load boards 101

Carrier loadboards are usually the best, and they are free. Once you get setup with them, they will give you access. Landstarbroker.com doesn't need a login.

I preferred Internet Truckstop myself, but I've heard they've changed formats.
Getloaded is another heavy hitter. Then of course you have the DAT board, which is the one with the screens in the truckstops. This is the old school Mack daddy.

I paid for IT and DAT(truckersedge I think was the version I had). These three are the only ones I'd pay for, but I stopped looking in 2009.

 

I'm heading for food and a shower and will add more later but wanted to comment that to get the rates you do need a login for landstarbroker.com. The load alerts with rates coming to your phone (e-mail) is one of the best tools that I have found.

 

Where do you sign up for the load alerts comming to your phone (or email)?

 

Your choice will depend on what you're hauling. Landstar might be good for vans and flats, but it's pretty lean on stuff that will load in a reefer. I can't remember if you told us what kind of trailer you were planning to get. To get LS load alerts you have to be an approved carrier and have an agreement in place. There's a link on the webpage to download the carrier package. The large broker boards that are free can be tedious to navigate. It's good to at least have a sign on for ones that load your type of cargo. Most are like LS in that you have to have a carrier agreement with them to sign on.

As far as the public boards are concerned, they are electronic flea markets. You will find about 40% spam from big brokers putting junk out to attract calls. Another 40% mostly crap that others won't haul (maybe bad lanes, too cheap, etc). The last 20% are a few last minute loads. Ones that are late orders or were dropped by another carrier at the last minute.

You'll go through two stages of learning.

First you'll quickly develop a knack to find that last 20% or wonder why you can't make any profit or spend a lot of time in truckstops burning up your phone. If you survive that, you'll develop a good reputation while keeping your safety score clean and build relationships. That's when you'll start getting the load offers that never will be seen on a load board.

You'll also learn that the load boards can be a useful planning tool to get a rough idea on markets you don't know. Or load density. If you pay for the rate indices, that gives you a rough idea on rates in a given area. Just remember the data is only as good as what's entered. Garbage in = garbage out. While doing this you'll also learn how to spot multiple posts for the same load, loads that never exist, double brokering, and so on.

If you tell us what you'll be hauling, you'll get more focused answers. If you already did then I missed it. I agree with G/MAN on MembersEdge (Transcore) and ITS being good to start with. I picked up GetLoaded last week and found enough stuff on there to not cancel during the trial period, but I also have two trucks and use them more. Those subscriptions can add up, especially if you tack on a lot of extra features. ITS is well known for that.

 

I use real time freight at times .Good load board too.But its not free.

 

I've used the big three boards and they all have there pluses and minuses. They all seem to have the same loads posted which may be a result of services like "post everywhere" etc. Some of the larger broker/carriers have their own boards and you can follow those if they are a favorite of yours. Sometimes you'll find loads posted on their "in house" load board but not the public load boards. As mobile apps become more prevelant the way we access this timely data may change and provide more options. I would assume you are asking for the opinions of posters on these load boards so here it goes:

First I do believe you have to have either motor carrier authority or a broker license to subscribe to one of the big 3. You will find there is a small vetting process that one has to overcome through time regardless of what kind of entity they are.

Transcore/DAT

I believe their claim to fame is that they were the first load board, appearing on tv screen in truckstops (still do). Maybe they had a call in service, don't know. I felt they had a good system although quite expensive. You have to pay per computer allowed on the network. We subscribed a few years ago so I don't know if it has changed. Have never tried the "members edge" from OOIDA. I think the full version cost us around $300-350 a month. One feature that stood out from the other boards was a feature called "lane makers". This feature was helpful for pricing a lane with real time data. Where does the information on these rate indecies come from? If it's just a re hash of rates brokers posted on the board than that does not give you an accurate retail freight rate. The lane maker feature is a great tool for the broker in that you can search who has posted truck capacity on a lane. It will tell you how many times in the last 30 days that company has posted and what type of company they are. So for example if you have freight needing to go to El Paso out of Atlanta, GA do a search, and if you can find 3 carriers high up on the list call them and see if you can get a quote on what they would charge for that trip. Doesn't always work that straight forward, but it is a tool that the other boards don't have, at least not as of yet (might be wrong).

Getloaded
Seems like they are the Wendy's of the loadboards, relegated to number3. No real stand out features other than it will let you see how many other people have looked at a load. They did change to not allowing multiple users under one login so you had to purchase multiple user accounts which can add up quickly. That is the primary reason we dropped getloaded.

ITS Internet Truck Stop
What we use now. Overall for the money I think ITS is the best. You can have multiple users. They encourage this by allowing you a different login handle so your presonal searches aren't changed. Under the new system they have an automatic refresh which brought them up to speed with DAT. They have a suite of other services which can get pricey. The rate mate thing is more tailored to wholesale rates. The Carrier Performance Rating service saves some time checking out a carrier and I like the reporting features on both carriers and brokers, and ITS does take reports seriously. The drawbacks in my opinion include changing the old system to 3.0. You could actually use the old system in a mobile browser but the new system won't allow it, too much information. Their mobile app is terrible, at least it was when they migrated everyone over to it. Although I'm sure they are working towards fixing it.

Hope some of this helped

 

You get origin and destination, miles based on whatever program the board uses, weight (usually a generic number like 48000 for flatBed load), about 1% of the time there will be a rate. You also get brokers name and phone number.