Freight brokers can play a crucial role in the transportation process for many types of shipments and clients. Utilize our blog to learn what exactly a broker is and why you just might need one.
What is a Freight Broker?
Freight brokers act as a liaison between commercial shipping companies and clients who are in need of shipping services. Each party has an ideal state of how shipments will be handled, which routes they’ll take, and a timeline for delivery but these two don’t always match up.
A freight broker’s role is to figure out how to make everyone happy and what makes the most sense for the client’s needs and the business’s standard procedures. The freight broker does a lot of the nitty giddy detailed work so you don’t have to, whether you are the client or the shipping company. Brokers are especially helpful to shipment companies so they don’t need to figure out how to make a client’s specific needs fit neatly into the standard procedures their business operates around.
Do I Need a Freight Broker?
Some shipments are incredibly straightforward; the client is not in a rush and their delivery and pick-up locations are on the shipment company’s standard routes. Freight brokers are best used and often needed when there are factors complicating a shipment; the shipment itself is sensitive, the delivery time must be rushed, the delivery location is out of typical scope for the shipment company, and much more.
We can break these scenarios into three categories:
- The current process needs more resources and capacities
- You need to reduce costs and delivery time
- Your current provider is not dependable
Need for More Resources
The necessity for more resources is frequently thanks to business being busy so this is a great thing more often than not! Working with a broker can help you expand your business, allowing you to not turn down any jobs because of capacity constraints. Working with a broker can also help you while you work on building out that capacity, helping you to scale your business longer-term.
Reducing Costs
Minimizing your costs is one of the most popular reasons to work with a broker. So much of broker’s jobs is to optimize the shipping process from start to finish, including cost, so this can be a great way for your business to operate more efficiently and learn those practices to take with you and build into your business practices. Though many try to avoid hiring a broker because they think it will cost them more, it is often the more cost-effective option in the long run, especially when working with a broker over several shipments.
Reliable Service Every Time
Sometimes, the parter you’ve been working with for years starts to slip in their reliability and consistency. It happens across the industry, to partners of all kinds. Leaning on a broker in these cases is wise because a broker works for you, making simplifying and standardizing your shipments their priority. Supply chain issues are no match for an experienced broker who knows each of their dangers and plans accordingly.
Looking for Help with Your Next Shipment?
LogiWorld based in Pembroke, MA is here and ready to help! We offer a wide range of freight forwarding services from domestic trucking to exports and most things in between. Contact us today to get a free quote on your next shipment.