A custom house is an institution that collects levees on imported and exported goods. Usually, this is one of the government agencies. But there are businesses that act on behalf of the exporters and importers or people moving personal effects out of their home countries. They are called custom brokers. For a fee, they will arrange everything for you, from taking care of custom fees of your goods and warehousing to shipping or airfreight and trucking needs. Custom house scorecards will be focused on how these services can be carried out efficiently.

A custom house in order to be legitimate must be licensed by a government agency and some of their employees, at least those that directly deal with the government collection agency, are required to pass certain state examinations. This is true for most countries. Thus, the very first concern of this type of scorecard will involve ensuring that its operations is supported by staff that not only are duly accredited, but more importantly are equipped with adequate knowledge of customs laws and have very good negotiating skills. Knowledge on currencies is also very useful.

There are custom brokers that offer the whole gamut of services related to moving goods in and out of countries. It is very important for these custom brokers to be thoroughly familiar with shipping, warehousing, freight operators, documentation, cargo handling, and processing. International brokers will be expected to have established helpful tie-ups with operators, offering these services to reduce delivery times that will attract more customers.

It is clear that another important scorecard of a custom house or broker will be establishing beneficial partnerships with businesses that specialize on cargo movement. Without these partnerships or tie-ups, a broker's business will be limited perhaps to just assisting customers with exportation or importation fees, not a very good set-up considering that most importers and exporters of goods would like to contract shipping tasks to only one person or company to save time, effort, and money.

All shippers would like to see their goods arrive at their final destination in good condition and on time. A broker will assuage apprehensions of customers by providing a fast service and a system where the location of goods can be traced anytime. This requires a systematic cargo handling process that is tested for time efficiency and a system where bottlenecks can be identified and corrected.

Fees that brokers collect from customers vary from broker to broker. But because of the nature of the business, the fees have a great influence on whether a broker will get sustained business or not. It is an intensely competitive business where the bottom line is getting goods to their appointed destinations on time and at least cost to the shipper. Even then, it is a lucrative business where a few can do a lot of moving with the right tie-ups and good management in place, coupled with great negotiating skills.

To summarize a good custom house scorecard will involve development of a staff that has adequate knowledge on customs laws, warehousing, freight, documentation, and cargo handling procedures and processes - a system which gets the cargo delivered on time.