Freight brokers agents are professionals in the trucking industry that operate under a company's brokerage MC number (motor carrier number). Nearly all TruckingAgents.net dispatchers and agents are freight brokers and can provide professional transportation logistical services. There is often confusion about who is a customer, a broker, an agent, and this article goes into those details. Links have been provided below to related topics if you are looking for even more detailed information.
Important Note on Terms & Definitions
TruckingAgents.com is a big advocate for communication. When talking about any shipment it's always best to use an accurate description and detailed terms to eliminate confusion. Also, avoid pronouns when possible as he or she can play many different roles on a shipment. Below are some related terms or synonyms for commonly used industry terms.
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- Customer - When referring to who is ultimately paying for the shipment.
- Synonyms and useful terms
- Not Useful Terms
- Shipper or Consignee
- Broker
- Shipper - When discussing where the load is being picked up.
- Synonyms and useful terms
- Loading location
- Pickup location
- Not useful terms
- Consignee - When discussing where the load is delivering the shipment.
- Synonyms and useful terms
- Drop off location
- Delivery location
- Not useful terms
- Broker - This is a bad term to use on its own. Better to be more specific.
- Broker Customer - This is the company who is managing the shipment. They will pay the carrier for the load.
- Broker Truck - This is the truck hauling the shipment and there are other terms you can use:
- Broker Carrier
- Broker Fleet
- Carrier - The trucking company hauling the load.
- Synonyms and useful terms
- Trucking Company
- Broker Fleet
- Broker Carrier
- Driver
- Not useful terms
Broker
Don't use the term "Broker" on it's own as this can mean two entirely different things.
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Depending on what side of the fence you're standing on can determine who is your customer. However, that doesn't mean there isn't a generally understood definition of the term.
Generally speaking, the customer is the Bill To location for the shipment.
The bill to location will typically be one of the following:
- Shipper - The location where the product is being loaded and shipped from.
- Consignee - The location where the product is being delivered to.
- Third Party - The bill to location is neither the shipper nor the consignee, but is the controlling party of freight being shipped.
- Brokers or Logistics - These companies act as a middleman and control the freight on behalf of their customer and the trucking company hauling the freight.
Carriers
The carrier is the trucking company providing the transportation services.
They are responsible for the safe pickup and delivery of the shipment.
Carriers have two general customer types.
- Customer Direct - This will typically bill directly to the shipper, consignee, or third party.
- Brokers or Logistics - In these cases the carrier is billing the broker or logistics company controlling the freight. The broker customer has the direct relationship with the originating billing location like the shipper, consignee, third party.
Brokers or Logistics
The terms, brokers and logistics, are interchangeable. Although they each have uses in specific situations, for the sake of this discussion they provide the same service.
The broker is the responsible party in managing the freight and acts as the liaison for their customer and the hauling carrier.
There are two types of motor carrier licenses:
- Operating Authority - This is the required license to operate trucks as a carrier and are available from the independent owner operator to the very large fleets of thousands of trucks and everything in between.
- Brokerage Authority - This is the license required to manage freight for a customer and to broker that freight to a carrier. You must either have brokerage authority or be an agent and represent a company with brokerage authority to provide this service.
Freight Brokers Agents
Whether you are in need of freight brokers agents to help move your freight or perhaps you want to be a freight broker yourself, please contact TruckingAgents.net and will be glad to discuss how you can work with us.
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