Pros
I can only speak to my experience… management and the general office atmosphere were pleasant and made the day go by pretty quick. We got free parking which apparently some of the other offices don’t get, people were generally always able to help you troubleshoot a problem with you as needed.
Cons
Honestly where do I start…. your ramp goal starts out nice and light in the beginning, but quickly spikes to a point where the workload becomes incredibly overwhelming. I’m a fairly good multitasker, and this was intense at times. Commission is virtually unattainable and is based off of your margin percentage which has to be approved by a zone manager on each load, so are you really even in control of your own margin? You’re not. You might have a carrier at a good rate, but they want you to hold to a lesser rate because of the market (you could still be profiting) and you’ll lose the book to somebody else. I only bring that aspect up because each month you are held accountable for the number of loads you book. Not exactly fair personally speaking. You are scheduled to work 8 AM to 5 PM but once you start booking more freight, your hours will 100% bleed into the weekend and late at night. I feel like this is to be expected, especially in the logistics world, but if you’re looking for a healthy boundary with work life balance, I would probably not consider this path. You don’t exactly get to leave work at the door at 5 o’clock every day. Account managers will drop loads on a Friday afternoon assigned to you and now you have freight to cover over the weekend so there go your weekend plans. Lastly, the majority of free is covered by account managers, and the overflow goes to carrier sales, but that doesn’t mean some account managers who want the extra commission won’t go and book your freight out from under you. Because commission is based off of margin, percentage account managers have a little extra leeway and can pull a higher rate on a load where as you’re held to a lower number. The reason I keep harping on this is because there is a massive inequality between account managers, and carrier sales, and that wouldn’t matter if SPOT wasn’t so hell-bent on holding your feet to the fire over your metrics. You’re being held accountable for something that you don’t have full control over so make it make sense. You will constantly have situations and issues and most of the time be agreeable with you on why you feel that way but ultimately tell you that’s just it kinda how it is. “ That’s freight.” I haven’t even mentioned that some account managers will outright bully carrier sales in our teams chats and the most they get is a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again. So you could be going full tilt one afternoon busy busy and have a fall off on a load which may or may not even be your fault, but you’ll get roasted in a group chat because you weren’t already ten steps ahead of the account manager. Bottom line. It is an incredibly stressful position and you will go through the emotional range every single day at least 3 to 4 times, I am not making this up. There are plenty of winds to be celebrated, but there are also plenty of losses that you will be made aware of. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that our office alone has 125% turnover so do with that what you will. Hopefully you find this helpful. I know a lot of what I said might sound like. I’m bashing spot, but I’m just highlighting the truth of my experience which I have thoroughly cross reference against other people‘s experiences in the freight world. Maybe this type of environment is something you thrive in or something you might completely steer clear of, but at least you’re aware.
