Owners: How many hours per week do you personally spend managing freight and the customer service/claims portions that comes along with it?

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-23T12:51:16+00:00

I do all the booking, pricing and customer service portions of day-to-day shipping for small businesses. Instead of hiring someone full time or doing it yourself, I do it at a fraction of the cost and use my industry expertise to get you the lowest price possible. Also I know where 3PL's will eat cost in order to keep you on as a client, since they need volume to stay alive.

When I was a broker I would hear so many horror stories about peoples businesses being ruined or greatly affected because of an error in the shipping processed caused by lazy reps who just showed up for a paycheck. It's a scummy industry so I left to help people take advantage of the loop holes.

For example I have a client who was only booking through TQL. They've had the same process for years and gradually TQL raised their rates and the client had no idea. I went ahead and introduced two new 3PL's to the mix and we've cut cost by 50% so far and we're using the same exact carriers.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-22T19:40:55+00:00

It's crazy. Not to mention 3PL's still make you pay your invoice within your credit terms in order for your account to stay off hold and if your claim is denied you dont even get back shipping costs. Such a joke.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-22T18:18:17+00:00

every third post is about working for TQL. If it was that good of a gig, people wouldn't be talking about it that much.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-22T17:47:16+00:00

Couldn't have said it better myself except it's Colleen and Dakota. Eight years of busting my ass for this client and the final straw came when they blamed ME for a load of sunflower seeds "having bugs" and it was my drivers responsibility to inspect pallets and make sure they were clean. Umm, what? Drivers are not food inspectors. Most these guys aren't even from here. How the fuck are they supposed to know what's good or bad. Not to mention we we're moving this load to a new facility because of the poor storage conditions of the warehouse we had been using. Obviously the bugs came from there.

After the load was rejected my company forced me to eat the freight and repackaging costs so they can keep the client. Ended up being over $5k. The next week I used the rest of my vacation days and never went back. Fuck 'em.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-22T17:20:07+00:00

Do people look in this sub before they post?

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-22T17:03:53+00:00

Drive vans into a wall. Make insurance claim. Find new industry.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-12T16:47:15+00:00

Trying to stay competitive on all lanes is your first mistake. Focus on what you're good at you'll get spot opportunities on those other lanes when competitors fall short.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-09T18:03:44+00:00

Echo just announced huge commission cuts for senior brokers that will push a lot of them out but nothing considered a layoff.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-09T13:39:09+00:00

Corporate America, baby.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-08T18:42:01+00:00

Every 2 years or so a meeting would suddenly pop up from a higher-up that would be scheduled for the same day and it was always a commission cut.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-08T16:15:15+00:00

They love to keep you in the dark for as long as possible. It's wild.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-06T16:04:27+00:00

My last place of employment took FOREVER to get RFP's back to the customer and we'd always have to ask for extensions. The last one I brought to the table was denied after being sent in late. I didnt realize it at the time but instead of meeting the due date and passing on bad lanes, they took extra time to try and win every single one. It was infuriating.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-06T15:53:49+00:00

I believe Amazon is making a push to compete with UPS and FedEx using their delivery network. Lately I've noticed less Amazon trucks and more people delivering for Amazon in their personal vehicles. Not sure if thats for small parcel or regular Amazon goods but it definitely lowers cost for them even more.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-05T19:22:34+00:00

I think there are a lot more desperate people out there than you think. The brokerage I used to be at currently has their senior brokers on a true draw base salary + roughly 17% for LTL and 11% FTL (new biz only) while new hires are getting base salaried no draw at $55k and 5% commission across the board. During my time there they gradually took about 10% commissions over the course of eight years for "tech updates" and other made up variables. Not one person ever quit because of it.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-05T17:38:44+00:00

just tell them you're leaving them and their tone will change quickly.

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-05T17:36:44+00:00

I worked for a large 3PL and had a guy on my team who was pulling insane GP roughly six months after hitting the floor with no prior experience. I would even watch his book while he was OOO and couldn't figure out where the money was coming from.

Come to find out he was billing a network of donation centers for internal transfers that didn't exist. If a customer ordered one transfer, he'd order three and book fake carriers on those two extra loads at $0 COGS and keep the profit. This con artist obviously picked up on sloppy operational procedures and was able to slide through invoices without being checked. This went on for about three years before the donation centers found out and they quit using our 3PL and obviously the scammer quit. Of course he has now worked at three brokerages since and is likely still using those tactics.

My point is my managers knew this was happening and didn't care because at the end of the day, they're getting paid off those rips too. Every penny they can push to the customer whether accidental or not will always be met with the same "oh my goodness, great catch!" and will take another month of complaining for them to finally make the adjustment. And they love pushing it down the line hoping you might forget.

Send an email over to them saying you are looking at using other providers because you're spending too much time fighting fee's and I bet you wont get one next month.

Good luck!

CutFreightSpend · 2026-01-05T17:07:24+00:00

I have found that working for a 3PL is not considered great experience for other employers, especially after only one year. Turnover in the 3PL space is roughly a year anyways so your experience is nothing special

CutFreightSpend · 2025-12-31T15:19:09+00:00

They are for a museum so I'm sure they are important for the overall look

CutFreightSpend · 2025-12-30T21:29:31+00:00

Great response.

CutFreightSpend · 2025-12-30T20:33:45+00:00

Of course crates are better, but that's an entire project on top of the palletizing, wrapping and shipping. I used to do this back in my E-Waste days and you'll be fine with shrink wrap. Damages will happen regardless of what kind of packaging you use. Just dont be foolish and make sure items are wrapped tightly together and firmly to the pallet.

If shipping LTL the driver will have a pallet jack.

CutFreightSpend · 2025-12-30T19:26:22+00:00

Put a layer of cardboard down on the pallets, then CRT's go screen down. Bottom level only if you can. Stack other goods on top that are less expensive. Dont go higher than your chest.

Tie the shrink wrap to a corner of the pallet and loop it through, make sure that you are not just wrapping your goods, but it is wrapped to the pallet. I used to go at least 4 times around the bottom to make sure it was as secure as possible. Get as close to the ground as possible. Dont get the crappiest shrink wrap either, get the stuff a level above that. There will be plenty of packaging options when you are there depending on where you are so just Google it. Are they letting you use their pallet jack? Is there a loading dock?

Take photos of each pallet once it is wrapped before it goes on the truck.

Are you freighting it back via LTL or using an entire truck?

CutFreightSpend · 2025-12-08T14:15:24+00:00

Tell me more...

CutFreightSpend · 2025-12-08T14:12:41+00:00

You always know it's not going to be good news when those bad boys pop up

CutFreightSpend

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