Overdrive

y phone Owner-operators harness nextgeneration load-search tools to minimize freight-finding hassles. By Todd Dills M ore owner-operators are leaving their laptops at home and doing business on the road – including load-finding – exclusively from their smartphones and tablets. When 4B Transportation owner-operator Cody Blankenship isn't pulling his hopper bottom with his 2003 Kenworth W900B, he often fills his reefer via a monthly subscription to GetLoaded.com. Blankenship used to carry a laptop and pay about $40 a month for Internet service. The Waco, Texas-based driver realized he could eliminate that cost given the speed and capabilities of his BlackBerry smartphone's browser. He uses it to access his "Trucker Basic" search and post account on GetLoaded for $29.99 monthly. Other users are bypassing their phones' browsers and taking advantage of native apps for iPhone and Android – BlackBerry for some – that boards and various brokers and carriers have developed to foster carrier/broker/shipper connections. TransCore DAT, with its TruckersEdge mobile website, has optimized its services for a wide variety of phone platforms. The shifting accessibility patterns of online freight resources offer new tools for owner-operators. These include the "big three" public load boards, some carriers' and brokers' in-house tools and other sources. April 2013 | Overdrive | 27 Loads_Online.indd 27 4/1/13 9:09 PM

• Cover
• COVER STORY: Load by phone: Owner-operators are harnessing next-generation load-search tools to minimize freight-finding hassles.
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