BrokerBlog

TransCore's 2008 Broker Benchmark Survey Available for Download

2008-04-29T01:39:00Z

During February and March 2008, we invited more than 5,000 brokerage companies to answer 26 questions about their business. We asked about how they ran their businesses, including company size, staffing practices, types of loads, business operations, revenue and margins, and productivity. Almost 600 U.S. companies responded, ranging from one-man brokerages to large firms with 500 or more employees. Nearly 70% of those responding were from midwestern or southern states. The information includes average...(read more)

25,000 or more accurate truckload lane rates in 10 minutes or less!

2008-04-26T01:44:00Z

TransCore Introduces Rate Index Pro for Bulk Rate Pricing and Real-time Negotiations Based on 12 Million Actual Freight Bills I n April, TransCore introduced Rate Index™ Pro, a web-based product enabling anyone involved in truckload lane rate pricing and contract negotiations to perform single-lane lookups in real time or submit a single multi-lane request in bulk format and receive prevailing market rate data in minutes. TransCore’s Rate Index Pro is available by monthly subscription priced according...(read more)

Freight Facts: Spot market shows uptick

2008-04-26T00:54:00Z

Load Trends (March) According to TransCore’s Market Research, availability of exception freight in March continued to improve both on a month to month and year over year basis. March exception freight volumes improved by 40% when compared to February. Looking at volumes a year ago, March ’07 volumes were 32% below March ’08. In connection with the increase in load volume, we’re also beginning to see a slight tightening of capacity within our freight marketplace. Looking forward to May, the best combinations...(read more)

Shippers' Interest protects your business when carriers' coverage fails

2008-04-26T00:43:00Z

It’s a common story. You think your insurance will cover your needs until an unforeseen situation shows the gaps in your coverage. This certainly applies to motor carrier’s insurance, which can contain limitations, perils, commodities exclusions, radius restrictions, and sanctions for criminal acts, unattended vehicles, or acts of God. More complicated issues like double brokering a load or using a truck or trailer that doesn’t appear on the carrier’s cargo policy can have an enormous impact on insurance...(read more)

Broker Benchmark Survey Results

2008-04-26T00:32:00Z

During February and March 2008, we invited more than 5,000 brokerage companies to answer 26 questions about their business. We asked how they ran their businesses, including company size, staffing practices, types of loads, business operations, revenue and margins, sources of new business, and productivity. Almost 600 responded, ranging from one-man brokerages to large firms with 500 or more empoyees. Nearly 70% of those responding were from midwestern or southern states. Here is a link to download...(read more)

Hot Fuel Burns a Hole in Drivers' Pockets

2008-04-26T00:28:00Z

"Hot Fuel" burns a hole in drivers’ pockets The phrase “hot fuel” refers to diesel fuel or gasoline sold at retail pumps at temperatures higher than the century-old government standard of 60 degrees. That is the temperature used in the petro-chemical industry to measure all petroleum liquids. At the 60-degree standard, a gallon of diesel delivers a certain amount of measurable energy to move a truck down the road. But when expanded by higher temperatures, a gallon actually contains less fuel and...(read more)

Generating Gold with the Golden Rule: Lisa Fouts and Cargo Transit

2008-04-26T00:25:00Z

Background In April 1999, Lisa Fouts embarked on the formation of a new and solely owned company, Cargo Transit, Inc., a certified woman-owned business headquartered in Weaverville, North Carolina. Lisa’s goal was to build a company based on detailed and honest communication and with her customers and carriers. Lisa brought seven years of dispatching and operations management experience to her new business as well as an accounting background. Lisa’s experience, vision and hard work have paid off....(read more)

4 reasons why you should try 1click2call in 3sixty Freight Match

2008-04-25T23:08:00Z

1click2call is a great new feature of our 3sixty Freight Match load board that lets you place calls to prospects and customers directly from the load board. 1click2call uses Skype, a free PC-to-PC phone service that lets you call any other Skype user, anywhere in the world, for FREE. 1click2call is a fast, easy way to boost your business’ bottom line. Here’s why: 1) It’s easy to install. Already use Skype? 1click2call will instantly recognize your Skype service and activate. What could be easier...(read more)

4 reasons to try 1click2call in 3sixty Freight Match

2008-01-22T01:24:00Z

NEW 3sixty Freight Match: Better truck searches and built-in carrier monitoring

2007-12-17T20:10:00Z

Brokers who don’t exercise “due diligence” by thoroughly investigating carriers before hiring them could be at legal risk. Tools like our CarrierWatch monitoring system do that work for you, without adding extra administrative staff. In our opinion—shared by many others—carrier monitoring is critical to the long-term success of the broker industry. So when brokers told us that the best way to get the industry to use carrier monitoring tools was to make them free, we said, “Good idea.” Welcome to 3sixty Freight Match, with free carrier monitoring, improved searching and a whole lot more. ...(read more)

We're helping our troops phone home. Want to join us?

2007-12-15T19:47:00Z

It’s always hard when family members can’t be home for the holidays, but it’s especially tough when they’re soldiers, stationed overseas. Many of us at TransCore have loved ones serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait and, proud as we are of them, we sure wish that they were home.

Our fleet trailer tracking group donated 30,000 minutes’ worth of phone cards to American troops stationed in the Middle East, to let them call home for the holidays. The cards will let soldiers in base camps and forward combat areas call their families and, we hope, remind them that the folks at home are thinking about them.

You can learn more about TransCore's donation in this article. Better still, you can participate. Just connect with “Help Our Troops Call Home” program, sponsored by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, and let them know how much you wish to give. Visit the AAFES website or call 800-527-2345 to learn more.

The price of a designer coffee could help a soldier say “happy holidays” to his kids. Isn’t that more satisfying than a mocha-coca-loca-whatever?

Thanks

FMCSA releases Interim Final Rule on Hours of Service…11 hours still OK

2007-12-14T20:37:00Z

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or hanging out on a sunny beach someplace—lucky you), you probably heard that the FMCSA decided to retain the maximum 11-hour driving limit and restart provisions for carrier fleets (along with most of the other provisions), at least for the time being.

They cited studies showing that driving for 11 hours is as safe as driving for ten, a claim that’s hotly disputed by many drivers’ organizations.

What’s your experience? Do you think the FMCSA will change its mind? Do you think they should? Post a comment here (by filling out the "Leave a Comment" form, below).

Meet October's Broker of the Month: National Carriers Logistics

2007-10-22T05:41:00Z

Accepting the award: Dennis Baxter, director of logistics
Company: National Carriers Logistics
Location: Springdale, Arkansas
Web: www.nationalcarriers.com
Contact: 800-835-9180
Started: Company founded in 1974, broker division started in 2001
Employees: About 200 people, not counting drivers. Logistics team: 20
Business size: 1,500-1,800 loads/month, about $26M/year gross revenue
Load types: Refrigerated, dry vans, expedited
Delivery areas: U.S., Canada, Mexico
Tools: DAT Connect, CarrierWatch
Favorite tip: "Customer service starts with the first phone call you make to a carrier, or the way you talk to a driver. Treat them like customers, and you'll get 100 percent better service."

"Carriers are as big an asset as customers," says Dennis Baxter of National Carriers Logistics, TransCore's Broker of the Month, "We can't do without either one."

Baxter's business strategies have helped National Carriers grow to a $26M business since 2001. His team uses thorough carrier background checks (using CarrierWatch) to build personal relationships with National's carriers. "If you take good care of your carriers, they'll be there for you."

Many things make National our October Broker of the Month. We were impressed with this company's overarching, "plays fair" business strategy, and the way Baxter's team has developed the human element of the broker business.

But their focus on carrier development impressed us the most. "You can have all the freight in the world, but if you haven't got good carriers, you won't have it very long," says Baxter.

To Baxter, good carrier relationships begin with really knowing your carriers. National Carriers has a full-time carrier development staff. "Brokers must do thorough background checks. You put yourself at high risk if you don't have CarrierWatch."

Baxter notes that there's more at stake than just making sure a carrier's record is clear. "We found that if we are very selective in using carriers with good ratings, we also have better luck with the loads. We don't have loads held hostage, no late or missing loads, no problems with theft, or trucks breaking down."

"When you use CarrierWatch," he adds, "you just get higher-quality carriers. They're professionals, paying attention to running a good business, and they're the ones that will give you great customer service."

Monitoring carriers, however, is only part of a multi-step carrier development program. "We use CarrierWatch to find out exactly why the carrier might be having a problem," he says, "We're not going to delete a carrier because they've made a mistake. We'll call them, say 'CarrierWatch says you've got this,' get a feel for what's going on, talk with their references, and keep notes."

The company's carrier program is built around long-term carrier relationships. "We want the same driver over and over for the same load; we get a lot better service than if we're switching all the time. They know they'll have freight, and we know we'll have fewer problems. That's been a very successful program for us."

Baxter says National offers other perks to carriers, such as a guaranteed fuel surcharge on every load, direct deposit, quick pay, tire programs, and fuel discounts. "We'll offer a lot of services to a good small carrier, ones that they might not qualify for otherwise."

The reason? "Retention. The industry needs to look for more dedicated carriers and work with them, try to be fair," says Baxter, "We've got regular carriers that haul in the high volume produce areas. They know that when times are slow they'll still get freight from us, and we know that no matter how much they're being offered to haul produce they'll still haul for us."

National's carrier program also includes daily interactions with carriers and drivers. "Customer service starts with the first phone call. By the time a dispatcher hangs up the phone, I want him to be calling that driver by his first name, knowing him and caring about what happens to him. They can't promise that someone will get back to them and then not do it," warned Baxter.

"Nobody wants to be treated like a number. If you dispatched 100 trucks and you called the first 50 drivers by name, told them to be careful, asked them to call when they're unloaded, and the second 50 you just treated like a machine, like you couldn't wait to get off the phone? I guarantee the first group will give you 100 percent better service."

"Having good people makes the biggest difference in the world. I don't do this job by myself. The people that work at National are good, dedicated, hardworking people who don't just punch a clock. They," he concluded are what makes us a success."

8 things you asked us to add to Freight Match (and we did)

2007-10-20T05:36:00Z

Behind the scenes at TransCore, it’s been a busy month: We just released version 1.2 of our flagship load board, 3sixty Freight Match. It’s been the work of several months to gather feature requests from our users and translate them into a better product. (So yes, we do listen—and respond—to user requests)

If you’re a Freight Match user, you should automatically upgrade at your next log in (if you don’t, give us a call). There are a lot of enhancements in the new version; here are the eight we think will most delight you:

1click2call. This is seriously cool stuff you’re not going to find in any other load board, since it gives you the ability to call a load or truck poster directly from your PC using Skype, the Internet’s premiere VoIP calling service. We estimate it will cut your contact time in half and—since it’s a PC to PC call—you don’t pay for a long-distance phone call. You’ll need a free Skype account to use 1click2call, but it’s easy to sign up. Learn more about 1click2call by visiting our website.
Alarm matches for specific dates. You told us you really needed the ability to narrow load or truck alarms to ONLY the time or date they requested, not a range of dates. We listened; let us know how well it works for you.
Filter results by company. Another heavily requested feature, Freight Match 1.2 allows you to exclude companies and affiliates from your results.
Forgot your password? You can now retrieve your password by entering your user name in the login box and clicking “I forgot my password.” It will be sent to the e-mail address we have on file.
Flexible load matching for full and partial loads. Now you can exclude partials from alarm match results or exclude full trucks from requests for partial loads.
Post and search templates. Now you can save your most commonly used searches and postings for reuse. (Customers tell us this one is a great time-saver)
ProMiles integration. Are you a ProMiles subscriber? Now you can seamlessly access ProMiles mileage and fuel tax services directly through Freight Match.
Better administration tools. Freight Match’s new setup wizard makes it easy to quickly set up new users and work groups.

So far we’re getting a lot of positive feedback from callers, but we’re anxious to hear from you: How does Freight Match work for you? What do you think of the new features? What do you want to see in our next release? Let us know, and your request might just appear in our next Top 8 list.

Brokers: Can (should) you enforce carrier safety?

2007-10-17T05:13:00Z

In a recent survey of trucking companies monitored by CarrierWatch, TransCore’s powerful carrier monitoring system, we found the following:

· 74 percent have never received a safety rating

· 20 percent of awarded safety ratings are more than ten years old

· More than 43 percent of carriers with a satisfactory safety rating have at least one deficient SEA score in SAFESTAT

· More than 160 authorized freight carriers have an unsatisfactory safety rating…sometimes for as long as ten years

A couple of years ago, when brokers were having a tough time finding carriers, it was hard to turn down an available carrier, even one with a conditional rating. These days, however, a broker can be choosier. Once a broker has an accurate—and up to date—picture of a carrier’s record, we think the choice to hire or not hire becomes pretty clear.

The government isn’t tough enough on carriers that violate safety laws, said Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, citing a recent U.S. GAO report on the effectiveness of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). According to that report, carriers with serious safety violations might be reported on FMCSA’s SAFESTAT system, but only about 20 percent received the mandated fines in 2006.

Oberstar’s accusations have gotten a lot of industry press, as articles in The Trucker, Transport Topics and elsewhere demonstrate. Politicians have called for the FMCSA to clean up its act and enforce federal statutes.

Obviously, we applaud efforts to enforce good transportation safety practices. But it’s also important to keep in mind that the main purpose of a fine is to deter would-be violators. If an unscrupulous carrier can greatly increase profits by cutting a few corners, the cost of a fine might well be considered a minor cost of doing business, i.e., not much of a deterrent.

Yet if brokers stop using problem carriers, at least part of the problem will solve itself. Safety and operating authority information is available to the public—if the broker knows where to look. The threat of losing business is a pretty strong deterrent, and if carriers know a broker intends to enforce compliance—and has the means to check up on violations—carriers are more likely to comply.

As our October Broker of the Month, Dennis Baxter, says, brokers are “lunatics if they don’t do carrier background checks.” Baxter’s company, National Carriers, uses CarrierWatch as part of their carrier development program. (For more on how National Carriers benefits from CarrierWatch, read Baxter’s Broker of the Month profile.)

A lot can happen to a carrier who had a stellar rating six months ago. Every week (on average), the CarrierWatch team updates its database with the following FMCSA carrier changes:

· 900 new authorizations

· 50 revocations or reinstatements

· 275 carriers put on 30-day notice

· 300 changes to BIPD and/or cargo insurance status

· 100 name changes

· More than 100 phone or fax number changes

(To learn more about how CarrierWatch can protect your business, and get your free CarrierWatch audit, visit our CarrierWatch page.)

Should the FMCSA be held responsible for keeping problem carriers off the road? Yes…but if the carrier’s involved in an accident while hauling your load, you’ll be the one paying the lawyers. In our opinion, brokers can best protect themselves by ensuring that they’re using top-notch carriers to begin with.

In the long run, self-enforcement is usually the best, and least expensive, option. Does your firm do anything special to reinforce good carrier practices? Take our survey, and let us know…or post a comment below.