Get More, Reliable Loads to Match Your Availability
If you’ve been an owner-operator for a while, you understand that consistently finding heavy equipment loads can come with challenges. Being an owner-operator is a unique job that has many perks, but it requires refined skills, organization, professionalism, and independence. You’re usually responsible for your own income, so it is up to you to find work. You also need to make sure all your paperwork, insurance, and certifications are up to date and maintain your own equipment, trailers, and vehicles, which all costs time and money.
Working as an owner-operator means more flexibility since you get to choose your own work. It’s a bit like running your own small business. Load boards can be extremely helpful in keeping jobs more consistent.
What Is a Load Board?
A load board functions almost like popular car-pooling services, except it involves heavy-haul trucking. Load boards make finding jobs much easier than working through companies or simply picking up odd jobs by self-advertising or word of mouth. On a load board, clients can post jobs, drivers can pick up loads that they’re able to take on, and they can talk directly with clients. This article discusses nine more reasons why owner-operators should use heavy-haul load boards to secure reliable jobs and start generating more revenue.
1. Easily Avoid Dead-Head Hauls
When you don’t have a return haul to take you home, and your trailer is empty, it often results in money lost since you still need to use up resources (time, gas, food, etc.) but don’t receive any payment in return. Unsafe weather conditions can also make dead-head hauls dangerous when there isn’t any cargo to weigh the truck down.
Using a load board makes it easier to avoid empty trailers by allowing you to pick and choose the jobs you want to take on. Some load boards even offer subscriptions that provide drivers with faster notifications and more jobs so you can jump on them as soon as they come up.
2. Earn More Money With Extra Shipments
When you find shipments with load boards, you can pick up as many jobs as you need. No brokers or middlemen are involved, so you’re free to pick up the shipments you want. Need a little extra money? You can pick up some extra shipments. Need to slow things down? No problem. You are in control.
With Trusted Dispatch’s load board, you can even subscribe to find certain loads. Our system categorizes loads by trailer type, so you can subscribe to the categories that work best for you and receive notifications when those types of loads are posted.
3. Guaranteed Real Shipments
When you use a reliable load board, you significantly increase your chances of securing real loads and avoiding unreliable customers, uncommunicative companies, or scams. Every customer must provide the dimensions of their machines as well as pick-up and drop-off locations before posting to the load board. They are highly encouraged to provide photos so drivers know what they are dealing with before accepting the load.
Most load boards offer direct communication between the driver and the client, so you can create a genuine connection with the client and ensure that the shipment is real and you will be compensated for your work.
4. Avoid Scams
With a reputable and reliable load board, you can avoid scams since only real loads are posted. We value the time and experience of our drivers, which is why we request payment from the customer upfront, which we hold in trust for you until the job is complete. This way you know payment is ready and waiting, and the customer feels secure. This is how we do it at Trusted Dispatch. You can relax and focus on your work without wasting energy, staying on the lookout for fake customers.
5. Communicate with Real People
Load boards like Trusted Dispatch allow you to communicate directly with real people, which helps build connections and trust. You can chat directly with the customer, which helps reduce stress in a number of ways. Better communication helps create an understanding between customers and drivers and allows you to collect any important information needed for the haul.
6. Guaranteed Payment
Often, a big issue that owner-operators face is dealing with clients that don’t want to pay for the services provided. It is reasonable for them to be anxious about paying up-front, especially if it is their first time working with you. However, you, as the driver, also need to have the reassurance that you will be paid upon completion of the job. That’s why Trusted Dispatch offers secure payment.
When you take a job through the Trusted Dispatch load board, you can put payment worries out of your mind. Making sure our excellent drivers receive payment is very important to us, so your compensation is always guaranteed. Before the load even gets on the road, the client will have sent the required payment. To give them peace of mind, Trusted Dispatch keeps the payment secured until the load is properly delivered by the driver.
There are also zero hidden fees. Whatever payment you’ve been promised, you will receive. The customer pays for your services, and once you make the delivery, we transfer your money to you. Trusted Dispatch believes in providing competitive rates for both clients and drivers, and there are even ways to adjust rates. If you find a load you’re interested in, but you don’t think the current rate reflects the work the job requires, you can make another offer to the customer. Some customers will work with you to find a rate you can both agree upon. Others will pass, which means you can look for the next load that fits your parameters.
7. Rates Are Fairly Calculated
Load boards are very considerate of the time, skills, and effort that owner-operators bring to their jobs and put in an effort to calculate rates fairly. For example, on the Trusted Dispatch platform, the load being hauled is categorized based on the equipment and number of axles required to complete the job. An estimate for loading and unloading time is generated and estimates the amount of time required to travel the distance of the load, with a little extra room for error. These are all multiplied by the hourly rate to create a shipping quote representative of the final rate.
That being said, the rates generated by our shipping calculator do not include extra costs, such as for pilot cars or oversized permits. We encourage drivers that want to take on a load, but would like a bit more incentive, to make all-in offers to customers, if they have the capacity to take the load. Customers are aware that to get their shipment hauled sooner, rather than later, may require paying a bit more.
8. Save Yourself the Effort of Finding Clients
When you use a load board, your days of scouring your network for potential clients are over. You can spend fewer amounts of time and money putting out personal ads and searching for job postings because a load board brings clients right to you. The convenience is unmatched. You won’t need to refuse jobs you’re unable to complete because, with a load board, you’ll be able to find the jobs that are best suited to you and your abilities. You can even receive notifications about load posting in specific categories you follow. Your stress will be reduced because you’ll always have a reliable place to source work.
9. Get Repeat Work
If you do some great work with a client and they take a liking to you, there’s a good chance they’ll seek you out again. With the direct communication provided by a load board, that becomes extremely easy. There could also be jobs posted that request repeat work, and if they suit you, you can take them on with ease.
You can also search for work on the Trusted Dispatch app by viewing and getting notifications for different categories, such as shorter loads or loads requiring certain trailer types. This way, you can repeatedly secure the best jobs for you and your equipment.
Use a Free Load Board for Better Hauls
One major bonus of joining Trusted Dispatch’s load board is that it costs nothing to join! All you need to do is show us that you’re a professional. We do require drivers to be fully-vetted before joining our network. If you’re a professional owner-operator with an excellent record and complete insurance coverage, you shouldn’t have difficulty joining our load board. If you’re interested in learning more about the loads our drivers work with, check out our drivers in action.
Get Started With Trusted Dispatch Today
To become a driver with Trusted Dispatch, you’ll need to start by creating an account. Next, register yourself as a driver and complete your driver profile. Your driver profile gets displayed to customers when you place offers on their loads, and it can be influential in their decision regarding your offer. It’s important to complete your profile and include information about where you operate, what vehicles you have, your driving experience, and references. The more detail you provide, the better, and the more likely clients are to confirm your offers. You can also modify your notification settings to suit your preferences. It is also important to set up your deposit information so you can get paid!
Using the Load Board
The Trusted Dispatch load board can be accessed via our website, and you can receive notifications through emails, but to move a little faster, you can set up our app. You’ll find our app on both Google Play and the App Store for Apple devices. With the app on your phone, you’ll be able to jump on loads faster when you receive notifications and only need to click once to reach available job postings.
Claiming Shipments
If you’re not sure you can take a load, we recommend holding back, but if you’re in the area and ready to take on a load, absolutely jump on it and secure that job. When you view available postings, you’ll be able to see the details of the load, including the dimensions of the equipment, the model of the equipment being shipped, and view the distance of the load on a map. You can also view a time window from the client indicating when the job needs to be completed. If you’re ready to take the job, you can send an offer to the client and contact them to let them know about your driving experience and how ready you are to take on the job.
Subscriptions
Trusted Dispatch does offer a notification subscription function that can help you receive notifications about the right loads so you can jump on them faster. For example, if you are looking for loads that need to be moved with a Removable Gooseneck Trailer, you can subscribe to that topic on the Trusted Dispatch app. Then you’ll be notified when those types of loads are posted to the board.
If you struggle at all with getting set up, Trusted Dispatch is here to help you! Send your questions during regular business hours via phone, email, or online chat, and we will be more than happy to help you get set up in the Trusted Dispatch network.
Personalize the App
You can personalize the Trusted Dispatch app to suit your needs and your driving experience, and you’re always guaranteed to be paid for your work. Rates are fairly calculated, direct communication is facilitated, and everything is designed to make heavy equipment shipping easier and less stressful for both drivers and customers.
To join Trusted Dispatch’s network of drivers and start picking up jobs from the load board, get started with Trusted Dispatch today. We can’t wait to add you to our network of skilled owner-operators!
Find Heavy-Haul Loads With Trusted Dispatch
Are you ready to start generating your own revenue with heavy-haul loads? Get started with Trusted Dispatch’s heavy equipment load board! As we’ve explained, there are countless benefits to working on a load board. You have much more control over the loads you take on, and you always have a place to go to for jobs. And the more responsive you are on the load board, the more jobs you can secure.
Trusted Dispatch helps clients ship their oversized and heavy equipment loads anywhere in Canada and the United States. Shipments range from bulldozers to excavators to combines and are hauled by pickup and semi-trucks alike. Our network is full of skilled owner-operators, increasing their revenue by picking up heavy-haul loads on the load board, and we’d love for you to join them!
