Load Boards

It has been my experence that when I wanted the cheep stuff I paid the chep price, when I wanted the best out there I paid the higher price to get it. It is well known, industry wide that transcore has the top slot when it comes to load boards. If you want to be a first class trucker use the best, if you are comfortable with being second or third class then feel free to use those load boards. I can only guess at how many times I found loads on other load boards and when I called the broker they did not even know their load was posted on those boards. other load boards skipe loads off of transcore just to get a peice of your work for their cash drawers. When it comes to load boards there is Transcore and there is all those others. Please don't just accept my word for it, call the top 10 brokers in the US and ask them where they post their spot market freight, and I am sure you will hear 10 times , Transcore three sixty. if you want someone to pull a tooth don't go to a plumber. If you want to be cheep then go peck the barn yard with the chickens. I'm a trucker with a little over 4 million miles and have nothing to gain other than just passing on what I have learned. Transcore cost the most because they are worth it. One good load can make up for their fee for a quarter. Or you can go with el-cheep-o and die of a slow monatery death in trucking. been there done that. I'm not sleeping with anyone in your family and don;t know you well enough to lie to you,,, yet.

 

There are pros and cons to each load board, but for the most part they all give you about the same thing. You will find some loads listed on some boards and not others, but most will have pretty much the same loads. Transcore has about 5 different loadboards under different names. Many brokers do use three sixty. Some carriers use them as well. I still subscribe to www.mymembersedge.com, which is OOIDA's version of the DAT board. Three sixty has some good features, but it is over priced. When you post your truck on the mymembersedge load board it goes to all of the other Transcore loadboards. It is the only loadboard that I currently subscribe. I rarely post my trucks on it. I mostly rely on personal contacts and deal with companies that I have established relationships over the years. If I get into a bad area where I may have a difficult time finding a load, then I may post it on mymembersedge. Most brokers will post loads on multiple loadboards. Three sixty is a little pricey. I don't know that it is worth the cost, at least for me. If I were to subscribe to any other loadboards, I would subscribe to www.internettruckstop.com, www.getloaded.com and www.mymembersedge.com. As you build relationships you may want to get rid of most of the other loadboards. You can find cheap freight on any load board, including three sixty. Paying a high price to subscribe to a load board won't guarantee that you will get better paying loads.

 

I'm a big fan of ITS. Word from the guys at Transcore is they are combining all of their loadboards into one web interface format like ITS here soon.

 

I was told by a representative of Transcore that when you post your truck on one of their loadboards that it goes to all of them. This was several years ago. I have also had some brokers tell me that they found my truck on three sixty, even though I posted the trucks on mymembersedge. Of course, that is one of the Transcore loadboards. To be honest, I have usually been offered lower rates from Transcore than other loadboards. It is pretty much the standard for major carriers, but most also subscribe to other loadboards. The best way is to make those personal contacts and give them a call when you know you are going to be in an area where they usually have freight. I have found that some loadboards are better in some areas and others in different areas. Starting out I would not rely on just one loadboard. Once you find which ones work best for you and begin building relationships then you could probably get rid of some of them.

 

I've been using ITS for about 3yrs now and IMO for the price you just can't beat it. I subscribed to the 360 board for a day and unsubscribed. The problems I was having with ITS was worse with the 360 board, which was brokers posting loads in areas that picked up or delivered in other places than what they had posted so you never knew if the load picked up there or not and brokers not taking the loads down after they had them covered so you spend time and phone calls of loads that was already covered. You have the same problem on all boards but 360 was the worse IMO.I kept track of the number of calls I made from the 360 to see if it was better or worse. Out of approx. 50 calls I made the problem I was having with ITS was worse on 360. I did end up with one good load, I never have had that bad of a problem with ITS. This is just from my exp. between the two plus I like the features of ITS better.

 

DT, that's why you constantly refresh the board before you make a phone call and sort it by 'newest'. Anything over 15 minutes either is taken or garbage. Some brokers repost their loads, but you tend to see them recycle enough to just stay away from those brokers. TQL is notorious for this one. 15 loads from one city to 15 different cities all within 20 miles of eachother. That's one load, that probably pays nothing, that keeps getting reposted hoping to snap someone looking for that particular town.

 

sly fox, you are correct about TQL and others are catching on with what they are doing. I've called ITS and complained about them and they said that they have numerous complaints about it and that they have talked to them about it. My question is if they keep getting complaints about the same thing from different people then why haven't they done something about it??? I don't use TQL unless it's a have to case. Their loads don't pay crap any way and half the time when you book one with them that does pay they will cancel it on you when they find some one to do it cheaper. If they call me and want me to take a load I hit them hard on a rate like 3+ per mile and if it's a load that can pick with in a few miles and is hot hot hot where they don't have time to cancel on me I'll take it, other than that I don't deal with them any more.

 

We have tried many and settled on ITS. While I have some issues with them over the past year I saw a steady decline in the number of loads posted on mymembersedge and an increase in ITS. I am sure that this has to do with the ITS business model that allows multiple users on one account.

 

Good post. Wanted to add, don't always automatically dismiss the older loads out hand of that might be 3 or 5 or even 20 pages back. I have found some good paying loads buried way back on those pages usually on that same day as a pickup but sometimes even a day ahead of the pickup date. I look for the odd one off type loads back there usually from smaller brokerages, but not always, that don't appear to fit with all the garbage BNSF, CHR, TQL's they're surrounded by.. Sometimes it's a hit, sometimes not..

 

If loads make it to a load board its because no one else wants it. Tell you anything?