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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 gross margin per truck load, brokerage expenses, average loads moved per broker per month (small companies, average loads moved per broker per month (larger companies), and percentage of brokers who offer quick-pay to carriers, among others,
Take a look at where you fit in, and let us know what you think of the survey as well as what you would like to see in future iterations.
 Download PDF
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TransCore Introduces Rate Index Pro for Bulk Rate Pricing and Real-time Negotiations Based on 12 Million Actual Freight Bills
In 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 to customer usage.
To read the full press release go to: http://pressroom.transcore.com/portal/site/transcore/
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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 of high freight volumes and favorable inbound-to-outbound load ratios come from Illinois, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Mississippi, and Wisconsin.
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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 claims. In these complicated matters a broker’s goods could be traveling the highways without proper coverage—or they could be altogether unprotected.
Another issue affecting brokers is that, unfortunately, in these cases the burden of proof is typically on the cargo owner. This is difficult because the broker is expected to file charges against the carrier, but without the ownership or an insurable interest in the goods, the carrier is under no obligation to accept a loss or damage claim made against it by a freight broker. This is only one example of the many unexpected situations not covered by carrier’s insurance.
The bottom line is that this can leave you holding the bag—exposing you and your business to unexpected losses or, even worse, a damaged reputation.
That’s where Shipper’s Interest comes in. Shipper's Interest is a broker's insurance provided by Registry Monitoring Insurance Services, Inc. Shipper’s Interest protects the customer’s goods and covers many of the gaps that brokers who rely on carrier’s insurance are exposed to. It is designed to cover the unexpected risks. The policy covers up to $1,000,000 per shipment, and the coverage can be secured for individual or volume shipments. One major advantage to Shipper’s Interest is that it covers 100 percent of the actual invoiced sale: Carrier’s coverage limited liability offers much less compensation.
Here are some other benefits of Shipper’s Interest to your brokerage:
You are part of a complicated partnership with the goods supplier and the trusted carrier. So it is understandable that the insurance matters are equally complicated. The goal is for the broker not to have a false sense of security, while in reality being completely exposed to liability risks from any number of events that are not uncommon in freight transportation. Shipper’s Interest offers a way for you to turn a false sense of security into real security. Now that’s keeping your interests in mind.
To learn more about Shipper’s Interest today, visit our Shipper’s Interest information request page or call 1-800-642-5040.
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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 a PDF of the survey.
We anticipate updating this survey later this year and would greatly appreciate your feedback to the results. If you have questions you would like us to ask in subsequent surveys, please let us know.
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"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 delivers less energy.
Let’s say your tanks hold 200 gallons of fuel. Here’s what happens if you fill them with 75-degree diesel: It still takes 200 gallons to fill the tanks, but because you’re buying temperature-expanded fuel you’re effectively buying 198.8 gallons (as measured at 60º) for the 200-gallon price. If your truck gets six miles per gallon, you’ll travel 7.15 fewer miles down the road, and you’ll pay $4.43 dollars more than you should have (at the March 6, 2008, average price of $3.71 per gallon). At 90 degrees—not unheard of—you’d 14.2 miles fewer down the road and out $8.80.
Then again, it’s only money.
But if hot fuel makes you hot under the collar, visit www.turndownhotfuel.com. The purpose of Owner-Operator Independent Driver’s Associations (OOIDA) Turn Down Hot Fuel campaign is to educate consumers about how selling fuel at temperatures above the standard affects the real cost of fuel. It also provides an avenue for communicating to lawmakers the need for automatic temperature compensation at every retail fuel pump. Without input from drivers this issue will continue to be ignored. It will take a unified voice to bring this issue to Congress and achieve a solution. Visit www.turndownhotfuel.com now to learn more and to find a way to make your voice heard on this issue.
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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. Cargo Transit was recently certified as a “best broker” by the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, which invites only the top 5% of all U.S. brokers to participate.
TransCore: What challenge comes to mind first when you think about starting Cargo Transit in 1999?
Lisa Fouts: Getting a credit line established with carriers was hard since Cargo Transit had little or no credit history. Many times I would book a carrier on a load only to have them come off the load unless Cargo Transit advanced them in full prior to picking up or delivering. Typically only small to mid size carriers would extend us credit. With their help, we slowly grew an excellent credit history!
TransCore: Tell us about your communication philosophy. How does that work? How has it helped your business?
Lisa Fouts: As a broker, we don’t have our own equipment. In fact, our most important asset is detailed and honest communication, which has helped us grow steadily.
For example, I call the customer when the driver is dispatched for pickup with the city and state of the truck and an estimated pickup arrival time. I also give the customer check calls from the driver. Then I call the customer a final time when the load is delivered to let them know if there are any overages or shortages, but more importantly to say, “Thank you for the load.”
The customers appreciate that I keep them updated on the truck location. Even if I have news the customer isn’t completely happy with, my goal is always to call the customer before they call me looking for the truck. Likewise, the carriers and drivers appreciate Cargo Transit’s detailed expectations communicated up front and directions for each load.
TransCore: How did you find carriers to work with your fledgling business? How did you convince them to continue to work with Cargo Transit?
Lisa Fouts: I found most of my carriers from TransCore’s DAT load posting service.
I would make sure the carrier had all the details of the load before we contracted to each other. I would be sure to get pickup and delivery appointment times and directions for the driver. Getting the directions tells them you care about them and the load. If you go the extra mile for the drivers, they will do the same for you!
When the driver called for dispatch, I would trust, but validate the promises the dispatcher had previously made to me. I would tell the driver the specifics of the load and make sure he had the proper equipment and driving hours to meet my customer’s needs.
Detailed communications, saying thank you, and treating everyone fairly and with respect has a positive effect: customers offering more freight and carriers are happy to haul Cargo Transit’s loads.
Brokering is not rocket science: fair prices, consistent quality service and demonstrated appreciation of your customers and carriers make for a winning formula.
TransCore: Beyond clear communication, what else it important for carrier retention?
Lisa Fouts: Timely payment to your carriers! You can’t gain or retain customers if you don’t have carriers. Most carriers check a broker’s average days-to-pay before they will haul for you. If you’re over 30 days, most carriers will not haul for you or they’ll demand payment up front. In the beginning, I used personal savings, along with a bank credit line to make sure Cargo Transit carriers were always paid promptly.
TransCore: How have you grown your business?
Lisa Fouts: I am a disciplined person, and I have always worked at least 40 hours a week, usually much more. If I don’t have loads to work on, I’m on the telephone trying to build Cargo Transit’s customer base. At first, getting new customers to give Cargo Transit a chance was difficult. But I was determined to succeed. I kept calling shipping managers until some of them gave Cargo Transit an opportunity to show them what we could do. Determination, persistence and performance pay off!
TransCore: Your Web site at cargotransit.com devotes a lot of space to your agent program. When did you start that? What has helped make it successful for you?
Lisa Fouts: At the beginning of 2003, I decided to expand Cargo Transit with agent offices, but first I needed a solid brokerage software program in place. After much research and speaking with numerous companies, I purchased TransCore’s Logistics Suite dispatch software (editor’s note: formerly known as Keypoint Transportation). It fit Cargo Transit’s needs perfectly. It was software specifically designed for freight brokerage with agent offices. You sent a trainer to my office and I was off and running. I then signed the first agent office under Cargo Transit. Logistics Suite has been reliable and dependable since the day it was installed and we have had no “down time”. It is also simple enough to train the new agents over the telephone.
TransCore: How have you identified new agents? What hurdles have you had to overcome to expand that business? And how have the agents themselves contributed to your business growth?
Lisa Fouts: Most of Cargo Transit’s agent offices have come from referrals of other agents. I attribute the growth of the agent offices to straightforward business practices. Cargo Transit has a good program, we are honest with the agents, and we do what we say we are going to do. Word of mouth has been by far the most effective means of increasing our agent offices.
Much of Cargo Transit’s growth and overall success is directly due to our hard working agents. We work together as a team to move loads. If TransCore had an agents-of-the month award, I’d nominate ours every month!
TransCore: Is there anything in particular someone needs to watch out for when building an agent business?
Lisa Fouts: Add agent offices slowly. Most companies don’t realize the amount of working capital needed to carry just 1 agent. For example if one agent moves 10 loads per week at an average rate of $1,000 per load, this totals approximately $40,000 per month. A good customer pays in 30 to 40 days. At this rate a broker can need working capital of $40,000 to $80,000 in no time for just one agent. This doesn’t factor in “quick pay” programs that good brokers must offer to their carriers.
Cash flow management and lack of enough start up working capital are primary reasons many brokers fail in the first five years of business. Pay very close attention to your accounts receivables and accounts payables. Get the POD from your carrier and invoice your customers ASAP. Always run a credit check on all of your customers and constantly monitor their credit line and adjust if necessary. It really only takes one customer not paying you to put you in debt and out of business.
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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 than that?
Don’t have Skype? Skype is a PC telephone service that lets you call any other Skype user, anywhere in the world, for FREE. For a small monthly charge, your Skype phone can also call any non-Skype user, too.
To sign up for Skype service, just visit Skype.com, click on the “Download Skype” button, and follow the simple directions to obtain your own FREE Skype account and software.
2) It helps you close the deal faster
Find a load or truck, click the 1click2call icon and you’re instantly connected to your prospect’s phone. 1click2call streamlines the contact process and saves you time. You’ll know who’s calling, what they’re calling about, because 1click2call gives you all the information you need to close the deal, right on the screen.
3) You don’t have to leave Freight Match to make a deal
1click2call lets you make your call directly from Freight Match. That means you can add the user to your Freight Match contacts list, bring others in on a conference call, put them on hold or transfer the call to someone else in your group…right from your call manager screen.
4) It saves you money on long distance charges, and gives you access to 220 million Skype users, FREE.
What are you paying for local and long-distance phone service right now? Skype lets you call any of the 220 million Skype users for free, and offers regular phone company services such as conference calling, voicemail and call forwarding, too. You can call non-Skype users, too: Just $29.95 buys you a full year of unlimited landline calling anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.
We know that your time is money. Using 1click2call lets you have more of both.
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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 than that?
Don’t have Skype? Skype is a PC telephone service that lets you call any other Skype user, anywhere in the world, for FREE. For a small monthly charge, your Skype phone can also call any non-Skype user, too.
To sign up for Skype service, just visit Skype.com, click on the “Download Skype” button, and follow the simple directions to obtain your own FREE Skype account and software.
2) It helps you close the deal faster
Find a load or truck, click the 1click2call icon and you’re instantly connected to your prospect’s phone. 1click2call streamlines the contact process and saves you time. You’ll know who’s calling, what they’re calling about, because 1click2call gives you all the information you need to close the deal, right on the screen.
3) You don’t have to leave Freight Match to make a deal
1click2call lets you make your call directly from Freight Match. That means you can add the user to your Freight Match contacts list, bring others in on a conference call, put them on hold or transfer the call to someone else in your group…right from your call manager screen.
4) It saves you money on long distance charges, and gives you access to 220 million Skype users, FREE.
What are you paying for local and long-distance phone service right now? Skype lets you call any of the 220 million Skype users for free, and offers regular phone company services such as conference calling, voicemail and call forwarding, too. You can call non-Skype users, too: Just $29.95 buys you a full year of unlimited landline calling anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.
We know that your time is money. Using 1click2call lets you have more of both.
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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.
Free carrier monitoring
Here’s the big news: We think carrier monitoring is so important that we’ve built it into 3sixty Freight Match. We took select tools from our premium carrier monitoring product, CarrierWatch, and added them to the new 3sixty Freight Match.
Now you not only get TransCore’s industry-leading load board to help you find great carriers, you also have the ability to directly monitor them from the load board (below).
When you find a good carrier prospect, you can also check the following for FREE, without ever leaving 3sixty Freight Match:
- Authority
- Safety rating
- DOT-reported insurance coverage
You’ll also be able to create “watchlists” for your preferred carriers, to monitor their continued compliance. Place a carrier on your watchlist, and any change in their status will be reported to you via e-mail.
Best of all, it’s FREE with your 3sixty Freight Match subscription. Compare that with what you’d pay for competing load boards and carrier monitoring tools. Not only would you need to buy and manage two separate packages (often with a higher monthly charge), but you’ll waste precious time in switching from one program to another when choosing a carrier.
With 3sixty Freight Match there’s no extra charge and nothing to add; just log into your 3sixty Freight Match account and you’ll be automatically upgraded.
Want to increase your ability to monitor and screen carriers effectively? Upgrade to our Premium line of CarrierWatch monitoring tools, and you can drill down into specific insurance certificate details including types of insurance and coverage limits.
CarrierWatch Premium customers use our service to:
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Validate and monitor carrier authority, safety, and DOT/insurance company-reported insurance
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Upload motor carrier numbers to create watch lists using our FTP service
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Detailed coverage and insurance certificate information and certificate images
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Receive notices of changes in carrier authority, safety, and DOT/insurance company-reported insurance
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Hot load service – when you need to qualify a carrier now
CarrierWatch Premium customers are doing everything they can to streamline operation and reduce – or even eliminate – carrier compliance issues.
Better search results
3sixty Freight Match has always had a great advanced search tool, SmartSearch, which can greatly increase your search results. Our newest release turns SmartSearch into the default tool for searching for great carriers.
SmartSearch examines your search request and automatically expands it until you find the right match. The tool lets you first display results that exactly match your request…but then provide additional lists of near-matches, based on your choice of "time posted" or "distance from origin."
SmartSearch is a great way to see the largest list of available trucks from a single search. It lets you control exactly how much—or how little—you want to see.
1Click2Call gets better than ever
We introduced 1click2call in our previous release, and were pleasantly surprised at the response. Since then, we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers.
1click2call lets you search for a carrier for your load, see if he’s online in the program, and call him FREE directly through your PC. Just double-click on the carrier’s name, and you’re connected instantly.
Customers tell us that 1click2call, powered by Skype, not only cuts the time it takes to reach your contact, but that—since it’s a FREE PC to PC call—it saves money on phone charges. Calls you make to another 1click2call or Skype user are absolutely free, so the more 1click2call users, the more you’ll save! (For a small annual fee, Skype can upgrade your free service to let you call non-Skype phones as well.)
Many of you already had Skype voice-over-IP service and started using 1click2call as soon as we launched the service. And we’re thrilled to see so many of you become Skype subscribers just to take advantage of 1click2call’s free calling service.
If you haven’t used 1click2call, this is a good time to start. Just sign up for a free Skype phone account, then log into your 3sixty Freight Match load board. That’s all there is to it.
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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
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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).
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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."
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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:
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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.
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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.
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Filter results by company. Another heavily requested feature, Freight Match 1.2 allows you to exclude companies and affiliates from your results.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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ProMiles integration. Are you a ProMiles subscriber? Now you can seamlessly access ProMiles mileage and fuel tax services directly through Freight Match.
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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.
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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.
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