the future of load boards

No it does NOT work for many guys............Especially TODAY!

Yeah...You can go Factor or whatever...But thats not a smart business solution.

Payables should be net 7-10 days Today...not the Dinosaur- like 30 days


And as for "Why fix something thats not broke"............Why are seasoned established drivers scrutinized with forceful changes that affect their working conditions and business strategy?

Examples..... Forced to comply with CARB regs, Forced to comply with upcoming EOBR's that will be mandatory...Forced to comply with DOT selected doctors...

these are just a few examples of things that experienced drivers that have done NOTHING wrong are forced to change...Or as you would say "Why fix something thats not broke"



You folks want to start changing our ways on the street,,.,,,,,,Start changing your ways on Billing cycles..... There!!

I'll be awaiting your next utterance

 

Why does this not work for "many guys" ?? And why would anyone factor?

 

Simply because its costing a fortune to move material these days.. A FORTUNE!!

Many guys are losing their homes..Trucks, and livelihoods becuase its Ill-affordable to wait so long for monies..(Even with receivables coming in from previous billing)

Yes.....I will agree with you on many guys dont have a smart business plan.BUT If you were in this business in the 1980's and even the early 1990's.....You didnt have to 'Kill' yourself like today to profit good........

The point Im Making isnt so much about what plan works...Its about Changes that have affected the Industry in a Negative form.......Folks in the FMCSA that Never hit the streets coming out with answers to problems we never really had........

So.....If we must adhere tio these changes..Have them 'CHANGE' the way freight charges are handled too........

Something tells me they dont have strength to do somewthing to Benefit the Carrier.

Whichg brings up a great point............Name me just 1 rule/Law that has actually Benefited the Carrier/owner-operator within the last 20 years?? Just 1... And i'll leave this thread alone...

And im not talking about a measly $75,000 broker bond either

 

I guess the answer is, DON'T HAUL CHEAP FREIGHT.

 

The small percentage of 'quality' freight is sucked up like a vaccum.......(Too many trucks on the street..not enough freight)

Cheap freight comes in many sizes........what me or you consider cheap may be GREAT for others.....

So NO, Thats not the answer either...I believe My theory of evolution in freight charges should be evaluated soon, It would definitely Help the struggling owner-operator

 

The struggling business owner is only struggling because they don't know what they are doing.
Giving them money quicker won't make them a better business person.

 

I quoted your first post but am speaking to the follow up.

I think in a totally paper/postal mail system, most of those days are consumed by paper sitting in the mail stream. Figure 3-5 days everytime an envelope goes to the post office for about 4-6 exchanges of paper, and you're gonna eat up 4 calendar weeks just for that even if everyone is on the stick and doesn't hold anything.

So now, depending on each link in the chain using some degree of technology, there's an opportunity to shave days off. My experience is the ones that are good business people use that to reduce days to pay. Less ethical folks will use that as an excuse to hold payment for a little longer, shoring up their own cash flow at the expense of yours. That's just how it is. In my opinion, any laws that put some sort of forced timeline on that process, will only make that the new default timeline. Even if it could be done faster.

Now that said, I'm not going to punish myself by refusing to do anything that's not paper in an envelope with a stamp on it. A few brokers will take advantage of that and not pay me any faster, so be it. It's not a coincidence that the ones that do that are usually not my regular customers. Besides that, it costs me another 48¢ (more if there's a stack of bills) plus the paper, printer supplies, and envelope, and maybe a time and gas to make a trip to the bank to deposit a check if I'm not doing that electronically.

Since Jan 1, I have booked 54 invoices. Two were printed out and mailed with paper bills. Everything else was done electronically. The only extra printing that got done was printing my rate confirmations, because I like to have paper to make notes on during the load, and attach to the original bills when filing them away. I figure in the worst case, I've gotten paid at least a week quicker on 95% of my invoices and spent about $100 or so less on supplies and handling.

Personally I don't care how you do it. If that's the way that you're comfortable with and makes you happy, go for it. I'll be the last one to criticize how someone else runs their business.

 

I'm a Hot Shot carrier and I use uShip for side loads from time to time. They have a 5 star rating system based on multiple ratings such as communication, care of goods etc. Also have a spot for detailed feedback. As far as a bid accepted then you canceling. It's nearly solely up to the carrier to cancel or not. A shipper can request to cancel, but it gives the carrier the choice to accept or not. And as a carrier you can cancel any time. You can get by with 1 cancellation every 10 completed loads without any penalties. You have a profile too, shows a ton of info from CDL, DOT, MC, insurance info, if you are a military vet, all your feedback, and you can even offer real-time tracking info to your customers. All of the info available for potential customers is up to you if you show or not.

The BIG drawbacks are that they charge you roughly 16% off the top and the customer gets charged close to the same also so they see a higher number an want you to go cheaper. You have a ton of people under bidding you and most of them are fly-by-night not DOT compliant and no insurance so they can go low and still make money I guess.

You really end up spending way too much time fighting to win a load. It's a real drag most of the time. But sometimes you find someone who really cares about their freight to pay a little more for a legit carrier, or is in a hurry and will pay decent to book right away.

I have a lot of my own customers, but with them alone I would have to deadhead a good bit. Uship does help fill in deadheads sometimes or fill empty space along another run, just most of the time a lot of work and a big headache.

 

DannytheTrucker -- can you tell me a bit more about this GPS map concept? It seems interesting. Any idea why it doesn't exist? How would the map-based load board work?

 

uShip has a tracking option that uses gps, or you can manually put in where you are. Either way it shows the exact location on a map. You can determine if only booked customers can see it or everyone on uShip. But I don't think many customers use this to find transporters. They usually just post their load and wait for you to find them. Also, by the time you pay uShip 16% and they charge the customer 14%, you are only getting 70% of what the customer is willing to pay for each load.