Looking for advice
We’ve experienced the same thing two times now when trying to cover loads for a particular customer. The customer is in Eastern Washington where there is not always a lot of freight or trucks. There always seems to be only one or two trucks within a hundred miles of our load, but the loads move just fine because the money is fair enough to drive a little ways for it. The customer uses a total of 3 brokers. He doesn’t call all 3 at once. He’ll give the winning bidder a head start and if they do not cover it within a day or so, he will call in one other. He’s just trying to maximize his options for an on time delivery.
Twice now we have learned that the situation I described above has resulted in one truck booking the load through both brokers and cancelling on the one that pays the least. Even though this worked to my benefit both times-because I was the one offering the truck a little more money- I am not out to get the other broker. I think the trucker did a rotten thing to her. I only found out by talking to my customer as the truck was leaving his yard. He loaded the truck and called me afterwards to express his suspicion that the trucker had done this. In one instance we had a trucker successfully drive the rate up by bidding higher to both brokers and doing this same thing. Again, we discovered it was one guy making multiple phone calls after he was loaded and gone. You have seen my emails about how our company is set up with young ladies in the dispatch department and us old farts over here in sales not actually talking to drivers that much. I am pretty sure I would know it if the same guy kept calling me with new offers. But I still would not know for sure he had ever spoken with another broker (but I’d know…because who wouldn’t speak to all posters!).
The customer and I have discussed his alternating use of only one broker at a time as a remedy. Seems like a good idea.
I wonder if anyone else out there experiences this and what they do to prevent it. I don’t mind a trucker negotiating and calling every broker who posts a load- but I do think its pretty rotten to book the load with more than one of us.
What do you think?
Advice: Team Loads
Advice for team loads and team shipments-
Brokers-
- Make sure YOU dispatch the drivers
- Make sure you talk to both drivers on the same phone at the same time
- Dont take any excuse that one driver is at the truck stop, taking a shower, or a long BM
- Specify both drivers must check in with shipper & sign bill of lading
Carriers & Drivers
- Be prepared to for both drivers to talk to the broker and shipper
- Both drivers should check in with the shipper, they are paying for a team, make your presence known, its all about customer service
- Give realistic delivery times, not just what sounds good, it will save you a LOT of phone calls
- Understand that if it is a team load, it’s going to be a hot shipment, so there will be more pressure on it
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