Freight Finders

rookietrucker · Sep 10, 2012

Freight finders

You can do more on load boards than simply book a haul

Kim Ross jumps on the Internet at 6:30 in the morning to monitor load boards at OOIDAs MembersEdge and Internet Truckstop and often doesnt get off until 5:30 p.m. With those two sites and emailing broker contacts, she keeps her two trucks and two stepdeck trailers running in the Midwest and Southeast. We do a lot of short runs, says OOIDA Member Ross, office manager and co-owner of Triple R Hauling of Marion, KS. Our trucks are loaded and unloaded often within 24 hours, so Im looking for a load for at least one truck every day. We regularly run $2.50 to $3 a mile.

William (Bill) Jonsson hauls paper products from his home state of Michigan and relies on load boards to find cargo to take him back home from the Southeast and Northeast. Jonsson, an OOIDA life member and owner of B and P Trucking, works with brokers at Landstar, C.H. Robinson and UTS who post loads through MembersEdge. I look for loads close to where Im unloading to cut down on deadhead miles, says Jonsson, who gets about $2 a mile from his outbound hauls but usually less than that from load board freight.

Ross and Jonsson are examples of independent contractors who turn to load boards for part or a majority of their business. Since neither company enjoys dedicated runs, they depend on online brokers to supplement fairly regular hauls or fill in the gaps when their regular sources dont have ready business.

Many owner-operators use load boards to find back hauls frequently or on occasion when an outgoing trip takes them to an unfamiliar location. A smaller number of independents land most of their business online. We know of many companies with one to five trucks that depend solely on Internet Truckstop, says Leigh Foxall, director of freight matching.

While dozens of sites post available freight to haul, the industry is dominated by three services DAT through TransCore, Internet Truckstop and Getloaded. In addition to mainstream load boards, several sites offer specialized freight targeted at haulers operating in a niche such as livestock or running specialized equipment such as stepdecks.
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