With truckload rates and consumer demand on the rise heading into autumn, finding quality truck capacity has become more challenging. If the increase in freight volume has you musing, “I need a load board – which one should I use?” you may be posing the wrong question. While load boards were the best way to find truck capacity several years ago, technology has evolved and the industry has developed smarter, more efficient ways for brokers and 3PLs like you to find (and book) truck capacity and to do so quickly. The better question, the one you should be asking yourself, is this: what’s the best way to find truck capacity?
Why Load Boards Can No Longer Deliver
If you’ve been in the logistics business for a long time and have always used load boards to find truck capacity, you may be reluctant to consider other options. It’s important to remember, however, that adaptability and flexibility are vital to long-term success. As Mark Southey, Managing Partner of Traffix, said in a recent webinar with Trucker Tools, “If you don’t adopt the technologies available in the market in a given year, all you’re doing is moving yourself further to the back of the line.”
One of the greatest drawbacks of load boards is that they are inherently inefficient because they constitute a purely manual process. With load boards, staff members must log onto load boards, post individual loads, and then respond by phone or email to the carriers reacting to each individual post. Once the load is booked, they must remove the post from the load board(s). By the time all is said and done, it may take a staff member an hour or more to book a single load using load boards. Load boards also aren’t real-time, which means that by the time a carrier responds to your post, the load may already be gone, which can negatively impact your relationships with carriers.
The Power of Digital Freight Matching, Book It Now®
Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity digital freight matching platform is an easy-to-use, easy-to-implement interface that matches your open loads with truck capacity from within your network of preferred carriers. With Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching, your staff members can cover open loads quickly and efficiently without ever picking up the phone, sending an email or logging onto a load board. Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform is a private platform that allows you to control which carriers and truckers can see your open loads. That means your staff members aren’t fielding phone calls and messages from unqualified carriers or carriers outside of your preferred network.
Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform includes Book It Now®, a tool that automates your load booking process, as well. Posting one of your loads as a Book It Now® load to our digital freight matching platform gives carriers of your choosing the ability to book the load through Trucker Tools’ free driver app or through our free carrier dispatcher platform. Book It Now® automates the entire load booking process, from start to finish. When a carrier or dispatcher books one of your Book It Now® loads through our driver app or carrier platform, the load is automatically booked in your TMS thanks to a software integration. The carrier receives an automated email that confirms the load booking and load details. That’s it — no phone calls, loads boards or emails required.
Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching and Book It Now®reduce the time and manual labor associated with covering a load, which ultimately reduces your cost per load. With less time and human resources needed to cover each individual load, your logistics company can move more volume and concentrate staffing on activities essential to your business, such as customer service and carrier development.
Provide a Better Experience for Carriers
Digital freight matching and automated load booking benefit owner operators and trucking companies, too. Carriers can view (and book) your loads at times that are most convenient for them. They don’t have to wait for a callback from your staff or an email response about a load they saw on a load board. They can view the details on your loads any time of day or night. Because the details on your open loads are pulled directly from your TMS, carriers have all the information they need to make an informed decision on the load.
Another major disadvantage of load board technology is that it isn’t a real-time technology. This is especially problematic for carriers. In contrast, Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching and Book It Now® are real-time technologies for carriers. When a load is booked in your TMS, it’s automatically removed from Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform and is no longer available in the Trucker Tools driver app or in our carrier platform. That means that carriers aren’t wasting time pursuing loads that another carrier has already booked. Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching and Book It Now® provide a level of transparency that load boards just can’t.
Are you struggling to provide the freight visibility your shippers expect? Read Meet Your Shippers’ Visibility Compliance and Consistency Requirements with Trucker Tools’ Real-Time Visibility Platform.
To schedule a demo of Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching and Book It Now®, contact Trucker Tools’ sales team.
