Truckstop load board filters search criteria

I've got a question about search criteria and filters in load boards specifically for truckstop.com. I've been leased on with a LS for many years and recently got my own numbers. After setting up an account with truckstop.com, I found that there was no way to filter out (exclude) things like hazmat, team required, tarp required loads, but there is a way to only include all of these tags.

I was racking my brain, clicking on every button and dropdown menu to figure out how to exclude team and hazmat loads, so I sent their support an email. They responded quickly, but said there is not a way to exclude these tags from searches.

Isn't this backwards? How many truckers are only looking to a load if it is hazmat or requires a team? I've never found myself looking for loads and thinking to myself "if the next load to come across the board isn't a big ugly tarp load, I'm not touching it". Same for team only loads, hazmat, etc. I signed up with truckstop instead of DAT because I pull a step deck, but was wondering if DAT is setup the same way or if they allow you to exclude things.

Maybe it's just one of those things you just got to deal with and move on. Just frustrating to be paying $160/month for a load board that doesn't offer what seems like a very basic functionality that carriers would use to search for loads more efficiently. What are your experiences with this? Is it not really a big deal, or do you end up calling on a lot of loads just to find out that it requires a team or is a hazmat load that you can't haul?

 

I didn’t know there was still profit for trucks. I thought they got rid of that back in the first half of 2023. I’ll keep my eyes open though; love to see some of that again.

 

I been doing it to listen to the cool engine brakes and look at the pretty lights in the truck stops. Profit was just icing on top of if I ever got lucky.

 

What was a "Watts" number used for?

 

That makes sense; I hear what your saying.

I just figured brokers would want to avoid having their phones blow up from a lot of trucks calling them that can't even haul the load they are trying to move, and miss a potential qualified truck while they are wasting phone time telling people it requires team, hazmat, etc. And I don't know of any team trucks or hazmat carriers that are trying to filter out non-team loads or non-hazmat loads. I guess if it's all set up to make the brokers' phones ring as much as possible, it makes sense though.

My authority has only been active for 6 days, and Texas has been dragging their feet with IFTA registrations, so I can't even pull a load yet. I'd love to pickup some direct customers, but I think I'll be using the load boards a lot for the first couple years at least.

What is your opinion on DAT vs Truckstop? If I'm a single truck operation that only pulls a step deck, would it be worth having DAT in addition to Truckstop?