Freight brokers, if there were ever two words that conjure up more debate and confusion in the trucking industry I am not sure what they would be. Well perhaps, government regulations.
Why do I say that? Well much like the regulatory agencies, freight brokers are misunderstood. Unfortunately some of that is based on misinformation while some is based on devious freight brokers themselves.
But don’t judge all on the deeds of a few. Just like there are some bad and good truckers or bad and good dispatchers. There are so many great brokers out there. Many who actually care about their job and respect the industry; many who work effortlessly to try and make the best arrangements possible.
Now first let’s dispel a few common myths. One of the things many in the industry will say is that freight brokers aren’t that important. That is untrue.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics the US has the largest transportation network in the world!
The end of 2015 saw over 65,000,000 tons of air freight revenue transported for the year. Think of how much sea, rail, and roadway freight was transported, and keep in mind at one point all of that ended up on a truck.
Source: www.freightpros.com
And just how do you think much of that freight was arranged and scheduled? Perhaps not all but much of it was done through freight brokers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that there are around 80,000 freight brokers (and agent positions).
