Freight Broker Software Blog

If I could save time in a bottle…

As the words to the song by Jim Croce go:

“If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do, is to save every day till eternity passes away…
…But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them…”

Although this song is written about desiring to spend more time with the one you love, it is also applicable to today’s freight logistics world. How, you ask? by reminding me of how I could manage my time better. As a old freight logistics broker, I often think back on days when I wondered if I was ever going to see the next one – finding freight, booking carriers on that freight, scheduling carrier pickups and deliveries, following up with those carriers as to their performance on pickup and delivery, and alerting customers to problems, as well as negotiating rates with customers, finding new customers, negotiating rates with carriers, finding new carriers, satisfying customer insurance requirements, satisfying carrier pickup and/or delivery requirements, handling claims, billing customers, paying carriers, etc. – some days just seemed to go on forever. In those days there were no affordable computers or software programs to help better manage time and, therefore, business. Some brokers, with photographic memories, were extremely gifted at remembering every detail and had all of their information readily available – they were the successful ones. The less fortunate ones made use of large volumes of notepads, 3-ring binders and any scrap of paper they could find and tried their best to keep up with the demands of an ever changing market.

In today’s market, there are a number of software packages that were designed to replace the paper. The problem – they became the paper we sought so diligently to get rid of – no real functionality, just paperless paper. This brings us to the TruckMaster 2000 Software System. An intelligent software system that not only tracks customers, carriers, freight, and the movement of that freight to help us manage our time better, but has alerts, alarms and warnings that remind us of possible late deliveries before they are actually late, pending insurance certificate lapses, customer payment practices, appointment reminders, etc. – the list of time management possibilities is endless.

Now the exciting news! With TruckMaster’s web interfaces for customers and carriers, your customers can send you freight, check status of in-transit loads, view and print invoices and accompanying documentation, see trucks you have available and more, all from your webpage. Carriers can tell you where they have trucks available (so your customers can see them), bid on your available freight (including the freight just sent to you from your customers via your webpage), accept loads you have tendered to them, update the status of their trucks and update appointment schedules for any and all loads they are hauling for you, submit their invoice to you along with the appropriate paperwork, and more, again, all from your webpage.

We may not be able to “save time in a bottle,” but we can save time in our business by using TruckMaster 2000 Software System, the software program designed to make certain there will “be enough time to do the things you want to do.”

Dale Clark
TruckMaster Solution Provider
TruckMaster Your Freight Brokerage™