01Why can't I find loads for my truck?
Usually one of four reasons: you are searching in the wrong place for your equipment, your rates are set above what that lane is paying this week, your authority is too new for the brokers you are calling, or you are sitting where freight leaves but rarely arrives.
Specialty rigs add a fifth. When your niche slows, like car auctions between sale weeks or grain after harvest, the loads built for your trailer dry up even if general freight is moving. The fix is rarely one big change. It is a better search, a wider broker list and a plan for the slow stretch.
02How do I find loads for my truck?
Start with the boards that suit your equipment, then go past them. Brokers you have hauled for before are often the best source, because they already have your packet on file and know you deliver. Direct shippers and local businesses that ship on your type of trailer are the next step.
Then work the reload before you deliver, not after. A truck that starts looking for freight when it is already empty has lost half a day. That planning is most of what a dispatcher does.
03Where do car haulers find loads when it is slow?
Vehicle shipping boards, auctions, dealer groups, rental fleet companies and repossession or remarketing companies all move cars. When dealer volume drops, private customer moves and dealer trades often keep going. A quiet week is also the week to call dealers near your home base, because they remember the hauler who called before they needed one. Our guide to the car hauler load board covers where to look.
04What can a tanker haul on the way back?
It depends on the tank, the last product and the wash. A food-grade tank can take another food-grade liquid after a proper wash. A chemical tank may take a compatible product or need a full cleaning first. A placarded tank can haul non-hazmat liquid once it is cleaned and the placards are changed. The questions are always the same: is the tank rated for it, is it clean enough, and do the driver's endorsements and the insurance cover it?
05Should I change lanes to find freight?
Sometimes. If your home area ships far more than it receives, every trip out ends with a long empty run back, and a small shift in where you start or finish the week can fix it. Before you move your lanes, look at a month of loads and empty miles. If most of the loss is in the return leg, plan better backhauls first. Moving lanes is a bigger change and should come second.
06How far should I deadhead for a load?
Count the empty miles as part of the trip. Divide the load rate by loaded plus empty miles and compare that number with your cost per mile. A load that pays well per loaded mile can still lose money after a 200-mile deadhead. As a rough habit, a long deadhead needs either a strong rate or a reload waiting at the other end. Our cost per mile calculator helps you set your own line.
07Is the freight market slow right now?
Markets move by season, region and equipment, so the honest answer changes week to week. Spot rates and load-to-truck ratios published by the major load boards are the best public signal of the overall market. But a slow national market doesn't mean your truck has to sit. Specialty freight often follows its own calendar, and a broader search usually turns up something your rig can legally haul.
08How do dispatchers find loads?
The same places you can, only more of them at once and earlier in the day: several load boards, brokers they already work with, and shippers who call them directly. The difference is time. A dispatcher spends the day searching and negotiating while you drive, then calls you with the load before it is booked. You still decide, and the rate con still comes to you.
09My MC is new. Is that why brokers won't book me?
Often, yes. Some brokers set a minimum authority age before they will book a carrier, and new carriers have no payment or service history to show. It fades with time. Focus on the brokers that do book new authorities, keep every early load clean and on time, and widen your list as the MC ages.
10Should I lower my rate to get loads?
Not below your cost per mile. Dropping your rate can win a load, but it also teaches brokers to offer you less next time, and a truck that runs at a loss every day is worse off than a truck that waits a day for a fair load. Know your number first: fuel, insurance, truck payment, maintenance and your own pay per mile.
There is a middle ground. A slightly lower rate can make sense when it takes you somewhere with better freight, or when it replaces a long empty run home. Judge the load by where it leaves you, not just by what it pays.
11Do specialty rigs need different load boards?
Often, yes. General boards carry plenty of dry van, reefer and flatbed freight, but car haulers, heavy haul and some bulk carriers find more of their work on boards and networks built for that equipment, and even more through direct relationships with dealers, contractors, terminals or elevators. A dispatcher who works your specialty already knows where that freight is posted and who ships it.
12What should I do while the truck sits?
Use the time. Update your carrier packets, call brokers you've hauled for and ask what they have coming next week, chase any unpaid invoices, and get maintenance done so the truck is ready when the freight returns. A slow week is also a good week to compare your rate per mile and empty miles over the last three months and see where the money really went.