A Day in the Life of A Freight Agent (typical day at a 3PL)

Ask anyone who works in the business and they’ll tell you that a freight broker doesn’t have any easy job. There’s a million things that are going on all at the same time—shippers are calling for carriers, carriers want their money, and the freight broker needs to be able to account for all the action that’s going on all day long. If you think this might be an exaggeration, here’s a rundown of A Day in the Life of A Freight Agent with some tried and true ideas to help with the stress levels interspersed in between.

A Typical 3PL Day As A Freight Agent

The day starts early with a cup of coffee at 7:30 and a quick check to see if the computer is still running. After that, the typical freight broker needs to log on to all the websites that they’ll need in the course of the day and check on all the posted trucks. If this sounds like a harried way to start the day that’s because it is but there is at least a partial solution called delegation. It’s one of the hardest things to do for a small business owner but its one of the things that are necessary to a healthy work like balance. You need to trust someone to at least help you get the day off to the right start.

One hour later things are in full swing as the day starts to shape up for the freight broker. By 8:00 am the freight agent is already starting to reschedule appointments and one and a half hours later the trucks are starting to check in. By 10:00 am the first of these appointments are being cancelled. One of the other great tips for being more effective is to find out where you’re wasting time. Take a look at the way you do things, how you go about your day, and where you can cutback and be more efficient. Do you spend too much time on the emails when it’s the phone calls that are really important? Can you get away without surfing on the Internet for that couple of minutes in the morning to check the sport’s scores?

Freight Agent  think quick, manage time for both themselves and their loads.

You do get to have lunch by noon, but right after that it’s back to work verifying that all the pick ups that were scheduled for the morning were made, trying to match the afternoon freight with trucks, and giving out what seems like an endless stream of quotes. It should be obvious by now what the third tip for managing your time will be about. You need a plan. That’s what time management is all about—not just bullying through everyday like you’re running some kind of race, but being able to look back, identify and correct the time wasters that you can identify.

That way, by the end of your day as a freight agent, you’ll be able to not only verify that all the pickups and deliveries are done, but you’ll be able to visualize using the tips provided where you can do a better job tomorrow.