Obtaining loads & freight from online websites

I've been there and done that so to speak. For over 2 yrs I got 92% of my freight from a board. I had a few seasonal direct shippers.

Typically your freight will not exceed $1.50 a mile if that. The boards have brokers that post mainly spill over freight or maybe even good freight but after they take their 10% to 50% cut the freight is no longer worth hauling. I hauled a load that was $1.45 to me and later found out the broker was getting it from the customer at $2.92, needless to say that was the LAST load I hauled for that broker.
Plan on running long hard weeks to barely break even if the boards are your only source of freight. 110 hrs a week was nothing for me.

Then I leased on with Landstar and ran the SAME money as before but only was working a max of 70 hrs a week.

I really hate to see you stake your business plan and O/O hopes on freight boards!
Best of luck with what ever you do.

 

There are exceptions to every rule, but for the most part the vast majority of the freight is broker freight. And like Nitewind says double and triple brokered is not a surprise. You don't always know when its being done but when you do find out about it it makes a guy really nervous until you get paid.
The only shipper we had stiff us out of our freight bill in over 2 yrs of using the boards was a direct shipper, no broker involved. They filed BK the day after I picked up the load and one day before I delivered. $3400 we never got.
All the brokers make you sign a non-compete agreement but its only for a yr. Keep a list of the shippers you want to haul for and when the yr is up your job of finding direct shippers just got a lot easier.

 

Google "load boards"