Bid Boards

arkjarhead · Apr 15, 2008

I see people sometimes writing about how they get loads off of places like Panther's bid board. How do you get on Panther's bid board or on one of the others? I guess I'm trying to figure out how some of the one truck outfits get to service the larger companies.

davekc · Apr 15, 2008

Get your own authority and proper insurance, and you then contact them. Pretty much the same at the Fed and several others.

arkjarhead · Apr 15, 2008

So once someone was all set up with authority and what not would they contact the backhaul department or is there an outside contractor department?

Jefferson3000 · Apr 15, 2008

arkjarhead said:
So once someone was all set up with authority and what not would they contact the backhaul department or is there an outside contractor department?

They call them "partner carriers." The originating carrier basically acts as a brokerage to you.

arkjarhead · Apr 15, 2008

So do most of the larger carriers utilize "partner carriers"?

rodeehos · Apr 16, 2008

Some Of The Larger Carrier Offer Partner Carrier Programs. You Usually Have To Have Several Trucks In Your Fleet, Good Safety Ratings, And Everything In Line With Your Authority.

CharlesD · Apr 16, 2008

I've just got one vehicle, and I've got partner agreements with several larger carriers.

greg334 · Apr 16, 2008

CharlesD said:
I've just got one vehicle, and I've got partner agreements with several larger carriers.

I am wondering if you also get loads from NLM?

CharlesD · Apr 16, 2008

greg334 said:
I am wondering if you also get loads from NLM?

NLM doesn't want to deal with little people. I sometimes will do NLM loads that I get from another carrier when they book it and then their driver turns it down. I don't get too many of those though. The last time I talked to them I was told that they aren't taking on any new carriers right now but I'm free to call them back in the fall. Still, they want carriers with more vehicles and their insurance requirements are kind of high.

Tennesseahawk · Apr 16, 2008

I had heard that NLM wants you to have 24 hr dispatch, so you can respond yay or nay to every load. Not something a small operation can deal with.

Jefferson3000 · Apr 16, 2008

Tennesseahawk said:
I had heard that NLM wants you to have 24 hr dispatch, so you can respond yay or nay to every load. Not something a small operation can deal with.

If someone wants to call me with a load, I'm available 24/7. I admit though, it is rare to get any calls between 9pm and 7am, unless I'm already under load.

greg334 · Apr 16, 2008

Tennesseahawk said:
I had heard that NLM wants you to have 24 hr dispatch, so you can respond yay or nay to every load. Not something a small operation can deal with.

That applies to the qualified carriers, the unqualified carriers get emails if I remember. I haven't talked to anyone down there in about a year, so I would think some things have changed.

Thanks for the reply CharlesD

davekc · Apr 17, 2008

That is correct on having to have a 24/7 dispatch and respond to all of the loads. That isn't a requirement to haul one, just if you are bidding directly with them.
The only time I believe they would send a email out would be if it passed through all of their partners and they all declined it.
Likely a junk run at that point.