Why The World Would End If Freight Brokers Disappeared
Each year here at Bryant Surety Bonds we help freight brokers obtain their freight broker bond on time so they can continue to operate legally. This is why we like blogging about freight-related topics and would like to show our appreciation for their hard work.
It’s probably hard for most of us to imagine a world without professionals like firemen or doctors, and if we do – it’s downright apocalyptic. The visions get less dark, however, when we speak of other professions, such as freight brokers, but the only reason for that is insufficient knowledge of the importance of their work.
We may draw a similar comparison to bees. They are indispensable to life on our planet in that they transfer pollen. This way, bees contribute to the production of 70% of fruits and vegetables that we consume on daily basis, which translates into roughly $200,000 billion in agricultural revenue. Yet, many people still don’t know how important they are and so bees are slowly vanishing due to bad farming practices.
To go back to freight brokers, we benefit vicariously from the end result of their work, but we don’t even know it. In fact, would you believe it if somebody told you that without freight brokers there could be some pretty apocalyptic consequences to the U.S. economy? If the answer is ‘no’ here’s why you are wrong.
Freight Brokers are Indispensable to the Economy
Humor aside, if freight brokers were to stop doing their jobs, Americans would definitely feel the impact pretty quickly. It’s estimated that close to 80% of all goods in America are moved by trucks, including more than 60% of NAFTA imports and exports. Even goods that get transported via other means, such as by railroad, are loaded onto a truck at one point or another in their journey. You can imagine what the economic consequences would be if trucks couldn’t transport goods – in essence, America’s economy would come to a complete halt. And for trucks to transport goods, freight brokers need to do their job. They are the middle people between manufacturers and the end consumer. Furthermore, it is estimated that the trucking industry employs nearly 7 million people in the U.S. – with the large majority of them working in small business enterprises.
Freight Brokers Save Us from a Downright Apocalypse
There’s a great infographic demonstrating just how important freight moved by trucks is to the U.S. – it shows what would happen if all trucks were to stop moving. Doctors are extremely important, but without the goods moved by trucks hospitals will quickly run out of basic supplies, and that’s just within the first 24 hours. By the next day, products of basic necessity will start to run out as people rush to empty grocery stores and pharmacies. Soon, that will be impossible, as fuel deliveries will also cease completely.
Finally, in just a month, we would run out of clean water, increasing the risk of diseases which hospitals wouldn’t have the resources to handle. It goes without saying that none of these goods would be able to be transported without the help of freight brokers, either.
Freight Brokers Help Keep Costs Reasonable
Let’s step back from the end-of-the-world scenario for a second, though, and take a look at other, more practical aspects of the job of freight brokers.
Freight brokers assure the logistics for all manufactured goods, so they get from the manufacturer to the shipper and then to the carrier, which will deliver it to its end point. Even though freight brokers never get in actual contact with the transported goods, they find the fastest and cheapest way for them to be transported by bidding on load boards and negotiating with carriers. And as you can see from the earlier hypothetical, it’s not just a matter of your iPhone being delivered on time.
If freight brokers didn’t exist, shippers would have to deal directly with carriers, taking a lot more time and resources, meaning that things will be transported less efficiently and at a higher price. If things get more expensive on one end (shippers), they will also get more expensive on the other end (consumers).
So, if you know any freight brokers, make sure they know you appreciate the job they do – we don’t want them to go on a strike and bring the end of the world.
Do you know other ways in which the job of freight brokers is important? Let us know by leaving a comment.