Top 5 Tips to Get Best Rate/Pricing For Your Full Truckloads Freight

#5 Check your past shipments out of the same origin and to the same destination - every point in the USA is either an origin with a surplus of trucks looking for a backhaul, or a deficit of trucks looking to extract a high "front haul" price from you, or you are shipping from/to a balanced lane that has roughly equivalent pricing back and forth. Most acute trucker surplus areas are the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast, but you have seasonal situations arising all the time.

#4 Go to FreightRun.com, sign in or register, and use Full Truckload Pricing Calculator - this gives you competitive prices.

If you ship multiple Full Truckload shipments you can in addition also send a special pricing request with the details.

#3 Know all the facts about your shipment that will help your broker get you the best prices (don't have a freight broker yet? Try FreightRun): Is your freight palletized? How long does it take to load and unload? Can you load in less than an hour or do you need 2 hours? Will you load IMMEDIATELY when the truck comes or does it have to wait for other trucks? At the unloading place will the truck be unloaded IMMEDIATELY upon arrival and is it going to a commercial trucking dock? Or must it wait for an appointment? Is driver assistance required on the unloading? Find out every detail IN ADVANCE so your broker can negotiate the BEST DEAL POSSIBLE given the requirements and parameters of your load (and unload!). For instance, if it takes 4 hours for your receiver to unload - but you can tell us this in advance - your broker can get a discounted price that includes that service and avoids detention!

#2 List your shipping requirements on the Bill of Lading - if it was important enough to tell the broker it should be put in writing on the Bill of Lading - such as the delivery appointment or deadline!

Make sure your weights are correct on the Bill of Lading and that you distribute the load evening when loading. This assures that all facts about the shipment were disclosed in writing and makes it difficult for the carrier to charge surprise extra service fees.

#1 Inspect the truck upon its arrival at your dock - if dusty provide a broom to the driver to sweep it out. Inspect the roof and sides of the truck for holes or daylight - there should not be any!

Your freight broker should inspect the safety record and insurance of the carrier they choose, but trailers are sometimes shared and switched between carrier fleets so make a point to inspect whatever trailer the driver brings in.