Merry Christmas 🎄
Wishing you and yours a warm & wonderful Christmas!
#merrychristmas #bestagentprogram #freighttec #freightbroker #freightagent #freightbrokerage
Christmas Party! 🎄
Last week, we had our home office Christmas party lunch. 🎄 We love working with our fantastic team! 🙌 #thankful #bestteam #freightbroker #bestagentprogram #freighttec #freightbrokerage
Christmas trees!
Ever wonder how they get Christmas trees from the tree farm to your city? 🎄 Check out this video from Russ Damyan showing us how it’s done! ➡️ #itsthemostwonderfultimeoftheyear #christmastrees #freighttec #bestagentprogram #freightagent #freightbroker #freightbrokerage
Truck Driver Appreciation Week
We want to give a huge THANK YOU to our Carriers! đźšš đźš› It’s National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, and want to encourage everyone to thank a truck driver for what they do for all of us.👊🏽 We move over 11,000 loads a month with our Carriers and are so grateful to them! 🙌 #nationaltruckdriverappreciationweek #thankatrucker #freighttec #freightagent #freightbroker #freightbrokerage #bestagentprogram
Is Freight Brokerage Still A Good Business To Be In?
The short answer is: Yes.
Lets dive into why the industry is thriving. Todd Bryant of Bryant Surety Bonds lays out the facts in this article for JOC.com.
Here’s a summary:
Growing Demand:
Since January of 2014 Broker business has increased by 15%, and that grown still isn’t meeting demand.
Sound Income:
Brokers typically make more than the national salary average; and with control that comes with the business, you have the opportunity to increase your income.
Stable Industry:
Broker bonds were raised to $75,000 in 2013, as a result, the brokerages with low credit scores shut down, bringing in a new batch of more financially secure brokers.
Freight Tec carries a $100,000 bond, and was rated in the Top 100 Broker by Inc. Magazine.
Bright Future:
With increased demand, more robust Brokerages, and growing incomes, the business is more trustworthy and profitable than ever.
If you’re interested in changing careers and becoming a Freight Tec Agent, check out or Agent Program.
Agents Liable for Customer Bad Debt?
Should Agents be 100% liable for their customer’s Bad Debts?
Imagine one of your largest customers going belly up… and they owe you and your Broker company $50,000.00…
You soon learn there is no hope of collecting any of the money owed…
Who should pay for that bad debt?
It should be split the same way your commission was paid out between you and your Broker. If you are on a 50% / 50% split with your Broker, then you should both pay $25,000.00 of the bad debt. If you are on a 60%/40% split, you would pay $30,000, and the Broker would pay $20,000.
Why?
Its fair. Its ethical. And both parties always have great interest in doing business with customers who will pay you.
I’ve heard of Brokers paying 100% of any bad debts from their Agents… They are CRAZY !
Lets me share a story with you…
I know of a company who practiced the policy of paying 100% of any bad debts from their agents. They did it because they thought it would lure agents into their company, and you what? They were right! They did lure a lot of agents into their company!
A few years down the road, they were hit for a $400,000.00 bad debt from one customer, then another one for 109,000.00, then another one for $55,000.00. The agent (who’s customers they were) didn’t care… he didn’t have to pay any of that $500,000.00+ back. No worries for him…
But there was great pain and anguish for all the other agents, and the broker. The broker was not in position to handle these rapidly mounting bad debts (there were more that rolled in). The broker tried to work things out…Â but the hole they were in got deeper and deeper too fast.
The broker quit paying the carriers.
The carriers sued all of the customers (and I mean EVERY single customer).
The customers had to pay all the freight bills again. (after already paying the broker months ago).
The customers were very angry.
The customers no longer trusted the agents they had worked with for years.
Good agents and several other good people lost their customer base – and their jobs. They could no longer provide for their families.
Agents now had to start over – their previous customer relationships were ruined because their broker ended up going belly up and not paying the carriers.
The criminal thing behind it all was this: There was a rotten apple agent who PURPOSELY did business with companies he knew were at risk of not paying their freight bills for one reason or another. Because he was paid his commission each week – he knew he would be paid before the bad debts hit the broker. One bad apple spoiled the bunch… Actually, he put them out of business.
Shippers Can’t Be Too Careful in Qualifying Carriers
This is a True Story. A carrier calls our office to book a load we had shared with our network. We start our Carrier Qualification Process and find out that the Carrier wants to use an owner-operator. We advised the Carrier that we needed to see their federal operating authority, Certificate of Insurance, W-9, and a signed copy of our Broker/Carrier Agreement. When we receive everything back, we find that the Certificate of Insurance shows CARGO LIABILITY INSURANCE ONLY.
So, we called the Carrier back and asked if they had a separate Certificate of Insurance for Auto Liability. He said, “No. Our owner operator carries Auto Liability Insurance. All we provide is Cargo Insurance on the load and trailer.”  When we talked to the Owner-Operator, he forwarded to us a Certificate of Insurance showing Auto Liability Insurance. At this point, most companies don’t check any further. But our Carrier Qualification clerk, Kellie, called both of the insurance agents to verify insurance coverage. This is what she found:
The Owner-Operator only had “Non-Loaded” Auto Liability insurance commonly referred to as “bobtail” insurance. HE WAS NOT INSURED IF HE WAS HAULING A LOAD!!! The company for whom the Owner-Operator was hauling DID NOT HAVE AUTO LIABILITY INSURANCE. Therefore, if we would have given this Carrier our load, our Shipper and we would have had a huge public liability risk since nobody was insured to protect the public. Imagine what would have happened if this truck was involved in an accident while hauling a load for one of our shippers. The injured parties would have sued everybody—including our shipper and us—for damages. The trucker and the company probably are “judgment proof” as all of their operating assets are most likely heavily financed with little or no equity. That would leave only Freight Tec and its shipper liable. As a result, we would have had to pay. Freight Tec carries Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance (the same insurance as medical doctors, lawyers, CPA’s, and engineers carry) in the event we make a mistake. Fewer than 50 property brokers out of over 15,000 carry this insurance to protect their shippers. Freight Tec is one of a select group of brokers who does.
BOTTOM LINE: You cannot be too careful in Qualifying Carriers. Freight Tec does this every day on a FULL-TIME basis to protect our Shippers and ourselves from potentially devastating lawsuits. To further protect our Shippers, we also carry Professional Errors and Omissions Liability Insurance.
How Freight Tec Can Help Agents Get Carriers Set Up in Less Than 6 Minutes
The freight transportation industry has at least one thing in common with virtually every sector: the importance of speed and flexibility. Sales come and go in the blink of an eye.
8 Ways for Carriers to Stay Safe on the Road
When you’re driving the largest vehicle on the roadway, it’s easy to grow complacent about safety — especially when you drive for hours and hours at a time.
The challenge is that while freight carriers have a difficult task regarding safety, they also have a huge responsibility, and they must do whatever they can to account for the ignorance and mistakes of regular motorists. Lives and expensive cargo are at stake.
Here are eight ways that carriers can stay safe on the road:
Driving Truck and Getting Back Home to Family
One of the very top values at Freight Tec is Family.
We believe in trying to find a different load for a Carrier, who wants to be home for the weekend to spend time with his family…  Taking care of some of the extra headaches for a Shipping Manager so he can spend more time with his family… or making sure our Agents and Employees get the time they need to spend with their own families. We consider each of these part of the our Freight Tec Family as well.
This article – Myths about the Trucking Industry – is about Truck Drivers in general, and it really struck a chord with me as I read it this morning.
Quoted from the article:
“Next time you see a semi-truck on the road, think about the driver behind the wheel, and realize he—or she—is a person just like you, working toward a goal, delivering goods you depend on, and looking forward to getting back home to family.”
If you get a chance, be sure to thank a Truck Driver – and at the very least, respect what they do and the part they play in keeping this country rolling.
Are you an Agent or Broker interested in joining the Freight Tec Family?
