Hauling in trucking: every specialty, the license it takes and how it pays

Hauling meaning: trucking, not junk removal

Search for hauling and half the results are about junk removal: a pickup and a crew clearing out a garage. That is a different trade. This guide is about commercial freight hauling, where a carrier with operating authority moves loads for shippers and brokers and gets paid per mile, per load, per hour, per ton or per head.

Freight hauling splits into two worlds. General freight, boxed and palletized goods, moves in dry vans and box trucks. Specialty hauling needs equipment and skills a van doesn't have: a tanker with baffles, a car hauler with hydraulic decks, a cattle pot with vents and gates, a lowboy that sits a 40-ton excavator a few inches off the road.

The specialty deck

Each card below is one rig we dispatch. Flip it for what it hauls, the license it takes, the rules that apply and how it pays.

Hauling services compared: freight, license and pay

License thresholds come from the federal CDL groups: Class A for combinations rated 26,001 lb or more that tow over 10,000 lb Source, and Class B for single trucks rated 26,001 lb or more. Source Pay methods vary by customer and lane; the column shows the common ones, not a rule.

Long distance, regional and local hauling

Distance shapes the job as much as the trailer. Long distance hauling, often called over the road, keeps a driver out for days or weeks and pays mostly by the mile. Regional work runs a few states and gets the driver home on weekends more often. Local hauling, such as dump trucks, ready-mix, roll-offs and city box truck deliveries, usually pays by the hour or the load and gets the driver home each night.

Specialties lean one way or another. Car haulers and reefers run long. Dump trucks and water trucks stay local. Grain and livestock haulers swing between short runs at harvest and long runs to feedlots and processors. Hours-of-service rules apply to all of them, with short-haul exceptions for drivers who stay close to home.

How hauling work is found and paid

Most owner-operators get freight three ways: load boards, where brokers post loads; direct relationships with brokers who call when they have freight in your lane; and their own shippers. A broker sends a rate confirmation, the contract for that one load, listing the pickup, delivery, rate and any extras such as detention or tarp pay. After delivery, the signed proof of delivery goes with the invoice, and the carrier gets paid on the broker's terms or sooner through factoring.

The rate depends on the rig and the lane more than anything else. A reefer load into a busy produce market can pay well going in and poorly coming out. A hopper bottom is busy at harvest and quiet after. A heavy haul move pays for the permits, escorts and slow miles on top of the linehaul.

Worked example: one week, two specialties EXAMPLE

A flatbed owner-operator hauls steel coils out of Indiana on Monday at a per-mile rate with tarp pay, then picks up a load of lumber in Georgia on Wednesday. The coils need chains and coil racks; the lumber needs edge protection and straps. Same trailer, different securement, different rate. That is specialty hauling in miniature: the freight decides the gear, the gear decides the rules, and the rules decide what the load is worth.

The rules that change by specialty

• Size and weight: the federal baseline is 102 inches wide Source and 80,000 lb gross on the Interstate. Source Past those, you need state permits.
• Tanks: hauling liquids in tanks needs the tank vehicle endorsement once the tanks pass the size threshold. Source
• Hazmat: placarded loads need the hazmat endorsement, and some materials need placards in any quantity. Source
• Vehicles: car haulers follow their own securement rules for vehicles as cargo. Source
• Livestock: animals generally can't be confined for more than 28 consecutive hours without unloading for feed, water and rest. Source

Starting a hauling business

Pick the specialty first, because it decides the truck, the trailer, the license, the insurance and the customers. A 26 ft box truck is the lowest-cost entry; a tanker or a car hauler costs more and pays for skills fewer carriers have. Read starting a hauling business for the steps, and check what a load is really worth with the rate per mile calculator. For more on trailers, see hauling trailers, bulk hauling and heavy equipment hauling.

Once the rig and the rules are sorted, the next problem is keeping it loaded. That is the work of our dispatch for owner-operators: loads that fit your rig, negotiated before you hear about them, and your yes or no on every one.