How did driver find loads before the internet????

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by denis3721, Aug 21, 2010.

  1. denis3721

    denis3721 Bobtail Member

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    Aug 19, 2010
    Davenport, IA
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    Im just curiouse. How did drivers find loads back in the 80's and early 90's. Did they stop at phone booths and call a telephone load service??? Im sure during the 80's and 90's there was huge demand for delivering freight just like there always was, im just having a hard time imagining how drivers, carrieres, brokers, shipper found each other without internet.
     
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  3. person

    person Light Load Member

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    When somebody needs some freight shipped they call a broker to find transportation for the load. It has always been that way. The brokers and the carriers were always calling each other on the phone. Kinda like now.
     
  4. Spacer

    Spacer Medium Load Member

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    Or you could try the holistic approach. Find another empty truck on the move, and follow him, based on the idea that he or she *must* know where they're going, and that an empty truck should naturally flow toward an area with available freight. When they arrive, offer the dockmaster a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, and while he's sleeping it off, grab some load paperwork and fill your trailer.
    This doesn't always work, as many dockmasters aren't really from this planet and may be more or less immune to the effects of the aforementioned drink. In this case, play a round of Brockian Ultra Kricket with him (hit him in the head with a bat and run away).
    I'm not responsible for the results of the above advice, just tossing it out there.
     
  5. theloadlocator

    theloadlocator Bobtail Member

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    May 15, 2010
    HOUSTON,TX
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    I know I had a rolodex from hell, getting numbers from everywhere and filing them away. most brokers back in those days were pretty centralized they just covered their home area. and if you go back to the 70's when you used a broker you would actually trip lease to that company for that load, they used to have these paper placards with all their info on it that had to be attached to your door. Those were the good old days
     
  6. Boardhauler

    Boardhauler Road Train Member

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    Ballin' in it for Shakey
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    Truck stops had huge banks of pay phones. Drivers carried rolls of change. Sometimes you would use a weird procedure with calling collect.
     
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  7. High Desert Dweller

    High Desert Dweller Medium Load Member

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    Yup. Truckstop phone rooms and DAT screens.
     
  8. denis3721

    denis3721 Bobtail Member

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    Aug 19, 2010
    Davenport, IA
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    wow, really seemed like a big hassle back in the day. Glad we can all relay on the internet these days.
     
  9. Krooser

    Krooser Road Train Member

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    Wisconsin
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    There used to be broker and transportation offices at many truck stops. Produce brokers would rent motel rooms as temporary offices during shipping seasons... many of them moved around the country following the harvest... some still do.

    Drivers would head to a brokers office and park in their lot, on the street or wherever and check in at the office. Many times you'd sit for a week or more while waiting for something to break loose...

    I was a broker for three outfits in '82/'83. I had a two acre parking lot behind my office building that could hold 25 trucks or so... I'd make my morning round of phone calls everyday asking about freight shipments and how many I could have each day. Then I'd offer them up to the drivers I had on my 'board' first come-first served.

    Most guys didn't have their own authority (except exempt carriers) until well after deregulation in '81... we would 'trip lease' the trucks... a one-time,one way agreement between the carrier and the trucker.
     
  10. stranger

    stranger Road Train Member

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    4X6 cards stuck on the wall, load screens, a bag full of broker business cards, a book full of telephone numbers, and talking to other drivers in the lounge about who they hauled for. All this while hearing the words on the other end of the phone, "call back in 30 minutes".

    Yep, person to person collect calls. The person that answers is who you are calling, but they tell the operator the person asked for is not in, would she give the number calling, and he will call them back when that person returns.

    This was because they had outbound watts lines, but no inbound.
     
  11. CondoCruiser

    CondoCruiser The Legend

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    There is still a few old truck stops that have all the old pay phones lined up. You can look in the restaurants and see the old phone jacks by tables too. Towards the end waitresses would bring cordless phones to your table. I think it was either the nicer TA's or Petro's had about 20 private phone booths or so lined up. You don't see them anymore. Cell phones and computers took all that away.
     
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