most of the posts on loadboards expect you to have a trailer. you may see some for power-only but they're pretty rare. now, you may be leasing a trailer from someone or some kind of agreement, but when you call a broker with a load posted for van, stepdeck, flat, rgn, etc... yes, they will expect you to show up with a trailer.

I'd imagine delivering empty trailers leaves him with incredible MPG

Originally Posted by ctff

I am interested in how loadboards work. do you haul someone else's trailer, or do you need to show up with your own trailer?
I thank you in advance for your help.
ctff

I assume this is purely an academic question from somebody who has no interest in actually hauling stuff. Jumping in at the loadboard level of this game is not recommended. I strongly recommend starting where many truckdrivers start off, that is probably at the truckdriving school or the SWIFT or England recruiting office.

If you consider hauling anything with a semi-truck, then, in my opinion, you are asking the wrong question here. In my humble opinion, the right question would be: How and where do I get started. And I am not even remotely qualified to answer that question.

But back to academics, shippers specify their requirements to brokers, who in turn dispatch their own trucks or post it to a load board. The load board then lists the options a carrier has on how to transport the freight on their load board. (For instance, what type of trailer has to be used) If a carrier don't have a trailer, it would generally haul power only loads or trailer interchange loads.

With trailer interchange loads, the carrier uses the trailer provided by the shipper or broker. JB Hunt has a power only program that utilizes this method. You do not need your own trailer.

With power only loads listed on a load board, the carrier hauls the shippers' trailer somewhere, mostly one way traffic. This is a popular practice with oilfield companies. You do not need you own trailer.

The rest of the loads are generally a "bring your own trailer" affair. You need your own trailer.

This is a very basic explanation, in reality it is somewhat more complex than this.

Hi Minder Kat,
I want to thank you for your reply. No it is not simply an academic question, but clearly an ignorant question. I am retiring from a career as an electronic engineer and my wife and I think it will be nice to travel and see the country and be able to get paid along the way. I have allot to learn, however I have never been afraid of studies. We plan to buy our own rig and trailer and be owner operators. We are very serious and intend to begin in about three years. I have a good school here to train for my CDL, I am trying to see if I can structure this so that I choose when I want to haul and where I want to go. I had run across the loadboards and on the surface they seem like a great way to achieve my goal. please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. At this point I am asking questions and collecting data. Thank you again.
ctff