In a ‘life or death’ market, like the one we are in right now, finding loads that can keep your business afloat is a priority. With an average marginal cost of $1.855 per mile, it’s becoming a challenge to remain profitable.

In previous blog posts, we talked about reducing your expenses to increase your margins, but your ability to find higher-paying loads is just as important. How do you do that? 

Here are our top 5 tips that if you apply in your trucking business, you will likely get much better rates per mile:

Choose your type of truckload

According to the type of truckload, drivers may get different compensation:

• Dry van hauling: ∼$67,000 a year
• Refrigerated hauling: ∼$75,000 a year
• Oversized load hauling: ∼80,000 a year 
• Tanker hauling: ∼$90,000 a year
  
• Regional hauling: ∼$70,000 a year
• Auto hauling: ∼$82,000 a year
• Hazmat hauling: up to $105,500 a year

Each category comes with advantages and disadvantages that have to be carefully weighed before you make your decision.

Use load boards

Load boards are the best place to find high-paying loads. You can easily find a multitude of free load boards online, however, paid load boards tend to have more high-paying loads organized by load type and specialized freight.

Be available on urgent loads

Nobody likes tight deadlines, but in trucking, loads that need to be delivered as soon as possible tend to have the highest rates per mile. Of course, hauling this type of load comes with risks, but if you are an experienced driver and you know you can deliver it on time, go for it. If you’re not sure, you should not accept the loads; a missed deadline can give you a bad reputation.

Don’t avoid congested areas

Hauling to traffic jams is stressful, but it also gives you more leverage in negotiating rates. Brokers and shippers know that most truckers don’t prefer these areas, and that’s why they are willing to pay more for such loads.

Expand your service area

Being available to haul to a larger area allows you to choose between more loads. Loads in richer states such as California, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut tend to pay much better.

Conclusion

Finding high-paying loads in a bad market is challenging, but not impossible. Experts are predicting that the market will improve in the next year or so, but until then, truckers have to find all the tricks up their sleeves to get by. Following these tips should put you in a better position financially, so make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity. Keep hauling!