Are Self-Employed Brokers Misunderstood? 

If ever there was a misunderstood group of workers, it has to be truck brokers.  Those poor folks are on call 24/7 and are barely able to make a living.  I was recently reading some broker blogs and they say they make only about 3-5% and often less on each load.  A $1500 load pays just $75 on the high side and according to them the number of phone calls, faxes and e-mails that are necessary to insure that a load is picked-up and reaches its destination is dizzying. Drivers calling, shippers calling, complaints lodged and barely a thank you from anyone.   

I knew a broker that lived in town.  He's moved on now.  That poor guy looked worried all the time.  He said life was hectic and and he could barely make his home and car payments, let alone take his wife out to dinner every once in a while.  I will admit I felt a little sorry for him.  I never really could understand how he could live in the finest gated community in the area and afford the Escalade his wife drove and the Lexus he had.  His kids went to school with mine and the convertible top on his son's BMW seemed to be broken all the time.  My wife was employed by a local house cleaning company that cleaned his home and she said things were beautiful at his home.  Seemed his wife couldn't keep-up with household chores and they needed help.  I guess a house with 5 bathrooms would present a challenge.  I delivered a couple of chords of fire wood to his home several times a year in the winter.  His house had three fireplaces and I guess that provided them with heat during the cold months.  His wife told my wife that times were tough for them and the tuition payments for their daughter who was attending Princeton were really high and they had to sacrifice.   

Anyway, I felt real sorry for them what with all those expenses and such.  I really don't know what happened to him.  I saw in the paper that his house was for sale for $1.5 million, but I guess most of that money would go to the bank.   He was almost 50 when they moved.  He said they were leaving the rat race and moving to Florida.  I think he said it was some town called Boca Raton.  With a name like that, it was probably some area in a swamp with gators all around.  He said he didn't have any job plans.   

Poor guy.  Here he was 50 years old with no job and having to live in a place called Boca Raton.  I thought of becoming a broker once, but when I think of how hard his life was, I quickly decided that wasn't for me.  Sometimes I see complaints from truckers about how much truck brokers make, but I'm not sure about that.  This guy had to leave the business in the prime of his life.  Sometimes I wonder how he is making it.