This will be really quick way to show our load board users a few steps to try and get better freight rates.
First things first figure out the area of the country you are going to be needing the freight and what day. How many dead head miles are you willing to travel. There are a lot of people that end up in Orlando that will drive the truck to Atlanta area to get some freight rather than hang in FL to try and find a load.
Next figure out where you want to go. Not all freight gets you where you want to go but a couple of smart moves could make you more money than trying to take a low paying longer haul back haul. But we need to remember if we go to FL we need to get a high paying rate because we may have to deadhead out of there.
What is the lane paying. Test the negotiation. When you call up on the freight try and know the rate. Keep in mind there is a best case number and worst case number. These numbers can change based on sitting time and deadhead miles and sometimes just how you are feel about the load. Is the load heavy? can i find a partial to move with it. Example if the load has 40 feet and is heading from NJ to TX you can probably find a partial to put with it.
Do some research on the Freight Forecasting Tool . This tool will show you where the most loads are in our system. We have thousands of truck loads posted every few hours during a busy day so it changes but you can generally figure out if you head to an area where there are tons of loads then brokers are having trouble finding trucks.
So now you know where you want to go. Where the highest concentration loads are and how much would like to get per mile. Ready to search for truckloads on the load board.
Lets look at the load board. Generally load boards are sortable by columns. Doesn’t matter if it is Trulos or the DAT Load board if you click on a column header then you will be able to sort and see the column in the order you would like. So on the Trulos Load Board there is a column for rate. If you click on the State you want for example. NY and then you click on rate it will show you rates listed. Keep in mind majority of the freight doesn’t have rates but some do that is helpful. The rate is usually still negotiable also but is a guideline for what the shipper or broker is trying to pay. If nothing looks good then lets sort by destination state.
Sorting the load board by destination state gets you a quick view of freight going to certain destinations. So if if you want to get a truckload from NY to TX then you could quickly see freight loads going to TX.
Ok So all the freight in NY is kinda sucky so what do you do? Check out the freight in OH and PA. Not to far but could be paying a lot better and there are probably a lot less trucks bidding on it. To find a potential better paying area then need to check out the surrounding area on the Freight Forecasting Tool and then head over to the state by state load board and find some freight.
The next way to increase your revenue is fill your space with partial loads. If you have time and can make a stop then you should be thinking about picking up a partial along the way. I love the Truckload Map Load Board for this. You can click on the date, today, tomorrow or next 7 days. Choose Equipment and THEN select partial freight( You will need to un check the Full check box also) to get it filtered down the right way. Then boom all the partial freight shows up on a map and you can see if anything is on the route and if it is worth taking a look at. Literally 30 seconds.
All of this searching for freight gets easier and easier when you know exactly what you are looking for. You will get a good understanding of where freight is and how much it is paying per mile. Sometimes there are some great loads on the board and sometimes there is nothing. Our industry is pretty awesome that we can really make some money when freight is tight and the key is finding those instances as often as possible.
Sometimes you need try a different load board. Trulos has a ton of freight but we know it doesn’t have all the freight so if you are g0ing to pay for a board we suggest the DAT Load board. They seem to have the most freight. plus we have a deal where if you click this link and sign up you get to try it out for free and we get a few dollars every month and that helps us keep the free load board up and running.