As a truck owner, one of your most important tasks is to keep your trucks loaded and on the road. Unless you can ensure a full truckload and a paid return trip, you may struggle to cover your monthly expenses.
Fortunately, in today’s connected world, you can use load hauling bids on dozens of load board sites to connect with shippers. Business networks and agreements with load freight brokers are also useful in ensuring you get continuous cargo loads for your chosen routes.
In this article, we look at how to bid on hauling loads and review some of the best bidding sites.
What Does Bidding on Loads Mean?
Bidding on shipping loads is an essential part of the load haul business. This is how shippers connect with truckers willing and able to transport their goods to the required destination, at the right time and price.
To make a profit truckers must have full loads for both legs of the journey. Bidding for loads ensures efficient use of transport for the truck owners. Shippers also benefit as they can match their requirements to suitable load hauling bids. The competitive environment means that shippers save on transport costs and the country as a whole also benefits from efficient road haul systems.
How Does the Bidding Process Work?
Before you bid on loads you have to know all your fixed and variable expenses. You must recover these costs if you are to remain in business. If you’re using a load board, you may access real-time information about load requirements, and routes. Most load boards will also show trending market rates. The process works as follows:
- Find the routes that suit you
- Bid on hauling loads
- If your quote is accepted you will receive a booking confirmation with collection and delivery information
- The shipper pays according to the negotiated payment terms
4 Ways to Bid on Load Hauls
You have several options when it comes to bidding on loads. They’re listed below:
Load Boards
Online platforms connecting shippers, truckers, and freight brokers, load boards are useful resources for truckers wanting to bid on loads to haul. The competition on load boards is steep, but most load boards will give you an idea of what the current load hauling bids look like for various routes.
Most load boards charge a monthly fee though there are some free-to-use bidding sites.
Load haulage from freight boards is sometimes not very profitable because of the high number of load hauling bids. Use multiple load boards to find the most profitable loads. Those that offer mobile access and shipper credit reports may be your best option.
Freight Brokers
Freight brokers help connect shippers to transporters. Brokers track loads and keep everyone informed along the way. Because freight brokers take their share of the profit, you will likely earn less working for a freight broker. They can, however, help to increase your exposure to available loads. This means that you have a better chance of ensuring a continuous flow of full loads.
Freight brokers allow shippers to use smaller carriers without getting into lengthy negotiations with each shipper.
Industry Associates
Any savvy business knows the importance of building networks. It is no different for truck owners. Make connections with people in industry associations like the American Iron and Steel Institute. Make time to go to the meetings so that you can network with other business people that may be regular shippers. You never know what might come your way.
Local Businesses
For truckers, finding transport loads from local businesses is often the best option. When you deal directly with the business, you pay no middle man so your profit may be higher. The downside of finding your loads is that you’ll have to do your own repping, which can be time-consuming. You may have to engage in cold calling, and then negotiate deals which makes both parties happy.
Where To Bid On Load Hauls
Freight bidding sites offer you an ideal solution for bidding on hauling loads. If you choose the right routes and control your costs, you’ll find that bidding sites can keep your truck loaded and on the road. Here are three of the best:
- ComFreight – offers a user-friendly load board with loads with automated invoices and digital payments that many truckers, battling to pay for operational costs may find useful
- Truckstop – offers three load board package tiers. It is one of the first load boards to go live on the internet
- Fre8star – offers an easy user interface with drop-down menus with filters and messaging system. The app also has a freight calculator so the transport operators can calculate the costs before bidding. They specialize in heavy haul bidding
Don’t Let Your Truck Stand Idle
Employ a combined strategy when bidding on shipping loads. It’s the best way to earn a good profit and grow your long-haul trucking business.
FAQ
Truckers have several resources to bid on hauling loads. These include bidding sites, load boards, freight brokers, and a network of businesses and associations.
You should get better-paying loads if you deal directly with the shipper because you don’t pay any freight brokers’ commission. Another way to earn a good profit is to find a niche market where the competition isn’t as steep. Such markets may include very large loads or urgent long-haul loads.
Specialized truck loads are the most profitable. These include hazmat loads, tanker driving, and oversized load hauling.