2012 Truck Apportioned vs CA Plate????

Rates do tend to be lower on the West Coast. There are too many who are willing to haul cheap which makes it challenging to get a decent rate. You may need to rely on loadboards when you first start. With time you should begin to establish some contacts and find yourself using loadboards less over time. Not all loads make it to loadboards. I have someone in Texas who never posts their loads. The broker has a list of carriers that they will call and can usually book their loads without having to post anything on a loadboard.

 

The only loadboard that I currently subscribe to is www.mymembersedge.com. It is part of DAT, which is what is usually seen at most truck stops. OOIDA members receive a discount. www.getloaded.com recently lowered their price to $29 from $45. It was a good loadboard when I subscribed. I canceled it when they jumped the rate to $45. www.internettruckstop.com is another that does a pretty good job. At one time I subscribed to all three of these loadboards. I rarely post my trucks unless I am going to a bad freight area and don't have anything lined up. You will find that the available freight will vary from one board to another and one region of the country to another. Some of the larger brokers have their own loadboards and those are free.

There is no need to lease to a carrier if you run your own authority. Most carriers will not lease on anyone who has their authority as long as it is active. There are a few who might. I have a friend who still has his authority but has been leased to another carrier for well over 20 years. His situation is unique. Most of the major carriers broker freight to outside carriers. ATS, CRST Malone, Landstar, Schneider, JB Hunt, Mercer, and Covenant are a few who broker freight. You will need authority to haul for any of them. There are also a number of brokers who have freight all over the country. CH Robinson is the largest. Once you get your authority you can subscribe to some of these loadboards and then post your truck. Brokers should begin to call and try to book your truck. You will also be able to check the boards for freight that is of interest to you. Landstar has some good agents on the left coast. They could probably keep you busy running up and down I-5 whether you lease to them or run your authority and broker freight through them. CRST Malone has some freight on the west coast, although they don't have a strong presence in California other than a couple of places. I know some owner operators who run out of their Fontana office and they do well. The agent has freight running north and east. I think that Mercer has improved their presence on the west coast. I don't know how well they are doing. Universal Am Can now has a fairly decent presence in some of the western states since they bought out Pacer. I have a friend who leased to Pacer and he was doing well before the merger. I have another friend who is leased to Universal Am Can. Lately, he has been doing a lot of west coast freight. He also runs a lot of over size into and out of Canada. He did over $200,000 to the truck this year. Universal Am Can has a fair amount of Canadian freight. Many owner operators don't want to run Canada. That can help those who are willing to get good rates.

I think that you need to sit down and decide which direction you want to go. It is easier to just lease to another carrier and let them handle all the compliance and paperwork. Running your own authority offers more flexibilty and the opportunity to negotiate better rates. I have done both and prefer running my own authority. I have known others who have actually given up their authority and gone back to leasing to a carrier.