If you’re a dispatcher for a small to mid-sized trucking company, one of the biggest challenges you face on a daily basis is finding high-quality freight with preferred brokers that matches your available truck capacity. Using traditional load boards is time-consuming and labor intensive because the data posted on load boards may be inaccurate and/or becomes outdated quickly. You also typically have to pay a monthly fee for each load board that you use.
Fear not, dispatchers: there is a better alternative available and it’s free! Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity for Dispatchers makes finding loads much easier and faster. Even better, Smart Capacity for Dispatchers includes an automated load booking tool called Book-It-Now that lets you book loads digitally with preferred brokers with a few mouse clicks.
Access Fresh Data on Available Freight Loads
Traditional load boards are problematic for dispatchers, truckers and brokers because they’re not real-time and the data posted on them is often outdated. To see the date and time that a load was originally posted on a load board, you may have to pay an additional load board subscription fee. Even if a load was recently posted, it may already be taken by another carrier. The only way to find out if it’s still available is to call the broker. Another problem with load boards is that sometimes the rates posted are inaccurate.
With Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity for Dispatchers, all of the loads you see listed are live loads and all the rates listed are real rates. The load information that you see in Smart Capacity for Dispatchers is pulled directly from the broker’s TMS, so it’s real data. Load data is refreshed every five minutes. When a broker or 3PL lists a load in Smart Capacity, it’s also important to note that the load is not open to the general public like load boards are. Brokers can list loads that are only available to specific carriers, which reduces the time that you might otherwise spend pursuing dead leads on load boards.
Find Quality Loads and Book Them Quickly
When you search for loads in Smart Capacity for Dispatchers, you can search by truck location, preferred lane/destination(s), truck type, length and date/time. Your search results will only show loads for the brokers you’ve chosen. If you don’t want to see loads from certain broker, you can easily unsubscribe and that broker’s loads won’t show up in your load search results. This allows you to only view loads from preferred brokers. When you do a load search in Smart Capacity for Dispatchers, you’ll also be given the option to publish truck capacity based on the search terms you’ve entered. All loads listed in Smart Capacity include pickup and delivery dates, times and locations, as well as deadhead miles, number of stops, weight, length and the broker’s contact details.
Some of the broker loads listed in Smart Capacity for Dispatchers include a yellow ribbon marked “Book-It-Now.” When you see a load that is designated as a Book-It-Now load, you can book the load directly in Smart Capacity. If you are interested in the Book-It-Now load, but want to propose a different rate to the broker, you can submit a rate quote to the broker directly through Smart Capacity with a few mouse clicks. Once you’ve accepted the load in Smart Capacity, the appointment is automatically booked in the broker’s TMS and you receive an automated email confirming the load details. Suggestions for future available loads are included in the confirmation email, which further reduces the time that dispatch spends looking for freight.
Smart Capacity for Dispatchers Is Free
Most load boards require you to pay a monthly subscription fee to access the load information on their websites. With each load board subscription averaging $100, these monthly load board subscription fees can quickly add up. It’s also important to consider how much time and effort load boards require. It may take hours to find the right load on a load board, follow up with the broker by phone, negotiate the rate and then finalize the transaction. When you consider how much time and energy you spend on this process, it’s apparent just how much the use of load boards hurts the efficiency of your dispatch operations.
In sharp contrast, Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity for Dispatchers is free. Not only does Smart Capacity for Dispatchers reduce the time you devote on freight searches and load bookings, but it also can reduce your operating costs by eliminating multiple, monthly load board subscription fees.
Learn more about Trucker Tools’ game-changing Book-It-Now by reading Use Trucker Tools’ Book-It-Now to Increase the Profitability of your Trucking Business.
