Freight, if you can't figure out how to fill out a carrier packet, you're not gonna make it very far in this business. There were times when I had gotten a load from a new carrier and only had 15 minutes to fill out a six page carrier packet and fax it back to said carrier. I had to do all of this while dispatching my driver. If you don't know how the process works, no one is going to teach you, because that just means more competition for the rest of us who have figured out the game!
Hi RoadHouse -
Sorry, I was looking at this problem from a different perspective. I recently was hired as a business analyst and one of the things I noticed was the challenging process of setting up new carriers.
I thought it was difficult for you as a carrier, the customer, and what you described is exactly what I would hope to avoid. I don't want you to only have 15 minutes to fill out a 6 page packet, find a fax and send it back. I would love for you to have a web portal that you can fill out and upload your necessary documents that you already have saved. Ideally this could be done by a dispatcher on a PC, but I would also love a simple mobile option that would allow a carrier to do this in 10 minutes from their phone anywhere that they get service. I want to provide as many flexible and simple ways to allow us to do business together as possible.
From the perspective of the broker, I felt like an online portal would reduce the amount of labor used to sign up new carriers (phone calls, packet review, fax sending, fax collection, sending packets back for not being completed correctly, etc.). I also thought it could mitigate risk by reducing the manual review and taking a more systematic approach with an online portal (ie "Error: MC# not valid" or "Agreement not digitally signed").
I wanted to get the carrier perspective on if they saw this as a benefit, a competitive advantage, or overall improved service if it could be offer by a 3PL/Brokerage.
Thank you for the good feedback and info on this thread!
