days, who only see dollar signs and think they represent or are an agent of the shipper only. This is the wrong mind set. You are a mediator not an agent for neither party. These brokers that have not gone to school for formal training have been taught the wrong way and conduct their business in a very wrong manor. But the good brokers, they treat both shipper and owner operator with respect and dignity by being honest and staying in communication with both of them as a mediator between both parties thus acting as a mediator between both the carrier and the shipper..

So to think all brokers are bad this is the wrong misperception for I do know most owner operators do have a great working relationship with good brokers and would rather leave the bad brokers on their alone.