Logistics has a trust issue

Shippers do not trust carriers. Carriers do not trust shippers. No one trusts the brokers. And they are right. All of them.

Hard pressed, I am, to think of another industry wherein a triad of groups, allegedly working toward the same outcome, seem to be so diametrically opposed. Everyone depends on everyone else, yet too often they operate like opposing sides instead of partners in the same chain.

Given my early background as Director of Pizza Operations — read: 17-year-old assistant manager at Little Caesars — my hook-catching metaphor is as follows: cheese working against the pepperoni. Pepperoni working against the cheese. Everyone blaming the sauce.

Sinful, but the comparison holds.

Shippers need freight moved — on time, without damage, on or under budget. Clear inventory, maintain production, satisfy customers unconcerned with transport complexities, and control shipping costs to protect margins. They often work within budgets set from above, under pressure to spend less while expecting more.

Carriers, whether owner-operators or fleets, are the physical solution to that need. But they are under their own competing pressures — freight volumes shift, fuel costs rise, spot rates adjust near daily. Delays eat hours of service, affecting subsequent scheduled loads.

Brokers are the intermediary. The linchpin. Mr. or Mrs. Wolf — load has a problem, broker solves it. They match the shipper's need to the carrier's capacity, manage the load, troubleshoot when things go sideways, and charge accordingly.

That charge — the spread between what the shipper pays and what the carrier receives — is the broker's gross margin. It is also the source of nearly every trust problem in this industry.

Shippers suspect they are being overcharged. Carriers suspect they are being underpaid. Both suspicions are, at times, correct. Most brokers know this. Most say nothing.

When a load goes sideways — a delay, a damage claim, a detention situation — nobody wants to absorb the cost. The shipper does not want to pay more on a load already budgeted. The carrier wants to be compensated for time lost. The broker does not want the solution to come out of margin. So everyone waits. Everyone points. The freight — and the relationship — suffers.

So what is the answer?

It is not to eliminate brokers. The market needs intermediaries. It is not to cap margins — the market already does that, imperfectly and inconsistently.

The answer is knowledge.

Brokers understand the market. Carriers understand their costs. Shippers are consistently expected to make important financial decisions without full information.

The Supported Shipper exists to change that.

This is freight intelligence — inside information on pricing, margins, broker operations, carrier decisions, and the communication failures that quietly drive up freight spend.

I understand how brokers think because I have been one. I understand how carriers evaluate a load and where frustration begins. I understand what shippers need — which is not more noise, more platforms, or more vague assurances. They need clarity, transparency, and someone who can identify the friction before it becomes cost.

The cheese does not need to trust the pepperoni. The pepperoni does not need to trust the cheese. But somebody better understand the sauce before the whole thing burns.

That is the work.

And it starts before the load is booked.

Next: The other side of the table already knows →