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Weekly Updates* The few rotten apples in our industry give the rest of us a very bad reputation. Most of these problem makers are unlicensed and yet they can find customers who will use them because they are cheap. Then when the shippers have problems they blame the entire industry. Some customers believe - a broker is a broker is a broker, which is NOT true.
* Some brokers have given this industry a bad reputation. Both shippers and carriers could help reduce this problem if they would be more alert in checking proper credentials and recommendations before using a new broker.
* We must change the image of brokers. We are still considered by some shippers and carriers as bad guys - we are not. We provide a fair and honest service. If we didn't, we wouldn't still be in business. As a colleague said to me once, we are like chiropractors in the health care area. Not highly respected but we frequently solve problems that no one else can.
No Control of the Truckers' Operation
Thirty-three transportation brokers (14.5 percent of the total respondents) said their greatest frustration was not being able to control the operations of the trucking companies they utilize. Here are four responses:
* Being treated by some trucking companies like your business is bad business. This type of carder will pick up a load for me and then deliver it when they want, because after all it's a "broker's" load.
* Being held responsible for circumstances and events that the carrier does after they pick up a shipment which is not what they said they would do. I don't control the truckers' actions, but frequently the customer thinks I do or should be able to.
* Anything that prevents me from keeping my word to a customer. It is so frustrating when carriers say one thing and do another.
* Coming into work and having an irate customer yelling at me on the phone because his shipment is not where I said it would be. Why? Because the trucker involved knows there is a shortage of drivers and therefore he can treat me like [...] and that I will probably use him in the future.
Truckers Who Commit to a Shipment and Do Not Do It
Related to the above annoyance is when a carrier commits to take a shipment and then does not pick it up. This situation was noted by 11.8 percent of the respondents (27 brokers). Three illustrative comments follow:
* Leaving the office at the end of the day thinking you have all your loads covered only to find out the next morning that some of your trucks did not show up.
* I am helping carriers find back haul freight and then losing the customer pick-up because the trucker involved found that his own sales people had found a load for him. It seems like there is not much integrity sometimes in this business on the part of some of the truckers we use.
* Carriers who commit to take a shipment and then a better load is found and they don't even bother to call me and let me know they won't take my shipment. This is the broker's nightmare.
Shippers Who Don't Pay or Are Slow to Pay
The fifth most common frustration - noted by 20 brokers, or 8.8 percent of the respondents - involved shippers who either did not pay for the trucking service involved or were chronically slow in paying. When the former situation takes place, the broker typically pays the trucker and the entire cost of shipment is borne by the broker. Here are three of their comments:
* As a middleman, I try to be 100% fair to all parties. It's frustrating how much I write off because the shipper will not pay for the service provided. I pay the trucker involved and then get stiffed by the shipper. I really get sick of all the hard luck stories I hear from my customers about why they can't pay me.
* Cash flow is very critical in the brokerage business. We pay our careers 30 days after they perform the transportation service, even if we have not been paid. Therefore, one must be very careful to develop a list of customers who pay you in 30 days. If you are not careful, you can easily find yourself begging a bank for short term cash needs.
* Accounts receivable are the curse of this business. I find it ironic that some people say we are in an unethical business and yet our most serious problem is customers who treat us dishonestly by not paying us in the time period that they agreed to.
Truckers Who Do Not Communicate When They Have Operating Problems
Another frustration noted by ten transportation brokers (4.4 percent of the participating individuals) was that when a trucker experienced problems enroute with the broker's shipments, the tracker did not communicate to the broker what was happening. The brokers noted that they realized that problems take place that are beyond the control of the trucker involved - they just wanted to know the status of the shipment so they could notify the shipper and consignee that the shipment would be late. Here are three representative statements:
* I don't expect perfection from my carriers - I do expect to know when they are not able to deliver my shipment in a timely manner. I can't tell you how mad it makes me to hear about problems from irate shippers!
* Truck drivers and dispatchers who will not stay in touch with me when a problem arises.
* Not knowing where a truck is when I have the shipper on the phone yelling at me when his shipment is not where I told him that it would be. Why is simple communication so difficult with so many truckers?
Excessive Regulatory Paperwork
The next most commonly noted problem area was the excessive amount of paperwork required by regulatory agencies. This frustration was listed by eight brokers or 3.5 percent of the survey participants. Here are two of their comments:
* Governmental - both state and federal - regulations that increase the cost and complexity of doing business in general and in the transportation industry specifically. The paperwork that I must keep track of is immense....
* Continual governmental interference, and all the required documentation, is my greatest frustration. This is an industry that should be the essence of entrepreneurial free enterprise. Instead, I spend an inordinate amount of time completing government mandated reports and forms.
Transportation Managers/Professors Who Do Not Understand What We Do
Eight brokers (3.5 percent of the respondents) stated that the most severe negative about their career area was transportation managers and other presumed transportation experts who did not understand what a transportation broker did. These respondents declared that it was one thing for the general public to not be aware of the function of a transportation broker, but that it was very frustrating for people who work in transportation on a daily basis to not appreciate what function brokers perform. Two typical observations are:
* The vast continuing need to educate and expose people in the shipping industry to the benefits and opportunities available through quality transportation brokers.
* Other than Terence Brown, no one in academia understands brokerage in the '90s. One nationally known professor from a major university's transportation department told the TBCA members - he didn't have the time to fit brokerage into the course. The text that he used had only two pages on the subject of freight brokers.
Shippers Who Demand Immediate Pickup
The ninth most common problem area was shippers who demanded immediate pickup of their shipment. This concern was noted by seven brokers or 3.1 percent of the respondents. Here are two of their comments:
* The shipper mentality that when they call Yellow Freight, the shipment is picked up in a matter of hours. They expect us to be able to give the same kind of service. They just don't understand that is just not possible in almost all cases.
* The customer with the impossible load who needs service now. He only calls after he's gotten himself in a time jam. Then he expects you to stand on your head for him. Then he's always late with his payment and he expects you to be grateful that he called you. I don't have time for these guys any more, I just tell them I don't have any trucks available.
Shippers Who Are Concerned Only With Low Prices
Six brokers (2.6 percent of the survey participants) stated that they were frustrated with customers who were concerned only with getting the very lowest possible price for the shipment involved. Below are two illustrative statements:
* The fact that most shippers will say that service is the most important aspect of what they want, but a majority in fact are much more concerned with receiving the lowest possible price, plus they still want me to provide the best possible service.
* Customers who want the best possible service, and then constantly hunt around for a lower price. The hypocritical nature of some people. Why won't they just be honest with me and tell me that cost is the basic issue? I have no problem with that, but I hate being told service is the key, when it is not the most important factor to many of my customers.
Training Employees Who Leave to Start Their Own Business
The last frustration noted with any frequency was that after an employee is trained by the broker, which often is a very time-consuming process, the employee departs to start his or her own transportation brokerage business. This complaint was noted by five brokers, or 2.2 percent of the respondents. Here are two comments:
* Taking a new employee into the business and training him to be a productive employee. I carried the individual for at least a year, in that I was paying him more than he was generating in income for me. So what does the ingrate do -just when he is really getting to know the business, he quits and goes into competition against me! That's gratitude.
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