Load board question

http://www.directfreight.com/home/

This one is free, with incomplete info for non-subscribers. It gives you an idea though.

 

Also go to www.freefreightsearch.com

 

I'm going to give you a partial answer, and then a better suggestion.

As of right now, I see coming out of Raleigh 80 loads up to 20 feet long (I tow a 20' flatbed) for flatbed/stepdecks ranging from 450 pounds to 52,000 pounds, and showing anywhere from 50cents per mile to 3.00 per mile. Many don't show a rate - you have to call. From my experience, that's a good number. There's a good selection of short trips, long trips, partials, full loads and rates. For all sizes (flatbeds and stepdecks) there are 2390 loads on the board.

Here's the suggestion. I use Internet Truckstop. If you look them up and call them, they'll give you a demonstration of their board and you can look at what's there. There is a demo feature on their homepage (www.truckstop.com) but I haven't gone through it.

 

Seldom. I'm usually going through. (lol)

I'm based in Pittsburgh, PA and I try to run day trips - 280 miles or so maximum so that I'm out and back the same day. I've had a few Florida loads, but haven't caught any NC loads back.

 

Just looked at my numbers again, and I have to note that the original numbers were loads picking up within 200 miles of Raleigh. If you're going to run the way I do, you would look at pickups within 100 miles. That drops the total number of loads of all sizes and destinations to 774, with 17 of those being less than 20 feet.

Where you are picking up from makes a huge difference in the sizes and types of loads available. I'm in the middle of the "rust belt" so there is a large number of small and large manufacturers. This board in no way represents all the business that's available to you, but other business (car hauling, boat hauling, RV hauling and towing, local hauling (such as ATV's, farm equipment, supplies from distributors like building materials and landscaping materials) etc. have to be searched out and approached directly.

As with any other business, your success depends a lot on how much you put into it.

As long as you don't go too steeply into financing a fancy rig, you should be able to run part time without too much problem. An $80,000 investment in a nice setup could eat you alive with overhead!