Fraud, missed appointments, cargo theft, cancelled loads, and radio silence when things go wrong. The gap between the best freight brokers and the worst has never been wider, and the shipper who tenders a load has never had more at stake.
In 2025, the FMCSA reported a 400% year-over-year increase in reported freight fraud cases. Cargo theft losses crossed $34 million in a single quarter, per CargoNet. Double-brokering and identity theft are no longer edge cases. They are the operating environment.
The good news: a shipper who knows what to ask can filter out most of the risk in a fifteen-minute conversation. Below are the eight questions I recommend every VP of Supply Chain ask before their next broker RFP. I have been on the shipper side of the desk for over thirty years before founding Forza Logistics Group in 2024, so these questions are the ones I would ask of my own team, not textbook boilerplate.
1. What is your carrier verification process, step by step?
The answer you want is specific and layered. Ask for the actual platforms they use, in order, on every load. A serious brokerage today runs a carrier through at least four independent checks before a load is tendered:
- FMCSA licensing and safety (SAFER data, insurance minimums, operating authority active)
- Fraud pattern screening (Highway, Carrier411, or equivalent)
- Physical asset verification (GenLogs or fleet telematics correlation)
- In-transit tracking commitment (MacroPoint, Descartes, or platform-native tracking, signed to before dispatch)
If a broker cannot name their specific stack in twenty seconds, they are checking a MC number and a certificate of insurance and calling it verification. That is not enough in 2026. (Our own eight-layer program, Forza Shield, is what we built to answer this question ourselves.)
2. Do you touch the freight, or do you re-broker?
Ask directly. Some brokerages quietly re-broker a portion of their book to other brokers, adding another layer of separation between the shipper and the actual driver. Every layer is another point where identity, insurance, and accountability can degrade.
The answer you want: “We only tender to asset carriers we have verified directly. We do not re-broker.” Get that in writing in the broker agreement, along with a liquidated damages clause if it is violated.
3. Who is the actual human accountable for my shipment, and how do I reach them at 2 AM?
Enterprise infrastructure without boutique accountability is a call center. Boutique accountability without enterprise infrastructure is a phone tree that goes to voicemail on weekends. You want both.
Ask for the name and cell phone of the person who owns your account. Ask for the escalation ladder: who covers when your rep is out, who covers overnight, who covers weekends. If the answer is “call the office and someone will get to you,” keep looking.
4. How do you handle a hostage load or a fraud event mid-transit?
This is the question that separates the professional brokerages from the rest. A hostage load happens when a driver stops the truck and demands additional payment to continue. A fraud event happens when the “carrier” who picked up the load turns out to be a stolen identity, and your freight is on a truck headed somewhere unknown.
The answer you want: they have a documented playbook. They have relationships with local law enforcement, cargo recovery services, and the industry’s fraud networks. They can tell you about a case they resolved in the last twelve months, with specifics. Vague reassurance is not a playbook.
5. What is your temperature integrity commitment on refrigerated freight?
Ask a broker to walk you through pre-cool procedures, set-point protocols, continuous vs. cycle mode decisions, and what they do when the reefer download shows an excursion at the receiver. Ask about their carrier requirements for reefer age, download capability, and driver training on load protocols.
A broker who moves reefer freight but cannot answer this question is treating your cold chain load like a dry van with a temperature setting. Your product does not care about their intentions. Your product cares about arrival temperature. (This is why our refrigerated freight program exists as its own discipline, not a sub-category.)
6. What is your pricing model, and where are your surprise fees hidden?
The number a broker gives you at booking should be the number that shows up on the invoice, unless something outside the shipper’s control changed. Ask for their fee schedule in writing. Ask what triggers a rate change after booking. Ask what happens with detention, layover, TONU, lumper, and reconsignment. Get their answers on every one of those, in writing.
At Forza, we operate on what we call the Pricing Guarantee: if a fee was not disclosed and approved in advance, we absorb it. Defined exceptions apply (shipper-caused detention, lumper fees, reconsignment, scope changes). That kind of clarity should be table stakes.
7. What do your carrier payment terms look like, and how does that affect coverage?
Fast-pay carriers get preferential treatment in a broker’s book. If a broker pays carriers slowly, the best asset carriers stop taking their loads, and coverage quality degrades. Ask how quickly they pay. Ask if they use factoring, and if so, which factoring company (Denim, TAFS, TBS, or others).
If a broker cannot cover your loads with the same carriers repeatedly, the reason is often on the payment side, not the rate side.
8. Can I speak to three current shipper references in my industry?
The best brokers say yes and give you names within a day. Marginal brokers give you outdated references or “we protect our customers’ confidentiality.” Bad brokers stop returning your calls.
When you get the references, ask them: how many loads have you tendered? How many were covered on time? How many had a claim? How were disputes resolved? A reference who cannot answer those questions with specifics was not asked for the reference by the broker.
The bigger picture
Every question above is a filter. Individually, no single answer is disqualifying. Combined, they tell you whether the broker is treating your freight as a commodity or as a relationship.
Freight is being commoditized on one end of the industry (spot boards, load aggregators, automated brokers) and re-humanized on the other (shipper-founded brokerages, fraud-prevention platforms, verified carrier networks). The shippers winning in 2026 are the ones asking sharper questions and building longer relationships with fewer, better partners.
Running an RFP in the next 90 days?
I’ll review your broker questionnaire at no cost. Not a sales pitch. A shipper’s-side veteran helping another shipper avoid the mistakes I’ve seen too many times.
Related resources
- Forza Shield. The eight-layer carrier verification program referenced throughout this guide
- Refrigerated freight brokerage. How we handle cold chain: pre-cool, set points, excursions, receiver-side accountability
- High-value freight brokerage. Enhanced verification and escorts for electronics, pharma, metals, and other high-target loads
- Freight Security Assessment. Free review of your current broker’s verification process
- Contact Forza. Request a quote or talk to a shipper’s-side broker
About the author: Nicholas Mascari is Founder and CEO of Forza Logistics Group, a shipper-only refrigerated and high-value freight brokerage headquartered in Carmel, Indiana. He spent over thirty years on the shipper side of the produce industry before founding Forza in January 2024. Forza operates the eight-layer Forza Shield fraud prevention program integrating Highway, Carrier411, GenLogs, MacroPoint, and E3 Group verification.
Contact: nick@forzalogisticsgroup.com · 317-625-0575
