Today, trucks carry more than 15 billion tons of freight a year across the United States – and each year, the amount of freight grows larger and larger. The job of matching freight to the appropriate motor carriers in the right location with the right equipment becomes more challenging all the time. This is where loadboards, freight boards or trucking boards come into play.
Today’s hours-of-service restrictions and the need to strategize available capacity with time-sensitive deliveries add to the complexities of the freight-matching puzzle.
The good news is that load boards that match up carriers and freight are more efficient and economical than ever before. Trucking load boards keep truckers on the road and the country’s economy moving.
Years ago, a load board may have been a blackboard in a dispatcher’s office that listed shippers’ and freight brokers’ loads with the names of truck drivers to assign to the shipments. With the advent and growing functionalities of online technology, load boards became fast ways to expedite the freight matching process that opened up opportunities for motor carriers across North America.
Today trucking load boards are easy-to-use, 24/7 freight matching systems that offer instant access for motor carriers to sign up for loads that match their location and equipment. Many trucker boards charge subscription fees, with some as high as $100 a month for plans with extra benefits. Other load boards are free. Both paid and free load boards play an important role in the movement of goods everywhere.
The trucking industry is highly dependent on load boards, which offer benefits for freight brokers and shippers as well as motor carriers.
Load board benefits for freight brokers and shippers:
FreeFreightSearch.com, the world’s largest FREE load board, offers motor carriers additional benefits beyond freight matching:
When a load board is integrated with a leading factoring company specializing in freight bill funding, motor carriers can factor their invoices online easily and simply. When a trucking company takes on a load that won’t pay in 30, 45, or even 60 days, the factoring company can advance you the value of that invoice for a small factoring fee. Some factoring companies also provide fuel advances on pick up.
With online load boards, truckers can search for loads using filters to narrow down first their origin city and then their destination area. Typically, another filter enables them to narrow down the equipment required for a particular load and the date.
Freight brokers and shippers can both post loads and search for trucks that have posted their locations. Both parties – the motor carriers searching for loads and the companies that post loads – can reach out to one another for details about dates, weights, and payments. The arrangements to hire a motor carrier to carry a load typically are finalized through emails and/or phone calls.
With 24/7 access to available loads, motor carriers of all types – from fleet owners to independent owner-operators – have the opportunity to stay loaded around the clock. Some truckers search load boards for most of their freight; others rely on them to avoid deadheading back home. Whatever equipment a trucker has, he or she can improve and expand available opportunities for work by using a load board.
Load boards are typically easy to use, straightforward and user-friendly, but here are a few tips for motor carriers who are new to the system:
Load boards are worthwhile for both motor carriers and freight brokers or shippers. They are an indispensable source of income for both parties, and they keep our economy growing. Load boards open doors for companies new to the industry. With 24/7 access year-round, load boards are available for searches from anywhere and are easy to use on mobile phones, tablets, and laptops when truckers are on the road.
There are multiple kinds of load board that specialize in different things. The first two are relatively obvious: paid and free load boards. There are however, derivations on these traditional load boards, most notably LTL and Misc Loads.
1. Traditional Load boards
These load boards are traditional forums that allow freight brokers, shippers and truckers to share information on loads, capacities and destination. The benefit to having a paid load board is that both the broker and the trucker get access to certain services that aren’t available to free load boards.
2. LTL Load Boards
LTL stands for “Lighter than Truck Load.” This acronym applies to any freight that isn’t large enough to full a trailer on its own, and so will likely be lumped with other freight. A term one can often find associated with LTL is “hotshot,” which is synonymous with LTL when referring to freight, but can be used to describe a smaller truck that is employed with other trailers on a ‘for hire’ basis.
3. Misc Loads
Miscellaneous loads are anything that don’t fall into either of the above categories. These are generally very unconventional loads like livestock or boats that a trucking company can easily find a niche in.
Using is a load board is extremely simple. Follow these steps:
Once you have created your account on Free Freight Search, finding loads for your truck is just a few clicks away. You can filter the thousands of jobs listed on the load board by size, mass and destination. Once you have narrowed down your search results to a few select results that fit your criteria, you can select your preferred job and reach out to the broker through the load board, by phone or email to settle the details of the job.
Freight factoring allows trucking companies to meet their financial needs by providing upfront funds for a small fee. The process is quick and easy and can be summed up in three simple steps:
1. Complete your delivery as you would normally
2. Send your freight bill to the freight factoring company
3. Receive payment for the delivery within two business days from the factoring company
Once you have received your payment, you can spend it as you would normally spend on salaries, maintenance or fuel. The factoring company will collect the payment from the client whenever they pay, and you are free to focus on growing your business. In order to take advantage of this service, you only need a few documents:
And that’s all you need. You can get approved within three days, and there are no long-term contracts to worry about.
What is FreeFreightSearch.com?
FreeFreightSearch.com is the world’s largest free load board. A trusted resource for truckers and brokers for years, the site is simple to use. With over 70,000 registered motor carriers and 18,000 freight brokers and shippers, FreeFreightSearch typically lists more than 50,000 loads at any one time. Since its inception, more than 12 million loads have been posted on the site. Signing up for FreeFreightSearch is fast and easy, and no member will ever be asked for a credit card number or other payment method. Visit FreeFreightSearch.com now to get started.
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