Build a Better Load Board

OK let's get something straight, there isn't a driver involved, it usually is the carrier that the driver works for. My business model has the drivers doing that work allowing them to make decisions and so on.

Second double brokering should be illegal, the 'owner' of that load - the originating broker or shipper - should be the one who is in direct contact with the carrier, not having it passed through to other entities to resolve problems.

You have to get rid of the idea that it is all about the rate, when it isn't, there is much more involved with this than just the rate - hint: time is money, the more time that is spent chasing information, the less money made

I want just the owner of that load to be posting, no one else.

Like I said this has to be fixed through the regulatory process, not through a load board.

You don't seem to understand how this works.

OK here is how it really works.

Acme Incorporated takes an order from Wily E Coyote in Arizona. They put together the order and then call a carrier to pick it up, say Acme Transportation and Balloon company (ATBC).

Acme Incorporated is the customer.

So ATBC comes and picks up the box of dynamite and other roadrunner destruction gear, the driver fills out a BOL with all of the stuff on it or the Acme Incorporated has BOLs on hand and they have it filled out. The driver signs it, someone from Acme Incorporated signs and and the truck goes on its way to Arizona.

That's it.

Acme Incorporated are the ones to be qualified as the customer with terms of 30/60/90 days to match their AP. It isn't ATBC who needs to be qualified by Acme.

So when a broker in involved, they are saying to Acme Incorporated that they will take responsibility for that load and in doing so the load goes into the hands of a 3rd party logistics entity - for a lack of a better term. Because brokers are the in between guys and are regulated, when they find a carrier to haul the product from the shipper to the consignee, they have to also make sure that the carrier is legal to haul, the insurance has the broker as a named party on the policy in case of a loss and so on. The liabilities have become more involved to mitigate that risk of loss.

So you assume that brokers are the shippers when they are not.

Very rarely does a carrier have to submit much to the shipper. We did it the other day when we a are bidding on a dedicated route, not because we need to but because the parent company views my carrier as applying for preferred vendor status but we have hauled their product many times before. This company will not allow their freight being brokered by the way.

Here is the other thing you missed, the originator of the load leaves out a lot of information.

You can see by many examples here on this website what I mean. Some of my drivers have gotten nasty with dispatch when they are offered a load and get to the shipper to find out everything they were told about the load was wrong. Here is one I had one this morning which I have to fly down to the carrier that group of trucks is leased to and B**tch slap the dispatcher manager over this issue again. My driver got to the shipper, they requested a full empty truck, the offer was for $1100 when he accepted it, then he gets there to find it is one pallet with one pump on it - the pallet weighs three times as much as the pump - and the shipper/broker called the carrier telling them that the new rate for this load is $200 as my driver has already pulled out of the dock. He told the dispatcher that it is a truck ordered not used because the agreement is $1100 and he will take the load off the truck by hand and put it into the dock office if he can't get a dock. I got the call at 5:00 am from the carrier demanding I tell my driver to take the load, I told them to go to hell and hung up the phone on the girl. I called the driver to get the right story and did, I back him no matter what, so I called the dispatch girl up and told her he will do the load for $1100 as agreed, not a penny less. So far this morning he is sitting there waiting for them to approve it.

 

You can build a better board only if you take the brokers out of the loop completely. I don't know why it's not already that way. Everyone enters their info onto a PC, poof, it goes out, carrier calls, end of story.

Then you don't have brokers / agents that are too busy doing nothing but jerking off, fooling with the kids, panties in a wad, that forget little things like pick up numbers, and setting appointments, they always appreciate your patience and understanding when your getting F in the ### though, do to their incompetence.

If no human is involved, of course the best loads will go first, but then the stuff that is garbage will start to command a freight rate that makes it worth while, thus you have just truly leveled the field.

And by taking the scumbags out of the loop, there should be more than enough money to go around to the people that actually earn it.

Because all the scumbags do is move paper and make phone calls, easily replaced by a PC.

 

Well... to the OP - You might be running into competition with Amazon provided their app isnt vaporware.

Amazon Looks to Develop an Uber-Like App for Booking Truck Freight

 

@skiermike - think about what made Facebook a billion dollar company and MySpace an all but forgoten entity.

The difference was mainly content. Facebook (in its early days) had content that people wanted to consume, and users had control over who amd what they interacted with. The problem with load boards isnt technology, but content. Until the shippers and carriers take control of our industry back from brokers, nothing will change.

 

Every load board or company that has tried to eliminate brokers has failed because brokers are the heaviest users of these systems and therefor what drives user base, clicks and dollars.

 

PM me SkierMike. I just sold my truck and trailer in Dec. I won a scholarship from Google for a Front End Development Nanodegree which I completed in Sept. I quit driving a, truck to build a better mousetrap. II am a 14 year veteran of the road and have a lot of insight, not only because I was a trucker who used load boards, but I also spoke with many shippers, carriers and brokers. I have a loadloadboard in mind with a full set a features unlike any other load board out there based on this information.

I can now build out the front end of this loadboard but have no skills for the backend side or data analysis.

 

14 years experience and still it isn't we need another load board, we need consolidation of data and more transparency which isn't going to come from another load board.

 

@Ridgeline it's been some years since this tread still I hope you're still active on this board.
You seem to know and understand what the industry needs. I'd like to make this happen for you. Would you be willing to speak further about what you see the solution should be? PM me anytime.