Load Boards

If I want to avoid brokers, can I get connected directly to the shippers?

 

When you pull a reefer you can expect to pull mostly heavy freight. There are other things to haul in a controlled environment other than produce and meat.

Do you post your dad's truck on any of the independent load boards? Do you post your dad's truck on any of the private load boards, such as the CH Robinson or Schneider, etc.? Most of the time the best paying freight will never reach a load board. CH Robinson may have a reputation for having cheap and heavy freight, but they also have some very good paying freight. Do you accept the first rate that is quoted or do you negotiate rates up? In this business, every load is a negotiation.

You need to familiarize yourself with rates for certain freight lanes. If you choose to stay with produce you will need to follow the harvest to do well. I would also not discount the smaller brokers. I have gotten some very good rates from smaller brokers.

You can contact brokers or shippers direct. You don't need to wait for them to contact you. Your best source of good rates is to work on establishing contacts that you can work with to keep the truck moving. It takes time to build a good reputation. Some brokers want a carrier to have been in business for a minimum amount of time before doing business with them. Once you haul a few loads and do a good job they may start offering better rates.

 

You are not required to do business with brokers. You are free to contact shippers direct if you choose.

 

Thank you so much for your reply. These information are so useful for me!!!
Sorry to bother, but how can i find direct shippers?
I just signed up for ITS, and I got the $35/month plan. There was another plan which was $105/month. Is the more expensive one really necessary? And I heard my dad's friends saying that some small broker companies don't give the money after the delivery. How can I avoid them? and How do I know which ones are the trustable and good?
Again, Thank you very much for your help! It's really nice to have someone like you to answer my questions.

 

Yes, I do negotiate the price with CH Robinson. They usually end up giving me $50 to $150 more than their first price. My dad got a load that is from CA to NY for $7300 from CH Robinson. Is that average?
And from what origin to destination have good paying loads for reefer?
Thank you.

 

It isn't a bother. I am glad to answer your questions. With direct shippers you could find them using Thomas Register. They are now online. It is a listing of different types of businesses based upon their SIC code. The SIC code is a numeric classification for businesses that defines the type of industry.

Whether you deal with a broker or shipper, you need to get credit references and check them carefully. There are also credit reporting agencies. There is also a Broker Gold Book. In order to be listed a broker must have good credit and I believe they must have to be in business for a minimum amount of time. Some of the load boards have their own credit reporting service. It isn't necessarily the size of the brokerage that determines whether a broker is a good credit risk or not. It is well worth the time to check credit before you haul freight for any new broker. It is also a good idea to periodically check their credit to see if there may be any problems. If you fail to check credit you are taking a big risk. Some brokers offer quick pay and you can always factor some or all of your receivables. A non recourse factor will usually take about 5%, but assume the credit risk. I have factored in the past when there was a question about a broker's credit. It is a good way to see how a new broker or shipper pays and not have the risk. If you do decide to factor I would suggest you find one that doesn't require that you factor a minimum amount of receivables or all of your bills with them.

You may want to subscribe to more than one loadboard. If your dad is a member of OODIA he can subscribe to their inhouse loadboard www.mymembersedge.com at a discount. It is one of the DAT boards that you will see in most truck stops.

 

Sometimes you can get more of a bump in the rate if they really need to move a load. When there is excess capacity they are much less likely to do much negotiating. I know some who have gotten reefer rates from $3-4/mile, but I don't think that is the norm. I don't know what reefer loads are doing right now, but that sounds like a decent rate, depending on the miles. Loads out of an area that uses reefers is usually much better than those going back to pick up a reefer load. Again, capacity is the key. When there is less capacity (trucks) then rates will usually go up. When there is excess capacity then rates are lower. During season you can usually get good rates out of Florida, south Texas and the border states where they ship produce. I used to know some owner operators who hauled freight out of Tennessee to California and worked their way up the coast as the produce season matured. They would go all the way up to Washington to haul apples back to the east coast. It worked well for them. Sometimes you can get shorter runs to get back to your primary freight and do better with the rates. I would also not limit myself to just reefer freight. There is good paying dry van freight coming out of some areas.

 

I've used only Internet Truckstop. But when I talked with a DAT agent they said Internet Truckstop ripped off their loads and got the information second hand and not directly from the brokers.

I don't know if this is true, but that is what DAT told me.

Coming back into the business after a little vacation, I think I'm going to invest in DAT and see what they have to offer.

 

I own a small trucking company with about 50 trucks. We have 4 "dispatchers" that require use of load boards. We used DAT for the last 20 years. We recently dropped them based on their total cost of 4 licenses. We found that ITS has the same loads (for the most part) as DAT. DAT may have a few more or better loads, but when you factor in the chance of one of these loads matching your needs, it just wasn't worth the extra money for us. That being said less than 15% of our business is with brokers.

My flatbed backhaul guru came up with an interesting tactic. She will call on a load and find out the commodity. She then uses McRae's Blue book to look for businesses making that product in the given town. Then she calls and asks for the shipping department. She has had better results than I would have expected. The odds are a little more in our favor as we are an open deck carrier (capacity is tighter), we have 50 trucks instead of 1, and we have been in business for 55+ years. In 2009, no one would have talked to her, but open deck trucks are in higher demand these days. I still think this is a good tactic for one horse operators.

Keep in mind that the customers interested in working with a small companies will usually be smaller shippers with low volumes that are looking for a good price. This may or may not be better than going through a broker. Larger carriers/brokers often negotiate good rates based on moving a certain number of loads per day. They may be able to pay you more than you would get from the same shipper. Stick to your guns when negotiating & know the market. It is also important to know your negotiating position...how bad do you need the load?

Be careful with the amount of credit you extend someone. You are much better off to have CHR owe you money than a lot of small shippers. That $7300 load isn't that great if you don't get paid...in fact, the fuel bill from that cross country trip would probably be close to putting you out of business if you don't get paid. Don't extend too much credit to anyone. In your case that would probably be one load.

Be careful with your paperwork. Brokers & shippers will try to stick you if paperwork isn't perfect. That guy on the dock who tells you the minor damage is no big deal is not a decision maker. If you trust him, you might have bought a pallet of widgets when you get to the other end and they note the damage. The BOL is a contract...use it to CYA. Make sure you driver is not signing for a count unless he can verify it. If he signs for 21 plts and there are only 20 when you get there you are paying for the phantom pallet.

Document everything. Save emails. I end disputes every day by sending a customer or broker an email of a previous discussion. I get more than 1000 emails a day, but I don't permanently delete any for at least 2 months. You would be surprise how often I am served by being able to produce the actual conversation. Also, don't do business over the phone. If you agree to a rate, get it on paper or in an email.

Develop your network, whether brokers or shippers. That is really how you will get the good loads. Especially when capacity is tight, people want to work on someone they can rely upon.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message. I would love to see more small operators succeed.

 

I use both DAT and ITS. You will see more volume of loads on DAT but depending on the area ussually not more than 50% duplicate. I do like using ITS more but they are expensive. But it seems that the couple extra features they have will pay for itself at least once per month.

Cpape has some great points. I am always looking at loads in my area even when I don't need one. I found my best direct customer that way. Knew the small town that load was listed in and it only had 2 possible locations. Got the very low rate the broker was offering and then called on the account. Got the same rate the broker got. Couple of other accounts this way.