Do you have opposite Freight Verticals? Co-Brokering exists and as I have seen only is beneficial when the brokers are not in the same business. I have a few Co-Brokerage agreements where a broker strictly does 53' dry vans but their clients need final mile capacity (Box Trucks and Cargo Vans) the brokerages I work with don't operate in this arena but I do, so co-brokering makes sense here. If you work in the same capacity, sourcing the same types of equipment and chasing the same type of freight...it is Double Brokering. Broker A primarily sources one type of capacity and has 1000 53' Dry Van carriers Broker B primarily sources one type of capacity and has No 53' dry vans but has 1000s of Box Trucks and Cargo Vans and they work together on shipments this is Co-Brokering. What I have found is most of these brokers that call other brokers for freight are just trying to steel freight by double brokering it.

@Tiffany Lawson I wouldn't sign the agreement until one of you has an actual shipment where on is needed. No advantage to having one in place until one is needed.

@Tonnie Banks @Lisa Taylor If you are a broker then you probably don't want to use another brokers (3pls) LTL Freight Rates or system unless you become an agent of that system. You can never compete on price. (freightquote, uship, carrierrate) all of them have margins built in so any margin you give yourself to the customer is that much higher than your competitors. There are many opportunities to become an agent though with Globaltranz/WWEX, Priority 1, Unishippers etc. and access good discounted LTL rates, but personally I feel there are also too many drawbacks to being an agent, so I have never gone that route. For the years I have been in business I have had every one of these companies ask me to become an agent for them, but I'm much more competitive price and service wise with my direct contracts (Tariffs). I have better pricing with the LTL Carriers than I can get from these systems discounts. I started in 2012 and the market back then was more suited for a brokerage or 3pl to start up and get good discounted rates with the LTL Carriers. Today though, many LTL carriers shy away from giving new 3pls good discounting, almost punishing them because they go after the same shippers the carrier does.

@Joe Lopez good point, relationships and volume is what can get a 3pl good rates with the LTL Carriers. Chicken or the Egg. which came first. lol

@Lydia Brown Thank you

@Lisa Taylor Thank you Lisa.

What about the “requirement” of a small trucking company to be on a specific tracking platform? The small independent has to deal with every different broker demanding a different tracking interface? Some drivers complain they have 30 apps on their phones all for tracking and get confused as to which broker wants/needs which tracking solution.

Which tracking method (app, api, interface) do you require the carrier to use? The problem @Scott Sloan is pointing out is that service providers like us who provide asset carrier support can work with a dozen brokers all of whom require us to utilize "Their tracking tool" or a different service. From a carrier perspective Its so much to keep up with and have to work with all of them at the same time. @Nick Padgett says it best above! "Its Death by dozens of apps" lol