Carriers are the key to greater supply chain visibility. Despite their obviously vital role in load visibility, 69 percent of the truckers who responded to a recent Trucker Tools survey reported that they aren’t given a choice of which load tracking method to use when hauling a load for a broker. When carriers, particularly owner operators and small carriers, aren’t given any choice in load tracking, they are more likely to outright refuse to use your visibility tool. A lack of choice may even influence whether or not carriers want to haul a load for you again.
It’s more important than ever to provide a positive user experience for carriers, especially if you want to establish relationships with quality carriers and reduce the costs associated with on-boarding carriers for “one and done” single loads. If you’re a broker or third party logistics provider and you aren’t getting the load visibility you need, it may be time to ask yourself this: are you picking load tracking tech that carriers are comfortable with?
Why Carriers May Be Wary of Load Tracking Apps
Most of the freight tracking technologies in use by brokerages/3PLs today are single function, proprietary apps that do just one thing: track freight for brokers, 3PLs and/or shippers. These single function tracking only apps don’t include features that benefit carriers, which decreases the likelihood that carriers will download and use these single function tracking apps.
What you also may not know is that carriers are usually asked to use a different load tracking technology every time they accept a new broker/3PL load. That load tracking app you want your carriers to use probably can’t be reused with another broker/3PL. That means carriers have to download a new app virtually every time they haul a new load. Every single function visibility app functions a little bit differently and there is a learning curve for each one, as well.
What you also may not know is that carriers are usually asked to use a different load tracking technology every time they accept a new broker/3PL load. That load tracking app you want your carriers to use probably can’t be reused with another broker/3PL. That means carriers have to download a new app virtually every time they haul a new load. Every single function visibility app functions a little bit differently and there is a learning curve for each one, as well.
How You Can Raise the Bar on Freight Visibility
One simple way to make adoption of digital load tracking technology more palatable for carriers is to offer them more than one choice for load tracking. When deciding which load tracking tools to offer your carriers, consider whether or not the solution offers value to carriers that goes beyond load tracking. Instead of trying to strong-arm reluctant carriers into using visibility tools that they aren’t comfortable with, offer carriers load tracking options that are designed to also help carriers run their businesses more efficiently.
In another recent Trucker Tools survey on load tracking, roughly 55 percent of the truckers we surveyed reported that they’re reluctant to use visibility tools because of privacy-related concerns, including the safety of the personal data on their phones and the potential for having their driving patterns recorded. You can raise your load visibility by addressing carriers’ privacy concerns head-on. When choosing which load tracking tools to offer to your carriers, opt for visibility tools that provide transparency to truckers. Any good load tracking technology worth its salt should, at the very least, provide truckers with basic information on whether their location data is being shared and who is receiving that data.
Trucker Tools — A Universal Visibility Platform for Brokers and Carriers
Offering the Trucker Tools driver app as a load tracking option to your carrier partners provides them with an all-in-one app with 17 other must-have tools and features that go beyond load tracking. In addition to providing you with the real-time, GPS-based load tracking that you need for your brokerage, the Trucker Tools driver app puts real-time information on optimal routes, fuel prices, weigh scales, medical facilities, weather, rest stops, truck stops, truck washes, DOT locations and more at truckers’ fingertips. Carriers also can use our driver app to find and book open loads directly in the app.
Trucker Tools’ free driver app is all about the carrier experience, which is why the load tracking tool we’ve included in our free driver app provides complete transparency to truckers. A driver’s location is only tracked when on a load and the driver has to agree to be tracked for that load. When load tracking is turned on, the trucker receives a notification on their smart phone that includes the name of the broker/3PL receiving the location data and the details on the associated load. Carriers have the option to pause or cancel load tracking directly in the app, as well. Trucker Tools’ driver app also cannot use or share any of the personal data from the trucker’s smart phone, such as text messages or pictures.
The Trucker Tools free driver app and digital load tracking platform for brokers bridges the gap between you and carriers, creating a common platform that you can use with multiple carriers and that carriers can use with multiple brokers. With Trucker Tools’ visibility solution, you can view real-time truck locations either in your transportation management system’s interface or in Trucker Tools’ digital load tracking platform. Truck locations are updated every five minutes automatically, which means you always know where that truck is and you don’t even have to pick up the phone to find out. Did you know that Trucker Tools’ digital load tracking platform and driver app can be integrated with shipper visibility platforms MacroPoint, Project44, 10/4 and FourKites? For more information, read Meet Shippers’ Visibility Key Performance Indicators with Trucker Tools’ Carrier-Friendly Freight Tracking. To learn more about Trucker Tools’ digital load tracking, schedule a demo.
