Where do freight brokers get the shipments that they pass down to truckers?

Question

I deal with a few truckers and we always discuss the industry and how they get their shipments from brokers. My question is, where do these brokers get the shipments?

Answer 1

Well, in the case of most produce (a large majority of what I haul) the brokers are the "middle men" between the buyer and the trucking company.

For example, take any large grocery chain....they typically have buyers, who order the appropriate amounts of whatever foodstuffs they need from the growers, the packing houses, the manufacturer, whatever.  When they make a purchase, that's where the broker comes in to arrange for transportation.  If the buyer needs 5 truckloads of watermelons delivered, the broker finds the trucks.  

That's the most simplistic way to explain it, at least the way I understand it....I do know sometimes it's not quite that cut and dried and there are several "middle men".  If a broker for a large corporation (Tyson, etc) is overwhelmed with orders and/or doesn't have the trucks to cover his needs, they do farm things out to 3rd and sometimes 4th parties.  But by this time, the freight rate has been eaten away & isn't worth hauling.  

Things might work differently with dry freight & some of the gigantic trucking companies.  I know some large corporations have exclusive accounts with large trucking companies, and they likely do their shipping a little differently.  But for a small fleet or independent trucker, it's basically the way I described.