Our Brokerage Department

Meet Aaron and Chris, the brokerage team for Pacific Coast Distribution . Both men are long time employees who started with our company in 2004 and 2009 respectively. They started as dispatchers and made the move to lead the brokerage department this year, a career shift to which they are both well suited.

With asset-based trucking being the core of the company it is essential that the brokerage team have a deep understanding of customer challenges as a whole, which is why Aaron and Chris’ time spent in dispatching was so valuable. “Trucking is a hectic business in general, lots to keep track of and organized in every department,” says Aaron. The same goes for brokerage. It involves closely managed schedules, building relationships and trust with shippers and endless problem solving. “There are always curve balls,” states Chris, “it’s a matter of how you deal with them.”

The team spends a lot of time not only managing freight operations to and from destinations, but working on projects that require network building to cover new lanes which helps the business grow. In some ways, the brokerage team is a little business inside of the bigger business that is Pacific Coast Distribution. Relationship building with the companies that they broker freight to is one key to the success of the company. “It’s a growth thing,” says Aaron to which Chris adds, “it’s a constant building process.”

When asked about the challenges in their department, both men chuckle. Stress is a factor, there’s not always a lot of notice before freight needs to be in a truck and on the road. Chris explains, “Sometimes is comes down to the wire; you know, fingers, toes, legs crossed that everything will work out because you know you have already done the best you can.” And when they need to, the two put their heads together to troubleshoot and make sure the job is done, no matter what.

Chris and Aaron agree about the future of brokerage within Pacific Coast Distribution. There are many lane options for us to work on, relationships to strengthen and new ones to form. Technology is advancing rapidly and options such as GPS tracking, TMS (transportation management) systems and, of course, cell phones are making it easier for the team to keep tabs on the working parts of their network. At the the end of the day, they say, “The important thing is for us to think outside the box and work together to find solutions we might not have thought of if we were working alone.”