Freight Broker Boot Camp

Most of the people who take my online freight broker training course are looking for an opportunity to work from home, where they can be their own boss, in a business that would allow them the opportunity to earn $50,000 to $100,000 or more per year.

One of the questions I get regularly is, “what is the difference between a freight broker and a freight agent”, so today I hope to clarify the difference between the two.

A freight broker, also known as a property broker, is someone that is licensed by the FMCSA that acts as a middleman to arrange the transport of goods by matching available trucks with shipper loads.  Freight brokers can range from a simple one man operation to larger multinational companies with billions in revenues; the fact of the matter is the role they play is virtually the same. Brokers are responsible to make sure that they only hire motor carriers that meet the FMCSA guidelines including authority, insurance and safety standards and that payments due to motor carriers are not unreasonably withheld.  Last but not least freight brokers assume the risk of granting credit to customers so its critical to check and monitor a customer’s credit.

A freight agent is someone that typically works under the direction and authority of a licensed freight broker helping to coordinate shipments. Freight agents regularly interact with both shipping customers and motor carriers in an effort to insure their customer’s freight pickups on time, in good condition with no problems.  Most of a freight agent’s day consists of providing their customers freight rates, sourcing carriers, negotiating with shippers/carriers, dispatching trucks, scheduling pickup/delivers and solving problems that could potentially delay or damage a shipment. Freight agents operate under the authority/license of an FMCSA approve freight broker so they have little or no liability but are able to earn a significant income based upon profit their customer’s generate.  It is not uncommon to see agents receive between 50-65% commission on the gross profit generate from a load.  Freight agents can either be an employee or independent contractor, with a large number of them working from home.  See commission example below…

Here is an example of how agent commissions work

$1,500 is billed to shipper for moving a load from point A to point B while $1,300 paid to the motor carrier to haul the load leaving $200 in gross profit. If the agent is paid 60% of profit he would earn $120 for just that one load.  Good freight agents regularly move 2-5 loads per day with top agents moving 10 or more.

Many people that have taken my online freight broker training program have went on to become licensed freight brokers but even more have taken the knowledge they gained and started their own freight agency working under an established freight broker. Regardless if they chose to become a broker or agent the proper training will save both time, money and stress when getting started in the freight business.

To hear my story on how I started as a freight broker with no experience and paid a consultant over $10,000 to help me get started back in 2003 CLICK HERE.

To your success,

Dennis Brown
Owner, www.FreightBrokerBootcamp.com

Don’t be fooled by the ever growing list of freight broker training programs online that are run by unsuccessful freight brokers! Ask them to prove how much business they do?  Click here for my proof!