Freight broker agent

The day starts early with a half-caff cup of coffee at 7:30 from cafe de casa.

7:45 a.m. I'm off on a brief commute to the office. I feel good about this because my vehicle is green and gas conservative, road rage is minimal and typically I don't have to deal with gridlock.

Ok, the green vehicle is my two legs that propel me down the hall to my home office, and the only gridlock is if my kids are hurrying to get it together to go to school.

7:50 a.m. I sit down at my desk and give a quick nudge to the mouse to wake up the computer that starts grunting in protest to the days tasks that lay ahead. I think my computer needs coffee too!

7:55 a.m. Before I check email, look at my targeted loadboards and retrieve any phone messages I may have missed or net received yet. I then make out my days plan including tasks to do, things carried over from yesterday, callbacks if any I must make and other things that have to get done today

I have a magnetic dry erase board on the wall that I can take down, write my notes on it, and attach to do notes on. When done making my "to do's" I put it back on the wall that is within my eyesight when facing my monitor. It's a gentle reminder of my day's events, priorities and must do items I need to keep forefront during this day.

I use a nice framed board by Boarddudes.com.

Doing this helps me stay on task, and helps me to manage my time more efficiently and keeps things from falling through the cracks, because once I start moving loads, answering calls, tracking trucks and deliveries it is pretty intense and you could easily loose sight of other admin or critical things that must get done.

1. I use a logistics software system connected to the 3PL whom I work with. It speeds up paperwork & forms processing and saves energy by not having to old school fax it, and hey saves a tree too.


2. A free tool I use is i-google, I customized my page to display weather reports on the home page with a plug in widget for road & highway information, a clock, notes and a clip mode that allows me to clip info off my screen and save it to a document.


3. I use time management software where I can input delivery & pickup times and it dings me to alert me of the time so I can check what was supposed to happen at that time and verify it.


4. Though my 3PL I have accounts at major loadboards for help in finding loads and back loads if there are not any on our internal loadboard.


5. No web surfing during work as well as shut the office door to avoid in-home distractions.


6. I have a dedicated office phone line, I do not answer home phone during working hours. I use a headset so my hands are free so I can multi task while on the phone.


7. I have a separate email client for work. I do not check personal email during work hours. (Nope, I don't need vitamins or hair growth cream to do my job.)


8. I use google chat and it is quick for me to ping the home office, response is quick and it is a time saver for quick questions or communications. I'll admit it, I like to talk, so this helps me keep to tasks at hand.

I make an effort to prioritize my email in order of importance. The critical ones I address post haste, the others than respond at the appointed time scheduled for email answering on my "To Do List", that's on my handy magnetic board. (My time scheduler dings me to this time as well I guess you could say a multi-reminder process.)

By 8:15 the phone is ringing - the day is shaping up and its a good sign that the phone is ringing because as a Freight Broker Agent working though a 3PL (third
party logistics) company who handles all the financials, my salary is dependant on how many freight loads I fill and deliver successfully on any given day. (I
work on straight commission)

On call:

Two clients call in with freight to be picked up at 9:00am two days from now - I take the details of the loads to be picked up and calculate what their
rate is going to be to allowing for profit margin & truck costs. I put together their documentation that is sent to my broker, carrier.

9:15 My trucks whom I have ongoing relationships with begin to check in with me seeing if I have any loads for them to pick up in their vicinities and deliver or to confirm a delivery from the day before. (my trucks and carriers like to work with broker agents like me who get them paid on time and a fair rate)

Note: Just on these calls alone the brain & computer hit overdrive! Here
is just a sample of the other elements that I have to think about and perform
on when moving loads.

For the shipper

1. Do I have a truck available?


2. Estimated time of delivery, ETA.


3. Are there any known or possible delays,
   i.e. weather, road closures etc. that could affect timely delivery? (I check road reports, weather++)


4. Is all the paperwork in place, what needs completion or attention.


5. If I'm dealing with a new client or shipper, are all the necessary documents, and credit checks looking good. Confirm with 3PL, the home office, before committing a truck.

For the carrier/trucks

1. Is the shipper's container going to be ready to go when and as scheduled?


2. Do I have a back haul for the carrier so they have freight both ways. If not, I will help find him a load coming back or on to a follow on destination


3. Is all the paperwork in place with my 3PL to pay driver on delivery of load or in a timely fashion. Does the driver need a COMM check?


4. If it is a new carrier, perform a background check on their delivery history, credit, accident record if possible get references if possible. This should be an ongoing effort, acquiring owner\operators, or trucks to move customer freight.

So you can see the simple request to move just two loads can turn into a barrage of phone calls and paperwork.

12:00 I clear all emergencies (if any) before going to lunch. For my own peace of mind, I typically like to clear my brain by taking a walk around the block which helps me to feel less constrained by staying inside all day. Sometimes I'll go out to lunch with a client or friend just as you would if you worked in a regular office environment. I look forward to this in person interaction, there is nothing like talking to a warm body.

12:45 I check my loads that went out in the morning. I have one truck has a flat so I have to call client to alert them of a delay in delivery until the truck is repaired.

Note: It is an important part of the job to communicate with shippers the statuses of their deliveries, most understand that sometimes things happen out of the carriers' control. Avoiding the news hurts your shipper relations and can cost you big in your revenue.

1:05 I get a call about another load, a back haul from one of my earlier morning runs. I go through the previously discussed steps.

While filling in the paperwork for the back haul, my handy headset allows me to make a call and keep on typing.

I checked in with the downed truck and he informed me that he is having difficulty replacing the flat tire. (Beads of sweat start trickling) I locate a repair service that has the type of tire that he needs and it should be fixed within the hour. (sigh of relief) Good news, I call shipper to let them know the status of their load and inform them that we will make the delivery within the allotted time. Total time invested in doing this about 1 hour.

Sometimes I find myself so into what it is that I do that things could easily be over looked especially admin type things, or a call back that was not made.

I like to at this point in my day, check my to do's list and see if any alerts are coming in or see if there is anything I overlooked or if there are things which I need to add to my tomorrows list.

At this point in my day I also like to go to my bloglines account and check the headlines of the rss feeds from industry recourses. I can quickly scan headlines and catch up on news and critical events that I may need to know.

An example of critical news was the recent, truck protest over gas prices. Trucks across the nation refused to move loads in protest. Knowing this was coming helped to avoid filling a truck to only have it sit for a day while this was happening.

3:30 I ping 3PL via my google chat and I verified that all paperwork, credit checks, and necessary documents were approved by 3PL to give the new carrier the go ahead to pick up the load referred by my coworker. I even managed to schedule a round trip load for this trucker.

4:00 This is where I review from a thousand feet up.

How many loads did I move today, are there any others scheduled going out.

Do I have any backhaul loads for trucks returning to their home state areas. In this case, yes I do which is great because it pushes me to the 6 loads for today goal.

I set myself realistic goals in my daily loads. I'm sure I could push for a lot more volume which some days I do move quite a bit more. But the reality is, I want to provided a good service to my shippers and carriers and if as a broker you try and juggle to many balls in the air one is bound to fall.

I am honest with myself as to what I am capabile of, and what I can do in a day. In the end, because of this honesty and dedidication to doing what I do well I have built long term relationsips with the shippers and carriers that I use. They both trust me to do what I say I am going to do.

The benifit to me is I'm independant from prarey dog land, and my income is reflective of my efforts.

I set realistic goals each day in terms of daily loads to move. I'm sure I could push for a lot more volume and there are some days I do move quite a bit more. But the reality is, I want to provide a good service to my shippers and carriers and if as a broker you try and juggle too many balls in the air one is bound to fall and in this business reputation is important.

I am honest with myself as to what I am capable doing each day and what the best methods are in accomplishing my goals each day. In the end, because of this honesty and dedication to doing what I do well I have built long term relationships with the shippers and carriers that I use. They trust me to do what I say I am going to do and this creates a win-win situation for each of us respectively.

The benefit to me is I'm independent from prairie dog land, and my income is reflective of my efforts.