Load Board App and Website: User Guide

Freight boards are familiar to every trucker. What they are for, how to use them, and get the most out of them, read in the article below. You will also learn how you can optimize your cargo search using trucking load board software. 

Load Board for Truck Drivers: Definition

Today it is no longer a secret to anyone that trucks play a key role in supporting the country’s economy. After all, they carry more than 70% of cargo throughout the United States. As long as there is a stable load for trucks, the country’s economy is developing steadily. An important place is occupied not only by large carriers and logistics companies but also by independent drivers. However, how can the latter find suitable cargoes? Here it is worth remembering such an irreplaceable and useful thing as a freight board.

What is a load board? This is a special platform hosted on the Internet. There you can find a ton of ads for goods and cargo that need to be transported from point A to point B. The online era has greatly expanded the ability of drivers to find cargo.

Main Features and Functions

There is no solo driver who has not used freight boards. These online marketplaces have a wide range of handy features and useful functions. Such websites greatly simplify the work of solo truckers. How?

  • Online platforms contain hundreds of thousands of freight forwarding ads. They are placed by both freight brokers and shippers. Every independent driver can find exactly the type of cargo that meets his wishes and truck characteristics.
  • Freight boards contain several types of ads for convenience. Firstly, these are ads directly about goods, which are placed by brokers and shippers, for carriers. Secondly, ads about available trucks from the drivers themselves. They indicate the characteristics of the transport so that shippers understand if the truck is suitable for the weight and additional equipment.
  • The driver load board is very easy to use. Even if an owner-operator is just starting his own business and has not used such websites before, he quickly figures out what is what. Typically, ads can be categorized to make it easier to find the right position.
  • The freight marketplace is a great opportunity to support solo drivers and help them grow their small businesses. After all, here they can always find work if they do not have regular clients yet. Or if a day is free and they want to avoid downtime.
  • As far as load boards are online platforms, solo drivers can work with them at any place and time. All they need are just laptops, tablets, or smartphones. More than that, today there are specially designed and convenient truck load board apps.

Load Board Users

Owner-operators are not the only users of the mentioned online platforms. Although they can be called the main characters. Who are they? These are drivers who own their trucks or a small fleet of vehicles. They prefer to choose their own load level, search for cargoes, and manage their equipment. Although such drivers can cooperate with large logistics companies. A solo trucker uses a trucks load board to find jobs. They directly search for freight or post ads about their own trucks.

The second category of users is shippers and freight brokers. They have the same goal, which is to advertise the goods to be transported and find a carrier. The advantage of working with a broker is that he takes care of additional issues, communicates with the client, and solves difficulties if necessary. On some online marketplaces, you can even look at the broker’s rating to understand its reliability. However, not every free load board for trucks has this feature.

If you do not want to cooperate with brokers, load boards allow you to work directly with shippers. This is a big plus of such sites. With their help, you can get complete independence in work. 

Types of Truckers Load Board

The modern trucker can find hundreds of online platforms with available cargo on the Internet. Basically, there are two types of truckers load board: free and paid. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, free sites can contain significantly more ads. At the same time, there are significantly more users here, including drivers. Therefore, it is advisable to book cargo on such sites quickly so as not to miss a profitable deal. On the other hand, a large number of offers can also make it difficult to find a suitable job and take a long time.

Paid boards are considered more reliable. After all, a paid subscription and a more complicated registration procedure reduce the risk of facing an unscrupulous shipper or broker. With so many offers, the question arises: what is the best load board for truckers? First of all, you have to focus on your needs. One of the most famous and popular platforms is Amazon Relay. It contains many cargo announcements from verified shippers.

Pros and Cons of a Free Truck Load Board

This type of website is more popular because many drivers do not want extra costs and are looking for trucker load board free usage. On the one hand, this approach allows you to save your budget. But on the other hand, the driver can come across dishonest shippers, because in fact, anyone can become a user of the free platform.

Free boards contain significantly more ads, which means they provide a wider selection of works. However, due to a large number of users and free access, you may not have time to take the desired cargo. To avoid such an unpleasant situation, additional tools may be needed to work with a popular board. Today, developers offer drivers special load board software to optimize and speed up searches.

Benefits of a Truck Driver Load Board

Some people think that load boards in the long term cannot be a stable source of load and are more suitable for beginner owner-operators. Despite this, such online platforms have a huge number of advantages.

Firstly, it is an ideal solution for owner-operators and small companies with vehicle fleets of 10-15 trucks. As often, shippers who need to regularly transport large loads prefer to use the services of large logistics companies and rarely hire independent drivers. And on load boards, you can find ads about one-time and irregular cargo. In this case, shippers prefer to use the services of small carriers.

Secondly, the load board is the place where a beginner farmer working for himself can start his business. If a driver does not have a customer base yet, he won’t be left without a profit. On the online platform, he is always able to find goods for transportation and receive money.

Third, sites like these help avoid empty miles — or miles when a truck travels empty. At the same time, fuel and finances are spent. With the help of load boards, you can select freight throughout the country and plan your work and route in such a way that you travel with a load from each destination.

If there are still any doubts about the use of such Internet platforms, they can be dispelled by reading various reviews. This way you can not only choose the best load board for truckers but also possibly unlock a few tricks.

LoaDoctor Extension — Must-have for Solo Drivers

To speed up the search for the best offer among thousands of ads, use a specially designed extension. LoaDoctor is designed specifically for the Amazon Relay platform and increases productivity several times over. Using automatic filters, you can sort ads by destination, date, price, type of work. And then — choose the best deal. Notifications (audible or visual) and automatic refresher will keep you from missing out on anything new. The specified parameters are saved, so you do not need to enter information every time.

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