When is a Freight Broker a Good Idea? Short Story - Reasons you May Not Have Realized.

"Work with production on the Blue Inc order that must be ready by this afternoon, load the trucks for the Red Ltd order, and speak with sales on the Yellow order to confirm ship date. Hmm, I think we have the supplies for the Green Co order in inventory, better confirm if we should ship that today and how many trucks we might need..."

So it begins. You are one your way to your plant/warehouse/yard and you plan to have a great day. Everything is in order, you have your ducks in a row, you always make sure of it. Yep, good to go.

6:50 AM - Nice, ten minutes early. You put your belongings away and settle at your desk to check for emails, send out necessary notifications to production, shipping and sales teams, and check for any new requests that have come in.

6:55 AM - URGENT: 3 LOADS NEED TO SHIP TODAY TO PURPLE INC. Wait, what? Do we have this order ready to go? Better see what production has to say because sales is fuming to get this out.

7:05 AM - 1 loader and 1 production worker have called in sick. OK, not the end of the world, but we are going to be tight today.

7:15 AM - Production confirms that PURPLE INCs three loads requested by sales should be good to go by noon...hopefully. OK, better book some trucks.

7:20AM - 9:30AM - frantically go back and forth with 4 different transportation companies to see who can send trucks in to cover my loads. One does not service this area for delivery, the other had no availability, the third can offer one truck and the fourth was so expensive, but you're running out of options so you book the last two loads with them.

9:40AM - Did you really just spend two hours sorting that out? Sigh, OK let's check on how shipping is doing.

10:30 AM - Despite being down 1 loader, all loads are ready to go. The only problem is, you were supposed to have at least 3 trucks loaded by now but only one has shown up. The other two were booked for 8am and 9am but where are they? Better make some calls and find out.

11:10AM - Okay, the 8am truck has just pulled in. But his trailer is only 48' not 53'. This is not what you ordered. You speak with the loaders who said they'll do what they can to see if the order will fit. It's getting late. Oh, and your 9am truck had a breakdown so you are now looking for another transport company to cover the load.

12:15PM - OK you found recovery for your 9am truck breakdown, but they can't get here until 2pm and they are $200 more than the original company quoted. You have no choice, you book the truck.

1:00PM - Okay, where are the three trucks you booked for that urgent PURPLE INC order? Production has finished the first two loads but you are missing trucks. Better call these guys and find out what's happened.

1:45PM - Great, two of the three trucks have showed up at once. OK they will have to be patient, I mean, they were late, it's not on you. You rush to get the truck loaded.

2:10PM - Oh boy, the 9AM recovery truck has arrived but we're only halfway through loading the first PURPLE INC truck. OKAY TEAM LET'S PICK UP THE PACE.

2:45PM - Both Purple Inc trucks are loaded, but this 9AM recovery truck driver is banging on your shipping window asking if wait time will be paid. You assure him he's going to be loaded next.

3:15PM - 9AM recovery truck is loaded, where is PURPLE INC truck number 3? You better make another call.

4:00PM - You should have left over 30 minutes ago, but leaving on time is not in your stars today. The 3rd Purple Inc truck is not going to make it today. You have called 10 other trucking companies and they all say the same thing, they have no availability for today. You have no choice but to break the news to sales so they can tell the customer.

4:30PM - About to walk out the door when Sales emails back. They are livid, the customer is livid, everyone is livid. Oh boy, it's been a day. You are exhausted. You send them an apology and call it a day.

5:30PM - you walk through the door to your home and plop down on the couch. You try to relax and unwind when you suddenly realize: You never completed your daily reports, you didn't have the team meeting you were supposed to host every Monday at 9AM for your team, you forget to complete one of your loader's performance reviews for today, and you have at least 5 time off and overtime requests sitting on your desk unsigned. Sigh, tomorrow's a new day, right?

Now, the story above is not everyone's reality, but it definitely is for some companies. Looking back at this shipping manager's day, there are a few things that can be noted about what could have been done better to acheive a more positive outcome. The one I want to talk about today is Freight Brokerages.

A good Freight Brokerage should act as your Logistics Coordinator, in replacement of you spending your time doing so, or having to hire someone on a full time salary to do so for you. We can go back and re-read how much time the shipping manager in this story spent trying to book, recover and follow up with trucks they needed for the day. And some may say well that's just a bad day but the reality is that tomorrow they will face similar issues with shipping, and potentially even late trucks for their customers on the receiving end, all of which they will need to follow up with individually.

The top things that a good Freight Broker will take care of for you are:

• Booking all loads despite their destinations, equipment type or size - a good Freight Broker will have many connections in their network of transportation company and should be able to cover all of your freight needs.
• Keeping costs competitive - because of their large network they can compare pricing amongst multiple companies, and these trucking companies will have established relationships with the broker to keep costs minimal. Do brokers add a fee to pay themselves? Absolutely. But they keep costs consistent and low enough that you will be covered at the same rate, everytime, and they can usually lock in agreed rates with you for a year at a time.
• Recovery, additional trucks, and updates - Your Freight Broker will take care of following up to ensure drivers are on time for their pick ups and deliveries by tracking all of your orders. If a truck has a breakdown and requires recovery, they will take care of that at no fluctuated cost to you. A good freight broker will be transparent and give you a heads up on when a driver is running behind so you can organize yourself. And because they control all the truckers that they dispatch to pick up your orders, drivers that arrive at the same time will be advised to be patient, avoiding wait time or accessorial charges fo ryou.
• Customer Service - Freight brokers are customer-service oriented and they will ensure that communication is open and transparent for both you and your customer on the receiving end, from start to finish.

Keep in mind that working with a Transportation Company directly can also be the best option for you in different situations! I will be sure to share a seperate article on that in the near future. It's great to know your options and have each type of service explained so you can reap the benefits of what works best for you!

Written by Karin Perisic, Vice President Trailways Transportation Group