Finding Freight in the Trucking Business

If you're an independent trucker or make extra money hauling freight on your own time, you know that finding the items to transport can be exhausting. Freight brokers and agents have the demanding task of finding freight that needs to be hauled and matching them up with the right trucker. Coordinating these loads isn't easy, but finding clients and manufacturers that need their goods transported is the very nature of the transportation industry.

Freight brokers have a great understanding of what type of loads are the perfect match for the trucker. Some truckers have the ability and the clearance for HAZMAT hauling, so naturally, a freight broker will match this driver with a company who has a need to transport hazardous materials. A freight broker knows freight inside and out and has a running list of potential drivers for each load. Furthermore, a freight broker knows the difference between the types of trucks and tractor-trailers that get these big hauling jobs done. Having knowledge of who drives refrigeration trucks will get the right trucker matched with items that need to be refrigerated, and truckers who drive a flatbed can easily be matched with loads that require such a mode of transportation.

If you're a trucker who is looking for work, it can be difficult getting your name on the radar of one of these freight brokers, especially those who've been in the industry for a long time and already have a set list of clients and customers. Persistence pays off, and eventually your skill set and your rig will be matched with the right loads for you. You may wish to start out by joining an Internet load board, where you register your information and your credentials, and you are matched with hauling jobs within the region you select. This can be especially helpful for those who have made a run and now have to drive back to their home region. Instead of making a "dead run", or a trip with no freight, it is easy for a truck driver to hop on the Internet and find a load that needs to be transported from the city they're in now to the city they have to drive back to. If you're going that direction anyway, might as well take a load and make some money, right? The problem with most new independent truckers is that they just can't seem to break into the system and find loads on a consistent basis. But the truth of the matter is that there is always freight that needs hauling.

The nature of our supply and demand economy will always make transportation work available for those who seek it. Logging on to an Internet load board and/or contacting a freight broker or agent will get you on the fast track to regular work and allow you to be matched with loads on a constant basis.