There are many factors involved in running a successful trucking business. One of these factors is consistently booking loads, minimizing dead time for your trucks and finding high-paying loads. An online load board allows carriers to post information about their trucks and equipment, and it gives freight brokers and shippers a place to post loads. Many trucking companies find load boards an invaluable part of boosting their businesses.
Advantages of using a load board
- Grow your business: Newcomers in the trucking industry may find it hard to link up with potential clients. An online load board is a powerful tool connecting motor carriers with brokers and shippers and, when used correctly, will be help you take a step in the right direction if you want to grow your business or take it to the next level.
- Find high-paying loads: Whether you are just starting out or are looking to grow your business, one of the best ways to find new loads is using an online platform offering a free load board. With patience and persistence, you can find highly profitable loads for your trucking company.
- Value-adding services: Some load boards offer value-adding services such as free credit checks on clients and freight factoring services to help their members.
Disadvantages of using a load board
- Doing business with strangers can be risky. As with all types of online transactions, there are inherent risks involved when doing business with people you meet online. The nature of online load boards is that you won’t always have a solid reference source when signing on a new client.
- It can be expensive. While some load boards are free, others can charge a premium of up to $100 a month for their services. You will have to carefully calculate whether the business the load board brings in is worth the monthly cost you will be paying.
- Lower profit margins. There is a lot of competition on online load boards, which means you may be charging less for hauls than what you would typically charge clients.
Why should you use online load boards
With globalization and digital advances comes new opportunities in each industry. In the freight sector, few companies will be able to survive if they aren’t using technology to streamline their business operations and lead generation functions. An online load board can bring in new leads at a fast rate and give you access to potential new clients.
Benefits of using a free load board
As the name implies, a free load board won’t cost you anything. This means that you will have access to loads that need to be hauled without cold-calling shippers and freight brokers. You can book loads 24/7, set up alerts for loads in your location, and start doing business with high- paying, established companies in the industry.
Load board tips
- Avoid scammers. Like any industry, there are fraudsters in the freight hauling sector. To avoid being scammed, be sure to run credit checks on shippers and double check their contact and business information. You are also entitled to request insurance information of people you intend to do business with.
- Use different load boards. If you establish a presence on multiple load boards, then you can increase your chances of finding high paying loads and jobs that will lead to future business. If you are able to build relationships from the loads that get booked on the load boards, you can start working on building a mutually beneficial business relationship between motor carriers and brokers/shippers.
- Try different load boards. Browse through online forums for truckers and brokers/shippers to find out which load boards are the popular ones in the industry, read reviews, and test the load boards out for yourself to find one that you are comfortable using.
In addition to being the largest FREE loadboard, FreeFreightSearch.com provides members access to 10,000+ free freight broker credit reports, making FFS the world’s largest FREE transportation credit bureau. Register on our free load board today.