[MoonlightGraham]

www.realtimefreight.com

They claim to be a direct to shippers board where there are no brokered or double brokered loads, just a network of carriers and shippers working directly with each other.

It sounds like a great idea, at least in theory, and something I've been expecting and looking for in this internet age. I've thought for awhile that brokers' days were and should be numbered. Their services will continue to become more and more redundant.

I'm just wondering if anybody out here has actually tried this load board and can provide some feedback.

Their subscription is $30/month, which is reasonable, but it appears you must sign up for six months at a time. That $180 total could well be paid for with just a few good loads but I'm reluctant to take the plunge until I hear from somebody that has actually used them.

If something like this works, I would expect that with the elimination of the middleman (broker), that shippers would be able to find a cheaper rate to ship their goods while carriers would get a higher rate to haul. Essentially, shippers and carriers would split the broker's profit, which I'm sure in a lot of cases is highly significant. A win-win for the shipping industry.

It should also streamline the whole billing process and help small carriers establish relationships with direct shippers. Service at both ends should be improved.

We used getloaded now for backhauls but I think the rates I got this week ranged from 1.25 to 1.80. In other words, crappy to decent, but nothing to get excited about.

Thanks for any feedback.

[sidman82]

I have subscribed recently. But I think I should not have. Only because I am local and there is hardly any freight in my area with them. It seemed like a good idea to check them out to see if I could hook up with some new shippers. But so far, nothing. It may work out for OTR guys. (more areas to access).
Doesn't hurt to try them out for a couple of months. They contacted me on the phone, as they probably did to most of the people on here who use a load board.

[GMAN]

I tried them for a month. All I saw were cheap loads. In fact, one shipper had loads for $1/mile coming out of an area where I regularly haul freight. I cancelled it. Two of the best load boards I have found are getloaded.com and internettruckstop.com. Some of the larger shippers have their own load boards, such as Landstar, CH Robinson, Schneider, etc., I have been offered rates from $0.90 to $3/mile from these two boards. Most seem to average between $1.35-1.85.

With realtimefreight, I believe the highest paying load I saw was $1.50. There were several in the $1.20-1.35 range. I saw very little freight in the area that I needed something. Since I can usually get about twice that rate from the same area, I saw no need to waste my money on their service. It could be different in your area.

[sup]

Don't use it! On this so called shippers board, you'll find brokers just like on GL posting their cheap loads. I tried it for 2 months. During that time i didn't get a load from that board.....