Load Board

Load Board at a company or one you subscribe to like DAT or ??? Usually most of the great loads are not on the load boards, they are hauled by drivers and companies that have a existing relationship with Broker or Shipper. Work on making relationships with brokers and it will trickle down to you. Never back solict a shipper that you have moved through a broker. That is a good way to be put on a do not load list.

 

I don’t think they offer it to everyone and it may depend on experience and what region you’re in. I’ve never seen anyone post any details on actual requirements to get on it, but I’ve been curious about that myself. I know there was at least one poster on here that was on it.

 

It's paid on percentage.

The easy long runs pay like usually pay trash.
You're not going to earn much of anything taking a load from Florida to Phoenix for example.

 

Where do you live at? I can tell you right now just from that if you're going to like this board or not.

You're not going to choose those loads because they don't exist. Most of what USA does is east of 35 except in very rare cases. It's usually going to be pickup today and deliver tomorrow type loads. When you learn the fast customers you string them together pretty well most weeks. The company sent out a message saying they expect to add Los Angeles and Phoenix loads to the load board in the future. When that will be or what that will look like, I have no clue.

You won't get Jacksonville to Seattle. On a very lucky day you might get a drop and hook from Jacksonville to Laredo. The most common load is a live load on the port that goes to SC. On the rare occasion I land in Jacksonville, I'll call for permission to deadhead back to Georgia rather than deal with the trash loads we have there.
Right now the best load out of Jax is going to Kingsport, TN and you'll be sitting for a day waiting to deliver. Everything else goes to SC or Atlanta.
The general rules are that you need to average 2300 miles per week, you can have up to 5 assigned loads (current load plus 4 preplans), and generally deadhead should be less than 150 miles. Deadhead is highly dependent on the area you're in. If you're in Orlando they're fine with you having to deadhead 200+ miles back to Georgia. If you're in Chicago they don't really want you to deadhead to Indianapolis when they have lots of loads in the Chicago area.

I'll give an example of my current week:
Laredo to Memphis
Memphis to Laredo
Laredo to Mobile (hazmat)
Deadhead to MS
Monticello, MS to Laredo

Here is my previous week:
Laredo to Ft Worth (hazmat)
Ft Worth to Newton, NC
Deadhead to Danville, VA
Danville, VA to Columbus, OH
Deadhead to Tipp City, OH
Tipp City, OH to Laredo

The week before that:
Laredo to Mobile (hazmat)
Deadhead to Lacombe, LA
Lacombe, LA to Mt Crawford, VA
Deadhead to Amherst, VA
Amherst, VA to Roanoke, TX
Deadhead to Waxahachie, TX
Waxahachie, TX to Laredo


It looks like we do a lot of hazmat and Laredo loads, but not really. I'm the only hazmat guy in Laredo so I normally get stuck with those. Also don't expect to see too many loads to Laredo, I just watch the board like a hawk for them because I live there and I like to be home every week.

It pays percentage to O/O or flat CPM to company. They operate off of the same board and jockey for the same loads. I think there are only about 100 or so company guys on the load board but don't quote me on that number.

Can't speak to region as I live in a terminal city. Our terminals are Memphis, Dayton, Chicago, Dallas, Carlisle, Atlanta, and Laredo. I know of a couple load board guys that live in Oklahoma and North Carolina, so I don't think you have to live in a terminal location.

I've heard you need six months to get on the board. I've also seen new hires get on it their first day. Your guess is as good as mine. I had already been with the company over a year when they started the company board.

 

No, we don't have any regular runs to LA. We don't have a terminal or locals there. You'll probably never see California at all. If you do, it's going to be live load in and live unload back out. If you hate running from Memphis to Dallas or Laredo, I recommend you look for a different company because that's what you're going to do here.

You might want to look into IWX or Danny Herman. They both run from TN to California. IWX will usually have you swap out in Kingman, they have a terminal there where the locals finish off the runs to LA.

 

Do they have a lot listed on their board in the northeast?

 

Depends what you consider northeast. Lots of PA stuff available if that's your thing. Fair bit of NJ, both north and south. You can get to MD pretty easy if you want, even goofball locations on the eastern shore and Delmarva like Queenstown or Salisbury. I've picked up in Dover once and you'll see the occasional DE load.
Anything north of NJ is hit or miss. You'll see those CT loads and the odd MA one, but at this exact moment there's nothing on the board in that direction. Central NY state is probably the closest you could consistently get to New England.