June 17, 2025 • 16 mins
Stephen Ruhe & Ben Kowalski answer your freight brokering questions and discuss:
- 🚆 Export & Domestic Rail Freight - How can brokers source both export and domestic rail freight?
- 🍁 Moving Hay from Canada to the U.S. - If you’re brokering freight like hay from Canada to the U.S., can you handle customs clearance yourself—or do you need to involve a customs broker or freight forwarder?
- ❌ Carrier Cancels After Booking – Now What? - What happens when a carrier books a load and then cancels before pickup?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Final Mile
where we answer your Q&A.
All the questions you guysemail us, put out on our
Facebook group, send us directly.
Try to pull them all togetherand answer a few of them every
week.
So let's dig in and look at thefirst question.
What's our first question,stephen?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
My first question is brokers any info on sourcing
export and domestic rail freight?
You got any thoughts on this?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
one.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Uh, I mean for me, if you're looking at exports.
Uh, specifically, um, I'd bewanting to talk to freight
forwarders, cause they're theones that are going to be
handling the import exportbusiness, um, and they're not
doing domestic freight, sothey're going to need, either on
behalf of the customers, orthey'll get you in touch with
(00:54):
those customers that arearranging that that transport
either to the ports or away fromthe ports yeah, both like
domestic.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
The difference between domestic and export rail
is they're typically indifferent container types,
meaning like domestic usuallyship in 53 foot rail containers
and international are typically20s or 40s.
There is a company I just metwith last week that has large,
(01:28):
huge amounts of information.
It's a team from that used towork at freight um Flexport,
sorry and this company has allof the import data.
So basically you can find who'simporting what, who the freight
forwarder is, and use this forprospecting.
It's a really good piece ofsoftware and I am trying to find
(01:50):
it right now to share witheveryone.
It is why can't I find it?
Revenue vessel, that's the nameof it.
So, really cool tool Again.
It's got like this massiveamount of information, like
(02:10):
every shipment that comes in asan import has a record and
basically those records have whothe freight forwarder on record
is, who the customs broker is.
So if you wanted to prospectfreight forwarders, you could
see a lot of that information toreach out to them, to help them
source capacity.
On the domestic side, honestly,you can source the carriers
through like Loop, which isUnion Pacific's platform, which
(02:34):
is a co-brokerage, basicallythat access Union Pacific's
railroad and then Ship CSX isCSX's.
You can get set up with thoseand you can book loads on rail
domestically easily.
You go on their platform, putin the details it gives you the
price, sourcing the freight.
I mean you can put anything ona domestic rail as long as your
customer is okay with it.
(02:55):
So the platform will send thetruck, pick it up, put it on a
rail, send another truck on theother end and take it to your
customer.
And it used to be a bigdifference in time, like if you
ship Jersey to California that'sfive day transit with a truck.
It used to be like seven to 10days on rail.
They've gotten so much better,like I've looked at lanes that
are actually faster on a trainthan actually in truckload in
(03:18):
some cases.
So the timeframes are prettycomparable.
The rates are typically cheaperand any company you can ship
domestic rail on if thecustomer's okay with it, and the
larger customers almost alwayssome percentage of their freight
is already on rail.
So like that's a really bigbucket.
And then if you're looking forexports again, I would go to the
(03:38):
freight forwarding side.
That's going to get you apretty good idea of who's
handling the import and export,because usually they're the ones
that arrange the transportationand actually tender those loads
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
What's next?
Next question we have acustomer looking to move hay
from Canada to the US.
As a freight broker, am I ableto do the customs paperwork to
get the product across theborder, or do I or the customer
need to contact a customs brokeror freight forwarder to get
this done?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Okay, so Canada and Mexico don't require a freight
forwarder, but they do require acustoms broker.
And as a freight broker wedon't handle the customs
paperwork.
The shipper does the beneficialcargo owner.
So your shipper would need tocontact a customs broker to get
the customs paperwork and then,as a freight broker, all we do
(04:34):
is we're in contact with thecustoms broker and we connect
them with the carrier, who thengets the paperwork to take it
across the border.
So from our point of view it'spretty simple.
You really just if your shipperhas never done this you just
look up some customs brokers andgive them a referral.
They can handle the paperworkto go from Mexico to the US,
vice versa, or into Canada.
(04:55):
If you're going to go to doanything international outside
of those two countries, thenyou're going to use a freight
forwarder or an NVOCC.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Gotcha Okay, let's see Last question.
When a carrier cancels a load,even right after they booked it,
without picking it up, what arethe consequences and
repercussions for the brokersand the carriers?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Here's a rhetorical question I'll put out there to
anyone that's asked this as abroker, if you get a load for a
shipper and you cancel becauseyou can't get a truck for the
right rate or a truck at all,does anything happen to you?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, you don't get to work with that customer.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Right, but is there a fee, a penalty or a slap on the
wrist?
No, you just lose their trustand they don't work with you
again.
Right, it's the same thing witha trucking company, right.
Right, it's the same thing witha trucking company, right, like
they agree to do it, they'regoing to book a load with you if
they can't make it or if theirtruck breaks down or they get
stuck at their last load.
Like, you can't find them, likethey didn't start working with
you yet anyway.
(06:01):
So the answer is like nothinghappens.
It's incredibly frustratingbecause if you book a load with
a carrier, though, and yourcustomer cancels the load on you
, you owe the truck a truckorder not used, but in those
scenarios, the truck usually isworking for you, like they're
driving to your shipper, they'respending money, they're
(06:21):
spending time, they're spendinggas and effort, and they're not
going to pick up a loadsomewhere else.
So that's why you owe themmoney, but that's why nothing
happens if they cancel on you.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Right, yeah, and it's .
It's a conversation thathappens a lot online and it's
the.
You see the brokers in the inthe comment section Well, you
know, if you cancel on me, thenthe I can't get any money for it
, but and it's just, it's aperspective thing.
It's like well, I hired you todo a job, they didn't hire you
to do a job.
So there's yeah, correct, yeah,and for any broker out there,
(06:56):
like you got to make sure thatyour contract with your shipper,
like that is outlined, yournecessarial should be outlined.
So there's usually a timeframe,it's 24 hours, or have they
started moving in it 24 hours?
Or have they started moving init Like?
You need a way to measure it sothat if that does happen, the
shipper says, oh, this load'scanceled.
You don't have to have thatargument of, well, you canceled
(07:19):
at 10 hours and you know thedriver was already on his way
there, so we owe it Tony.
And then you can avoid thatconversation if it's written on
paper and both people signed itand you know what the guidelines
are and you can tell thecarrier hey, these are the
guidelines, and that hour longconversation never has to happen
.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Correct and I think this is one of the overlooked
things that really needs tohappen.
Like you should be talking toyour customers about this ahead
of time.
Like you should ask them likehey, in the off chance that you
guys have an order you send tome and I'm working on and, for
whatever reason, like, yourcustomer cancels it, how do you
guys handle truck orders notused?
Do you have a time frame?
(08:01):
Like, how does that look?
How do you guys handle truckorders not used?
Do you have a timeframe?
Like how does that look?
Because, again, if you ask thisquestion before it happens,
like now, you're just beingproactive.
It shows you pay attention todetails and it shows you're
trying to solve problems beforethey happen, which are all good
impressions to give to yourcustomer, right, when you call a
customer after a load'scanceled like sometimes they're
(08:23):
already frustrated Then you'regoing to go and be like hey, I
need this truck order not usedand they're already in the
mindset where they're irritated.
So now it's likeconfrontational sometimes.
But if you ask this upfront andyou just go like, hey, do you
guys have anything?
When I'm onboarding with anyshipper, I'm always asking this
like what is the cancellationpolicy?
How do you handle truck ordersnot used?
Another good segue how do youhandle detention?
(08:44):
How do you handle layovers?
Because every shipper andreceiver handles them a little
bit different, right?
What is the cutoff betweendetention and a layover?
Right?
Some companies will pay fourhours of detention and then it
becomes a layover.
Some will pay you all day andthen it becomes a layover, and
they're all different, right?
So when to the original pointof like, how do you handle the
(09:06):
carrier?
You want to be able to handlethe carrier clearly and upfront
in the same way your shipper isdoing business with you.
So there is no contradiction,right, and carriers should be
able to know this upfront.
I advise this to all thetrucking companies I work with
too.
Like you're going to ask yourdispatchers, when they're
negotiating a rate, to ask thesequestions what's your detention
policy?
(09:26):
What's layover?
How do you guys handle truckorders not used?
What documentation do you need?
Right, because when you askthat up front and it's clear and
in writing, there is noconflict after right, now that
carrier can request it exactlythe way it was asked and have it
in writing.
Same thing for the broker andthe shipper, right?
(09:49):
If I've got this document frommy shipper.
I have a file with every one ofmy customers, actually, to our
last episode.
It's in my TMS.
These are the procedures, theseare their policies.
This needs to be done when andwhere.
Now there is no discrepancy.
Like I worked with this companylast year that onboarded a
pretty big shipper, that workedwith even larger shippers right
Food company, very well known,also delivers a lot to every
(10:10):
major grocery store.
They would be on top of thisbrokerage and going we need the
detention, check-in andcheck-out time signed.
The brokerage is sending it tothem and going okay, well, like
we got to pay this driverdetention and then they just
wouldn't respond to emails.
Then the manager calls thecustomer like hey, I got like
(10:31):
six detention requests forcarriers that are like six hours
, right, like these are notsmall bills, like 300 bucks here
, 400 bucks here, 300 bucks here, and then they just didn't
answer.
And then, finally, the owner ofthe brokerage gets on the phone
with, like the senior person atthe their customer and like, oh,
like we don't pay detention.
And he's like, well, if youdon't pay detention, shouldn't
(10:51):
they?
And then they said this they go, well, you should just quote
more on your lanes.
And then he was like well, Iwould have had you told me you
don't pay detention, but youintentionally misled me.
And then you tell me after factbecause like two out of three
loads ran into detention.
It wasn't like a one-off thing,like clearly they dealt with
this a lot Right, and in thefood world like that's pretty
(11:11):
common.
So not only did theyintentionally mislead him,
didn't tell him, then told, andthe rates were locked in for
three months, so it wasn't likejust the next week's loads they
could quote differently.
So now they're in a terribleposition.
On top of that they got to paythe carriers, because they can't
stiff the carriers just becausethe customer stiff them.
But the funniest or the mostironic part was they were making
(11:32):
them send in the check-in andcheck-out times for detention at
the receivers.
Why do you think that's thecase?
Because they were charging theircustomers detention and then
just not paying their brokersthey worked with intentionally
just to make money off it, right?
So like there are some,definitely some underhanded
shady things that can happen inthis industry if you aren't
(11:53):
clear and concise when you'reunderstanding what are the terms
of working with this customer.
And again, same thing with thecarriers.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Carriers should be asking this of brokers and the
shippers they work with, right,and we absolutely have a
responsibility to know thesethings to hire a carrier on
behalf of this shipper, which isreally our job yeah, and that's
one of the things that, uh,even before I started, before I
took over, uh, the brokeragehere is, I I had already
(12:21):
generated a sheet that was alist of accessorial charges and
it's official, it's got aletterhead on it and everything.
Because, especially when you'retalking to these smaller
companies, which is kind of likethe target demo for a freight
broker, the whales are hard toget into.
The smaller ones don't haveenough freight, so these
medium-sized ones, typicallythey're not going to have like
(12:45):
an accessorial list, right?
Um, they don't.
You have to ask, right?
And?
And for the ones that don't,they really appreciate it when
you just send them an officialthing and then you can sign it.
They can sign it and then weboth have it on record and this
is what it is, and then thatgoes into their customer file
and you don't have to worryabout it.
And some of them are going topush back and you have to change
(13:06):
things, but you know, whatever,and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But you should outline all the terms of what
it's like to work with somebody,right, like, that's all that
really is.
Like, you don't have tooverthink it.
Like, hey, if this happens,what do we do?
What do you want to do?
This is what we typically do,different, all right, well, let
me know, because then, like, atleast you can be clear with the
carriers you're hiring.
Right, all the problems andconflict come because somebody
(13:29):
didn't understand, right, whatthey were signing up for working
for, right, like, and that's anarea like didn't understand
they weren't getting attentionbecause they lied to them, right
, but even so, I made the casethat, like, they should have
known that upfront and it wastheir responsibility to ask that
.
And if the customer won't tellyou that, should throw up a red
flag.
Like, they answered everyquestion in your email except
the one about the tension.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Like, there's probably a reason for that,
right, like, maybe clarify thisbefore you start running freight
, because once you've done it,like, Right and that goes back
to the last episode that wetalked about when you know doing
processes and CRMs and dataentry and stuff.
Like a CRM a good CRM you canlog your emails in to every
(14:12):
customer.
So even if you forget to putyou know these specific details
into like the customer file andyour TMS, like those
conversations, should be loggedin detail in a CRM, not stored
away in your, your inbox or afolder somewhere where they're
going to get deleted once yourmailbox is out of control.
Yeah, so it's very important tobe detail-oriented, especially
(14:38):
in this, because we'refacilitating stuff.
We don't have a product thatwe're selling.
Right, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So you should have all of it or you're not doing
your job right.
Yep, 100%, sweet man.
Got any fun plans for Father'sDay?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
My nephew's first birthday is Friday, so we're
going to go to Indianapolis andhang out with them.
And then Father's Day.
I'm not 100% sure what we'redoing yet.
I know we're staying thereprobably until Sunday, but I'm
crossing my fingers that there'sa golf simulator in my future.
(15:18):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Just throwing that out there.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, in case, the wife listens to this episode.
I'm hoping you want me.
I'm pulling for you.
Yeah, in case, in case the wifelistens to this episode, I'm
hoping.
Yeah, All right buddy.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, whether you believe you can or believe you
can't, you're right.
Welcome to this week's episode of the Final Mile
where we answer your Q&A.
All the questions you guysemail us, put out on our
Facebook group, send us directly.
Try to pull them all togetherand answer a few of them every
week.
So let's dig in and look at thefirst question.
What's our first question,stephen?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
My first question is brokers any info on sourcing
export and domestic rail freight?
You got any thoughts on this?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
one.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Uh, I mean for me, if you're looking at exports.
Uh, specifically, um, I'd bewanting to talk to freight
forwarders, cause they're theones that are going to be
handling the import exportbusiness, um, and they're not
doing domestic freight, sothey're going to need, either on
behalf of the customers, orthey'll get you in touch with
(00:54):
those customers that arearranging that that transport
either to the ports or away fromthe ports yeah, both like
domestic.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
The difference between domestic and export rail
is they're typically indifferent container types,
meaning like domestic usuallyship in 53 foot rail containers
and international are typically20s or 40s.
There is a company I just metwith last week that has large,
(01:28):
huge amounts of information.
It's a team from that used towork at freight um Flexport,
sorry and this company has allof the import data.
So basically you can find who'simporting what, who the freight
forwarder is, and use this forprospecting.
It's a really good piece ofsoftware and I am trying to find
(01:50):
it right now to share witheveryone.
It is why can't I find it?
Revenue vessel, that's the nameof it.
So, really cool tool Again.
It's got like this massiveamount of information, like
(02:10):
every shipment that comes in asan import has a record and
basically those records have whothe freight forwarder on record
is, who the customs broker is.
So if you wanted to prospectfreight forwarders, you could
see a lot of that information toreach out to them, to help them
source capacity.
On the domestic side, honestly,you can source the carriers
through like Loop, which isUnion Pacific's platform, which
(02:34):
is a co-brokerage, basicallythat access Union Pacific's
railroad and then Ship CSX isCSX's.
You can get set up with thoseand you can book loads on rail
domestically easily.
You go on their platform, putin the details it gives you the
price, sourcing the freight.
I mean you can put anything ona domestic rail as long as your
customer is okay with it.
(02:55):
So the platform will send thetruck, pick it up, put it on a
rail, send another truck on theother end and take it to your
customer.
And it used to be a bigdifference in time, like if you
ship Jersey to California that'sfive day transit with a truck.
It used to be like seven to 10days on rail.
They've gotten so much better,like I've looked at lanes that
are actually faster on a trainthan actually in truckload in
(03:18):
some cases.
So the timeframes are prettycomparable.
The rates are typically cheaperand any company you can ship
domestic rail on if thecustomer's okay with it, and the
larger customers almost alwayssome percentage of their freight
is already on rail.
So like that's a really bigbucket.
And then if you're looking forexports again, I would go to the
(03:38):
freight forwarding side.
That's going to get you apretty good idea of who's
handling the import and export,because usually they're the ones
that arrange the transportationand actually tender those loads
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
What's next?
Next question we have acustomer looking to move hay
from Canada to the US.
As a freight broker, am I ableto do the customs paperwork to
get the product across theborder, or do I or the customer
need to contact a customs brokeror freight forwarder to get
this done?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Okay, so Canada and Mexico don't require a freight
forwarder, but they do require acustoms broker.
And as a freight broker wedon't handle the customs
paperwork.
The shipper does the beneficialcargo owner.
So your shipper would need tocontact a customs broker to get
the customs paperwork and then,as a freight broker, all we do
(04:34):
is we're in contact with thecustoms broker and we connect
them with the carrier, who thengets the paperwork to take it
across the border.
So from our point of view it'spretty simple.
You really just if your shipperhas never done this you just
look up some customs brokers andgive them a referral.
They can handle the paperworkto go from Mexico to the US,
vice versa, or into Canada.
(04:55):
If you're going to go to doanything international outside
of those two countries, thenyou're going to use a freight
forwarder or an NVOCC.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Gotcha Okay, let's see Last question.
When a carrier cancels a load,even right after they booked it,
without picking it up, what arethe consequences and
repercussions for the brokersand the carriers?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Here's a rhetorical question I'll put out there to
anyone that's asked this as abroker, if you get a load for a
shipper and you cancel becauseyou can't get a truck for the
right rate or a truck at all,does anything happen to you?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, you don't get to work with that customer.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Right, but is there a fee, a penalty or a slap on the
wrist?
No, you just lose their trustand they don't work with you
again.
Right, it's the same thing witha trucking company, right.
Right, it's the same thing witha trucking company, right, like
they agree to do it, they'regoing to book a load with you if
they can't make it or if theirtruck breaks down or they get
stuck at their last load.
Like, you can't find them, likethey didn't start working with
you yet anyway.
(06:01):
So the answer is like nothinghappens.
It's incredibly frustratingbecause if you book a load with
a carrier, though, and yourcustomer cancels the load on you
, you owe the truck a truckorder not used, but in those
scenarios, the truck usually isworking for you, like they're
driving to your shipper, they'respending money, they're
(06:21):
spending time, they're spendinggas and effort, and they're not
going to pick up a loadsomewhere else.
So that's why you owe themmoney, but that's why nothing
happens if they cancel on you.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Right, yeah, and it's .
It's a conversation thathappens a lot online and it's
the.
You see the brokers in the inthe comment section Well, you
know, if you cancel on me, thenthe I can't get any money for it
, but and it's just, it's aperspective thing.
It's like well, I hired you todo a job, they didn't hire you
to do a job.
So there's yeah, correct, yeah,and for any broker out there,
(06:56):
like you got to make sure thatyour contract with your shipper,
like that is outlined, yournecessarial should be outlined.
So there's usually a timeframe,it's 24 hours, or have they
started moving in it 24 hours?
Or have they started moving init Like?
You need a way to measure it sothat if that does happen, the
shipper says, oh, this load'scanceled.
You don't have to have thatargument of, well, you canceled
(07:19):
at 10 hours and you know thedriver was already on his way
there, so we owe it Tony.
And then you can avoid thatconversation if it's written on
paper and both people signed itand you know what the guidelines
are and you can tell thecarrier hey, these are the
guidelines, and that hour longconversation never has to happen
.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Correct and I think this is one of the overlooked
things that really needs tohappen.
Like you should be talking toyour customers about this ahead
of time.
Like you should ask them likehey, in the off chance that you
guys have an order you send tome and I'm working on and, for
whatever reason, like, yourcustomer cancels it, how do you
guys handle truck orders notused?
Do you have a time frame?
(08:01):
Like, how does that look?
How do you guys handle truckorders not used?
Do you have a timeframe?
Like how does that look?
Because, again, if you ask thisquestion before it happens,
like now, you're just beingproactive.
It shows you pay attention todetails and it shows you're
trying to solve problems beforethey happen, which are all good
impressions to give to yourcustomer, right, when you call a
customer after a load'scanceled like sometimes they're
(08:23):
already frustrated Then you'regoing to go and be like hey, I
need this truck order not usedand they're already in the
mindset where they're irritated.
So now it's likeconfrontational sometimes.
But if you ask this upfront andyou just go like, hey, do you
guys have anything?
When I'm onboarding with anyshipper, I'm always asking this
like what is the cancellationpolicy?
How do you handle truck ordersnot used?
Another good segue how do youhandle detention?
(08:44):
How do you handle layovers?
Because every shipper andreceiver handles them a little
bit different, right?
What is the cutoff betweendetention and a layover?
Right?
Some companies will pay fourhours of detention and then it
becomes a layover.
Some will pay you all day andthen it becomes a layover, and
they're all different, right?
So when to the original pointof like, how do you handle the
(09:06):
carrier?
You want to be able to handlethe carrier clearly and upfront
in the same way your shipper isdoing business with you.
So there is no contradiction,right, and carriers should be
able to know this upfront.
I advise this to all thetrucking companies I work with
too.
Like you're going to ask yourdispatchers, when they're
negotiating a rate, to ask thesequestions what's your detention
policy?
(09:26):
What's layover?
How do you guys handle truckorders not used?
What documentation do you need?
Right, because when you askthat up front and it's clear and
in writing, there is noconflict after right, now that
carrier can request it exactlythe way it was asked and have it
in writing.
Same thing for the broker andthe shipper, right?
(09:49):
If I've got this document frommy shipper.
I have a file with every one ofmy customers, actually, to our
last episode.
It's in my TMS.
These are the procedures, theseare their policies.
This needs to be done when andwhere.
Now there is no discrepancy.
Like I worked with this companylast year that onboarded a
pretty big shipper, that workedwith even larger shippers right
Food company, very well known,also delivers a lot to every
(10:10):
major grocery store.
They would be on top of thisbrokerage and going we need the
detention, check-in andcheck-out time signed.
The brokerage is sending it tothem and going okay, well, like
we got to pay this driverdetention and then they just
wouldn't respond to emails.
Then the manager calls thecustomer like hey, I got like
(10:31):
six detention requests forcarriers that are like six hours
, right, like these are notsmall bills, like 300 bucks here
, 400 bucks here, 300 bucks here, and then they just didn't
answer.
And then, finally, the owner ofthe brokerage gets on the phone
with, like the senior person atthe their customer and like, oh,
like we don't pay detention.
And he's like, well, if youdon't pay detention, shouldn't
(10:51):
they?
And then they said this they go, well, you should just quote
more on your lanes.
And then he was like well, Iwould have had you told me you
don't pay detention, but youintentionally misled me.
And then you tell me after factbecause like two out of three
loads ran into detention.
It wasn't like a one-off thing,like clearly they dealt with
this a lot Right, and in thefood world like that's pretty
(11:11):
common.
So not only did theyintentionally mislead him,
didn't tell him, then told, andthe rates were locked in for
three months, so it wasn't likejust the next week's loads they
could quote differently.
So now they're in a terribleposition.
On top of that they got to paythe carriers, because they can't
stiff the carriers just becausethe customer stiff them.
But the funniest or the mostironic part was they were making
(11:32):
them send in the check-in andcheck-out times for detention at
the receivers.
Why do you think that's thecase?
Because they were charging theircustomers detention and then
just not paying their brokersthey worked with intentionally
just to make money off it, right?
So like there are some,definitely some underhanded
shady things that can happen inthis industry if you aren't
(11:53):
clear and concise when you'reunderstanding what are the terms
of working with this customer.
And again, same thing with thecarriers.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Carriers should be asking this of brokers and the
shippers they work with, right,and we absolutely have a
responsibility to know thesethings to hire a carrier on
behalf of this shipper, which isreally our job yeah, and that's
one of the things that, uh,even before I started, before I
took over, uh, the brokeragehere is, I I had already
(12:21):
generated a sheet that was alist of accessorial charges and
it's official, it's got aletterhead on it and everything.
Because, especially when you'retalking to these smaller
companies, which is kind of likethe target demo for a freight
broker, the whales are hard toget into.
The smaller ones don't haveenough freight, so these
medium-sized ones, typicallythey're not going to have like
(12:45):
an accessorial list, right?
Um, they don't.
You have to ask, right?
And?
And for the ones that don't,they really appreciate it when
you just send them an officialthing and then you can sign it.
They can sign it and then weboth have it on record and this
is what it is, and then thatgoes into their customer file
and you don't have to worryabout it.
And some of them are going topush back and you have to change
(13:06):
things, but you know, whatever,and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But you should outline all the terms of what
it's like to work with somebody,right, like, that's all that
really is.
Like, you don't have tooverthink it.
Like, hey, if this happens,what do we do?
What do you want to do?
This is what we typically do,different, all right, well, let
me know, because then, like, atleast you can be clear with the
carriers you're hiring.
Right, all the problems andconflict come because somebody
(13:29):
didn't understand, right, whatthey were signing up for working
for, right, like, and that's anarea like didn't understand
they weren't getting attentionbecause they lied to them, right
, but even so, I made the casethat, like, they should have
known that upfront and it wastheir responsibility to ask that
.
And if the customer won't tellyou that, should throw up a red
flag.
Like, they answered everyquestion in your email except
the one about the tension.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Like, there's probably a reason for that,
right, like, maybe clarify thisbefore you start running freight
, because once you've done it,like, Right and that goes back
to the last episode that wetalked about when you know doing
processes and CRMs and dataentry and stuff.
Like a CRM a good CRM you canlog your emails in to every
(14:12):
customer.
So even if you forget to putyou know these specific details
into like the customer file andyour TMS, like those
conversations, should be loggedin detail in a CRM, not stored
away in your, your inbox or afolder somewhere where they're
going to get deleted once yourmailbox is out of control.
Yeah, so it's very important tobe detail-oriented, especially
(14:38):
in this, because we'refacilitating stuff.
We don't have a product thatwe're selling.
Right, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So you should have all of it or you're not doing
your job right.
Yep, 100%, sweet man.
Got any fun plans for Father'sDay?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
My nephew's first birthday is Friday, so we're
going to go to Indianapolis andhang out with them.
And then Father's Day.
I'm not 100% sure what we'redoing yet.
I know we're staying thereprobably until Sunday, but I'm
crossing my fingers that there'sa golf simulator in my future.
(15:18):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Just throwing that out there.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, in case, the wife listens to this episode.
I'm hoping you want me.
I'm pulling for you.
Yeah, in case, in case the wifelistens to this episode, I'm
hoping.
Yeah, All right buddy.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, whether you believe you can or believe you
can't, you're right.
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