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CD dispatched loads
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 5:42 pm
TLKLogistics
Joined: 05 Sep 2008
Posts: 6
If you are using Central Dispatch for your loads, this is something that you might not be aware of. There have been several conversations with brokers & carriers that suggest that there is a little more than dispatching going on here.
When speaking with a broker, it has become a suspicion that Central Dispatch it soliciting the customers. Maybe this has happened on one of your loads and you noticed something fishy about it.
When you ask a broker on CD to dispatch the load to you on Central, the information on the dispatch gets filled in by the broker, with Origination and Destination information. It is obvious that the information is sitting within Centrals database. Now realize that Central now has direct access to the customer information. Here is the suspicion...
Central now solicits the customer(typically a dealership) for an account on CD thereby bypassing the broker completely. What this is now doing is flooding Central with dealers that have less of a clue than brokers of what it takes to get these cars moved. Here come the lowest rates ever seen.
How does Central benefit? Simple, their subscriber base has now grown.
How does this hurt us, since now there is no middle-man? The rates are all over the place now, mostly in the trash. Also, this drives the other brokers that are not yet affected to reduce their rates to the truck and try to increase their fees to compensate for their lost potential revenue.
If you think about this for a minute... what has prevented Central from doing this? Nothing. There are no "non-compete" clauses in any of the terms on their site. Brokers and you(as you requested) are offering direct customer contact information to Central freely. Thereby giving them the information needed to take the customer away. Consider a brokers fees that the dealership is saving by posting the load themselves. Also the carrier rate they are saving by posting the rate themselves much lower than any rates available. Eventually the "cheap freight" gets taken by someone trying to fill out a load. Teh same "cheap freight" mentality hits home. We don't want to take the "cheap freight", but when you need it to get home/next load/etc.... it gets taken anyway... even by the guys who claim to refuse it.
So heres what I'm saying.
Stop giving your money away! Stop asking to be dispatched the load on Central, and take the little extra time it may take to get a fax from a broker. All brokers have a fax machine. As far as the dealerships that aare already on there, same thing goes. Don't think that because they are already on there that it can't hurt. They are typically the buyer of the vehicle being posted, and now they are giving the selling/storage dealers information to Central.
I have more to say on this, and could possibly go into more detail. But for now, you should be able to get an idea of whats going on here. We'll never be able to get away from Central just due to the number of carriers and brokers that use it. They won't give up a venue for posting or finding a load for another site. Typically the biggest stays the biggest due to being first and largest in the market. Other load boards typically can't survive just due to existing customers not wanting to spend extra $ and risking less exposure on another load board.
Comments?
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:15 pm
Tom Cobb
Site Admin
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 563
Location: Hurst, TX
It is tough enough to get good loads and then you have someone getting greedy. It is worse when that someone is a service that has had a measure of respect in the past. I never used them but have heard mostly good comments about them until recently.
If I remember correctly there is another post on here about them.
_________________ Former owner/operator of Big T Transport Services - transporting horse and stock trailers, RV's, boats, car haulers, utility trailers, and anything else that can be towed by a 3500 dually.
"GIT Rrr DONE"
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:47 am
bth9461
Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 342
Location: Pinconning, Mi
You could also request an email instead of a fax, McNutt will do that, it is not the same, because they don't require a confirmation signature. The CD acts as a ectronic confirmation signing.
McNutt and several large brokers have their own loads posted on their websites. CD's load rates are tanking right now.
Are there any other Car specific load boards out there?
Brian
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:04 am
LBZ
Joined: 05 Jan 2007
Posts: 158
Location: Loami, Illinois
That is the problem Brian, I have spoken with various brokers who want alternative avenues other than central, but say they cannot get the carriers to follow along. Effectively, we are all giving c.d. 100% market share with no real competition to do as they please.
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