r/FreightBrokerStartup

I am so fed up of constantly emailing freight companies in local cities for a quote and NEVER getting a response

The large forwarders are putting people in seats to do a specific job - data entry, freight bookings, accounts, customer services, operations. Teams of staff who do not understand the whole aspect of freight forwarding. Staff that can phone in sick knowing their job will be covered. People that can ignore or delete emails they don’t want to deal with because they get the same salary end of the month whether they give 100% or 20%
They do just enough to retain their job

Whilst it may be acceptable for their large corporate clients who feel the same about their customers, logistics is a big machine that keeps churning.

I want to build a network of small agents, less than 5 staff each with at least 3 of them with over 15 years experience. A team that can do each others job at the drop of a hat, a team that will sit down and discuss and work out how they are going to do what they have just been asked to do.

Some of you reading this will know your are that team, most of you will feel you can do it, but if you are prepared to walk out of the office at 6pm and leave cargo sitting in your warehouse that should have been at the airport an hour ago. Or decide not to check your emails all evening, if you are happy to deal with a quote received at 10am in the morning the next day. Please don’t ask to join my network

I am in the uk and have an office in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. If you are from any other country than these three and want to help set a network , send me a DM.

There is no charge, there are no ridiculous hidden fees, not even profit share. Just small freight forwarders that care about their customers and their cargo and want to work with someone who says ‘leave it with me’ and actually does it. Or….has the balls to say, sorry mate but that cannot be done

New 3PL owner here looking for some industry advice......

I recently transitioned out of the military after spending 11+ years in logistics and supply chain operations. My business partner and I launched a 3PL in the Chicagoland area, focusing on warehousing, fulfillment, and value-added services.

One area I'm trying to learn more about is cross-docking.

For those of you in freight brokerage, transportation, or warehouse operations:

• How do brokers typically find cross-dock partners?
• Where are brokers posting or searching for cross-dock locations?
• What makes a warehouse attractive for cross-dock opportunities?
• Are there specific platforms, networks, or relationships I should be focusing on?

I'm trying to understand how the cross-dock side of the industry works and how warehouses typically get connected to those opportunities.

Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

outsider trying to understand freight properly, not the linkedin highlight reel version. from the outside a lot of it looks like phone calls, chasing check calls, getting ghosted on payments, re-entering the same load info into 4 different portals, double brokering drama.

what's the part that makes you want to throw your laptop that has nothing to do with the market being good or bad? the boring operational stuff that's just annoying and never seems to get better. curious how much of what i listed is real vs me having no idea.