Load Board Truths and Myths

I've all but given up on DAT and get loads almost exclusively from Convoy and occasionally Uber. Most think that they pay a lot less than DAT loads but I'm finding just the opposite is true on the west coast. I've been running $3+ per mile loads solid for the last 2 months through them. You just have to know when to look and check back constantly. There is no preferential treatment for regular users of the app. Loads get listed on the app and it's strictly first come first serve. The only thing I use DAT for is to occasionally post my truck and to see how many trucks are available in an area I'm in.

 

One thing I will add that no one has mentioned. You have to be very careful who you do business with in this industry. I get an email every other day about brokers that have filed bankruptcy or gone out of business owing thousands of dollars to carriers. This business is full of sharks.

 

Baxter Bailey, Google it. Get on their email list. They list the bad ones.

 

I am on it, have been for years.

 

Alexander Winton is a good one also. Google it.They send a couple of emails out a week.

 

There is a pattern to the rates they post on lanes . Doesnt matter what part of the country your in the pattern mimics other regions . The only thing different is the scenory

 

I think your going to be just fine. I think you have a mind for the strategy part of running on your own authority. What you mentioned does indeed happen and it changes constantly. It’s much more pronounced when there is a truck shortage. When there is a major truck oversupply what happens is all lanes essentially begin to suck no matter where you are. That’s when people really get uneasy and go crazy. The patterns are still there in a time like right now, they are just less pronounced and harder to find. You have to stay on the good lanes and run from good location to good location just to keep ahead and making money. The people that had been getting by running bad locations and lanes end up failing.

 

I don't run the east coast at all, but from what I've heard they work great in some areas and not so great in others. They're both free so you have nothing to loose checking them out.