Not really LOL. But here goes. Load board (mobile) apps are a tool of last resort. I only use them if I'm away from or can't use my laptop, and then I already know what to look for and if it ain't there I'm not going to play the dialing for dollars game. There isn't enough information visible in a mobile app to give it a lot of merit as a serious business tool. Load boards favor brokers, because they're the ones that usually buy the high $$$ subscriptions. If you're running the basic subscription for $30 or so a month, you will always be at a disadvantage until you've developed relationships and learned your commodities (who's making what you haul, who's buying, and when). As luck would have it, DAT, ITS and the rest will take money from anyone. Truckers are usually too cheap for their own good, and brokers make bank from that. I've got DAT Power and RateView. The monthly rate is about $300, and I can usually claw that back and then some on a single load, just by knowing what's up with market conditions. It has also helped me not suffer the misfortune of loading into a market that might have been hot last week and yesterday wasn't so much. Another recent development is the automated apps. Uber, Convoy, and the like. Those are a race to the bottom for carriers. Not too surprisingly, most of the loads I've seen on them are beer and beverage loads. Which are cheap, heavy, and problematic to begin with. So it's no surprise they're the pioneers using automated load boards. There's a reason they are so convenient and pay so fast: they list the loads nobody in their right mind would take, at the cheapest rate someone will accept it.
That's what I suspected but without personal experience I wasn't going to say it. Thanks for the insight. This should help someone.
@RedForeman, I use those two cheap boards and I don't haul food. There is work there but it does take a lot of work to get it. Anyway, question for you: I called DAT a week or so ago and asked them if I could pay more for a better DAT, like Power or one of their many other products. I just pay the $50 basic subscription and I mostly use the app on my phone. Customer Service guy said I was getting access to all the loads anyone else on DAT was. I don't believe him really because I've heard from several other folks like yourself that the more powerful DAT software does have different/better loads. Thoughts?
From reading the above post by RF, it doesn’t seem like the cs guy lied. I think you are misreading Red’s post. He doesn’t pay more to get better loads, he pays more to get more information available for the loads. This info allows him to plan his loads better and when negotiating rates. The real question for red is does he just use the trucker side only or does he pay for the broker side as well.
Yep, the $50 sub gives you all the loads and like up to 30 day lane averages. the $100 sub gives you up to 15 day averages. the $150 gives you the hot market map and gives you the loads about 5 minutes faster than everyone else IIRC. I've never gotten rateview as the DAT salesman told me it would be about $600 a month and only suits large carriers, but from what I understand that will give you live pricing on lanes as well as massive amounts of historical pricing on lanes.
There's levels to the higher tier subs on DAT. I don't work there, but here's what I know or was told. Calling and talking to a salesman is free, so you should do that before you believe everything I say here. My advice is read everything you can on their website and make a list of questions to ask when you call. You'll probably learn about features you didn't know you needed LOL. As a result of the daily hustle, we tend to have a very narrow view of the market, which tends to make us ignorant to some trends worth watching. The $150 DAT Power gives you a live feed on load posts, along with lane avg rates that appear when you do a search on a city pair or click into a load. The hot market map that was mentioned, and maybe one or two other whistles & bells I can't think of. The standard aka Truckers Edge style subscription gives you all the same loads, but they only refresh every two minutes. I also believe that some of the loads appear on the Power list for some period of time before they post on the lesser subscriptions. I can't remember if the sales person told me that, or if I made up a conspiracy theory. Not positive, but I'm fairly sure it's true. Once I went to the better subscription, I found that I was able to score more of those loads when they appeared versus getting put on hold or being told that one was already covered. That in mind, DAT Power is "live" most of the time, until it isn't. Some days it works as advertised, other days I am hitting refresh over and over when I notice I'm not seeing new posts trickling in. So it ain't perfect. Then again what is? RateView starts at $150 and has enough data to keep me busy and satisfied. You can get precision down to market areas, see averages over intervals from 2 weeks back to the last year. There's a state-to-state grid you can adjust the history length on. And then some. I really haven't had the spare time to thoroughly explore it. Then, for more money you can get down to zip codes and real time data. Not sure at what level, but likely a few above what I am buying, you get into the territory where you move from a web browser view to running an application with a dedicated data feed. Those are the big $$$$ services where you have to be big to absorb the added cost. At that level, you're probably integrating a TMS system versus just looking at loads offered. The thing you have to remember about any rate tool is that they tend to be optimistic. The data comes from much bigger and better connected carriers and brokers. You usually don't get rates like that offered until a relationship exists, and even then it takes a little arm twisting. The information serves you better if you think in relative terms. Strong market vs weak. Rates above average or below. Then set your hood ornament and quote targets accordingly. @EzekelRAGE there isn't really a "broker side" or broker specific service package once you get above the basic subscriptions. That said, the tools (especially rates) do tend to be more suited to brokers, since making a market is what they do. So of course DAT (and Truckstop and the rest) will try to appeal to that group the most. With the DAT Power subscription I can run truck searches. From time to time I take a peek to see who else is posted up nearby. It's interesting, but doesn't really solve any problems for me, since I can get truck/load counts and ratios off the hot market map and other rate tools.
I mainly use DAT. I have DAT Power but use the app a lot, it’s faster for me. I also use Convoy and J.B. Hunt 360. Convoy is getting better with reefer loads, they still don’t have many posting on it though. I’ve been pleased with JB360. I’ve done several loads on there over the past couple months. I’ve bid on some, and they don’t accept my rate. Twice they’ve emailed me after my offer expired if I still want the load, I had already booked something else though. I always bid a fair rate. If they hold out for someone cheaper, that’s their own problem, should’ve accepted it.
That's 100% correct. I drive she finds. And man she's tough. Whole I'm driving she's finding and calling, and taking care of 3 youngins. Sometimes I think she works harder then I do. #homefront.
