How are Freight Brokers Staying Afloat?

Looking astatine the shocking December 2025 metrics, we couldn’t assistance but wonderment however brokers are surviving. While, by astir immoderate surface-level metric, freight brokerage volumes look healthy. Loads are moving. Capacity is abundant. Rates person stabilized disconnected the bottom. And yet, crossed the industry, broker layoffs continue, equilibrium sheets stay nether pressure, and adjacent well-run operators are softly warring for survival.

The disconnect isn’t demand, it’s portion economics.

To recognize wherefore brokerage profitability has go truthful fragile, you person to halt looking astatine gross borderline percentages successful isolation and commencement looking at gross borderline per load versus the existent outgo to work that load. When you do, the representation becomes uncomfortably clear.

Consider a typical mid-market, non-asset brokerage operating successful today’s escaped freight environment:

• Average gross per load: $1,912

• Gross margin: 9.91%

• Gross borderline per load: ~$189

• Annual revenue: $30 million

• Annual load volume: ~15,700 loads

• Shippers wage in 40 days

• Carriers are paid in 30 days

• Cost of capital: 7%

On paper, a ~10% borderline looks workable. In practice, it isn’t.

At this scale, the brokerage employs astir 20 radical — sales, bearer reps, operations, leadership, concern and admin — with a afloat loaded payroll of about $2.36 million. Spread crossed the higher load number required to make $30 cardinal astatine little gross per load, payroll works retired to roughly $150 per load.

Then travel the unavoidable non-payroll costs:

• Transportation absorption systems

• Load boards

• Market quality and information tools

• Insurance, compliance, accounting, marketing, and overhead

Those costs adhd another ~$55 per load.

Before factoring successful financing costs, the brokerage is already spending about $205 per load to determination freight.

Against $189 successful gross margin, that’s a loss of astir $16 per load — earlier involvement expense.

Now furniture successful currency travel timing.

Even with comparatively disciplined presumption — shippers paying successful 40 days and carriers successful 30 — the broker is financing a 10-day currency gap on $30 cardinal successful yearly revenue. That ties up roughly $820,000 in moving capital.

At a 7% involvement rate, that’s about $58,000 per year, or ~$3.70 per load.

All in, the brokerage is losing approximately $19 per load.

Scale that crossed astir 16,000 loads, and the effect is a six-figure yearly loss — not due to the fact that the institution is inefficient, but due to the fact that the pricing situation nary longer supports the outgo operation astir brokers carry.