A freight broker is not a job that many people know or understand
Since the every country is developing today, the need for different kind of overseas goods and services are increasing accordingly and as the need for goods and services increases, the exchange of goods and services are increasing and as exchange of goods and services increases the need for the freight broker is also increasing.
What exactly is a freight broker? Very simply, it’s an individual or a company that brings together a shipper that needs to transport goods with an authorized motor carrier that wants to provide the service.
Freight brokers are great for people and companies who do not have the resources, knowledge, or time to negotiate the best rates and services from multiple carriers. Some freight haulers get their business exclusively from brokers, so hiring a freight broker can give you access to great companies that would otherwise be unknown.
A freight broker is legally a property broker the term established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a division of the United States Department of Transportation. It accounts licensed individuals or corporations that help make a shipper and an authoritative motor carrier successful in the transporting of freight.
To become a freight broker an individual needs a Surety Bond or Trust Fund, which you can get from a bank or bonding company. The price diverges contingent on your personal credit. You’re required to carry a $10,000 bond or trust, but if your credit is good, some companies will put up your bond for you for a fee (normally $500 to $700 per year). The form filed with this is BMC-84 or BMC-85. But yes, you can also open a freight agency or become a freight broker agent with little risk and without obtaining your own licensing. In that case, you should work as an agent, under another broker’s authority, and you will give the share of your profits to that authority.
So if you want to become a freight broker and open your own freight brokerage company, then you need to have some necessary and important equipment. Those equipments are a telephone, one fax machine and one computer with high speed internet connection. Besides these, you should also use a freight forwarding software that will help you a lot and will give you a complete solution for your transportation issues.
As far as the profit is concerned in this business, it will take some time just as any other business takes that you start. It will take a little bit time to get the complete database of your costumers and to show an average profit it will take three to six months. But when you are getting more experience you can generate huge profits for your business. But customer satisfaction is a vital aspect of your business of which you should take care a lot.
Rather than becoming a freight broker, some individuals are interested to start their own brokerage agency. Although they are not having enough contacts in the industry but these agents handle allotted areas and are able to operate locally.