As a logistics company, your goal is to find ways that’ll help you maximize your return on investments. Since your business depends on how many loaded miles you run, you’ll need to look for loads to haul to increase your mileage, as well as your profits. Otherwise, you’ll run out of cash, and your trucking business won’t be able to function properly.
In order to prevent such unwanted setbacks from happening, you’ll need to adapt to today’s technological landscape. You should be able to adopt whatever advanced technology offers. Doing so will significantly improve your business’ efficiencies, maintain its competitive edge, and maximize its savings to a greater extent.
If that’s the case, you might want to try integrating functional load board software into your trucking operations. With this technology, you’ll be able to find clients that might need your help and stay connected with them. And you’ll have more time and opportunities to earn money.
However, not all freight or load boards are created and developed in the same manner. So, how will you know the right one among the sea of options? Below are the things you’ll need to consider when choosing a load board.
- The Type Of Load Board You Need
There are many types of load or freight boards in the market. Most of them are developed with carriers and brokers in mind. Although every board serves different purposes, most can be availed through subscriptions with extensive plans and functionalities.
Here are the different types of load boards you might need to know before purchasing one:
- Public Load Board
A public load board lets any shipper, carrier, and broker in your country create an account and start posting and bidding for their needs and services. Since many people are on the public platform, the competition for this type of freight board can be intense. But the good news is that it’s often cheaper than its private counterpart (more on this later), and it allows you to see other carriers’ and brokers’ charges and loads.
- LTL (Less Than Truckload) Load Board
LTL load boards are only brokers and carriers who specialize in LTL. Moreover, they’re difficult to find. They’re developed to connect people with partial truckloads, so they’re somehow ideal for carriers who don’t have full loads and want to top their haul with more for better earnings.
- Specialized Load Board
As the name implies, specialized load boards are only for trucks with special purposes. These are for dump trucks, curtain loads, hoopers, and open deck loads. Usually, they connect shippers and carriers who belong to the bulk loading industry.
- Private Load Board
Unlike its public counterpart, private load boards cannot be viewed by anyone else. Only subscribers are allowed to see restricted shipper freight, and only shippers can decide which carrier can access their board. This builds trust and a strong relationship between shippers and carriers, which seems impossible to public load boards.
- The Price
There are plenty of load boards in the market, varying in prices based on the features they offer. Go for a software solution built with features necessary for your needs and at a reasonable price. If you don’t, you’ll just be throwing your money into something that won’t help you have more loads to transport and money to earn.
The price range of load boards usually starts at USD$100. Be wary of those who provide free services. They don’t have strong security features or advanced settings normally offered by paid platforms. In addition, they don’t offer plenty of loads to choose from, limiting your potential to earn more. This is why it’s better to pay than to receive free service when it comes to load boards.
- The Number Of Loads
Your earnings highly depend on the loads your load board may offer. Therefore, it’s extremely important for your load board to have as many loads available. If your software doesn’t have enough load offering, you might want to consider switching to a different platform instead.
Look for a load board that has hundreds of thousands of active loads available. Aside from a load board with many active loads, search for a platform that offers multiple ways to sort and identify better loads quickly and effectively. Furthermore, make sure to find software that has sufficient volume and variety of loads for your day-to-day trucking operations.
- Features
Features are some of the most important factors you’ll need to take into account when selecting a load board suitable for your trucking operations. In most cases, the more features your load board has, the pricier it is. So, opt for a subscription plan that offers the essential features you need at a reasonable price.
Here are some features commonly looked for in a load board that you might want to take into consideration:
- Load posting and management
- Truck search and map view
- Compliance checker
- Load booking, comparison, and search
- Broker credit data
- Mobile application
- Reviews
- Freight factoring
- Fuel management
- The Updates
A load board, no matter how expensive, won’t do any good for your logistics company if it’s not capable of updating regularly. Timely updates are crucial to the effectiveness and efficiency of the software. Without these updates, your business will surely miss a lot of opportunities new technologies and advanced features have to offer.
- The Navigation
A load boards should be as user-friendly as possible. Its navigation should be easy to work with and understand. If the load board isn’t user-friendly, you’ll end up wasting time trying to work with one you can hardly use.
You may check out its training videos as well, so you can understand how to work with it smoothly. But if you aren’t able to learn how to use it in less than an hour, leave it and look for other options in the market instead. Remember, the sooner you learn to use it, the more opportunities you can grab and the better sales and revenue you can receive.
Final Words
Load boards are essential for an effective and successful trucking and logistics operation. An effective software solution will help you maximize profitability, taking your sales and revenue to the next level. If you aren’t sure of what to look for in a powerful trucking solution, you may consider the above-mentioned factors. Just keep in mind to choose one that’s perfect for your needs and effective in boosting your savings and improving your earnings.