Truckstop Load Board Reviews

Summary: If it had a phone app with the same membership like DAT, i'm sure I can convince my boss to transfer over to Truckstop.

Positive: Even though it isn't as simple to use as DAT, it does have so many features that dat doesn't have that are for user convenience..

Negative: You should be given the option to remove certain detail columns for our convenience.

Summary: Satisfied with the service provided. Updated frequently and includes sufficient details to make decisions about loads.

Positive: Easy to use with multiple search options and filters. The ability to see the rate estimate for prior routes is very helpful. Has the ability to store multiple routes/trips in load searches. Variety of brokers listed.

Negative: Searching on the app vs computer will sometimes return different results.

Summary: Very happy with my choice to use Truckstop. Very user friendly, trying to learn if there are any short cuts to get around. I'm still learning and it easy to understand the platform.

Positive: It has a great customer service, easy to use , and easy to understand. I love how easy the ITS Dispatch is to use also. To build the load all the way to paying for the loads.

Negative: The cost lol, but we get what we pay for and it's worth it. wish you could just refresh the job posted but was told I have to delete it and re post it.

Summary: Attachment option would have been great.

Positive: Great selection of carriers. Great interface and display. Ability to organise loads in various ways.

Negative: I wish there was an option to attach pictures to the load posted.

Summary: Overall it's ok but just that. There is room for improvement but I think there is a lot of hesitation in making those. They are well aware of things that are not as good as they could be but don't seem to care too much as long as there are subscribers. That is a shame because I actually like using the board but will be done with it sooner than later once enough relationships are established and nourished through different means. I do recommend it as a tool for newcomers but only if you don't rely on the app alone.

Positive: I like that it features easy customization to suit ones search preferences and the recent addition of marking favorite brokers. Truckstop Loadboard does have an Android app which is ok but more about that in the Cons section. There is also an ability to save favorite searches which is helpful if you want to focus on certain lanes. Overall, it is fairly easy to use and user friendly.

Negative: My biggest complaint about this Loadboard is that many loads are listed multiple times by the same broker. This gives the impression that there are many more loads available than there truly are. In some cases I've seen the same load listed over 30 to 50 times in a row (not an exaggeration) which is a joke and aggravating.

Brokers more often than not provide a bare minimum of load information which is probably more their fault than the Loadboards fault. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on the phone/email qualifying a proper load. Most brokers don't care for boards and usually only use it as a last resort. Once you run for someone you usually get put on a daily email list of available loads with them. Cost is surely a factor here as it is quite costly for both, the carrier and the broker, but considered as cost of doing business at times.

I can't speak for the iPhone app since I use Android but the app seems to be an afterthought for sure. In these times that is simply unacceptable as more and more users only use mobile devices anymore. The biggest complaint here is that only a fraction of the loads posted on a computer show up on the app but still manage to display multiple same postings as mentioned above. It's not uncommon to see let's say 500 available loads in my area on the computer only to see 60 or soavailable loads in the app using the exact same search criteria. I've called multiple times about this and the response is always "we're working on that." This happens every single time so I wouldn't rely on the app too much at all.

It is very pricey if you want some "extras" such as broker credit check, etc. which in my opinion are a must in the beginning to make good decisions.

Summary: Truckstop is, and has been, the best Load Board available for its price. It offers certain features at a lower price point than its competitor DAT, and (Typically) has a higher volume of freight available than DAT.

That being said, the product has fallen a long way since it released the new version of the load board back in 1st Quarter 2020. This review will be written from the perspective of a Flatbed carrier who also employs an assortment of LTL/Hotshot vehicles. Your mileage may very if you use Vans, Reefers, or strictly use only standard 48’ Flatbeds, however some points will apply to all manner of carrier services.

Searching for loads has been made easier in the newer edition on the board. The old method of using “Air Miles” to estimate the distance between any two cities has been replaced with a calculated via an unknown method to provide a total of actual Road Miles between two cities. Though objectively better, the system sometimes provides information that is highly inaccurate (Upwards of 1,000 miles off) which is not typically a problem if you perform local runs less than 400 miles and/or are familiar with the areas you are traveling within.

The number of active Searches has been limited to only 7, halving the number of searches available in the previous version of the program. You are also only able to view one search at a time. There are currently no plans to provide more searches or allow more searches to be seen at one time.

The Search Radius for Basic subscribers is reduced to a 300 mile radius of the Origin and Destination as opposed to a 1’000 mile radius on the old version. Pro subscribes can search up to a 500 mile radius. Listing multiple states as the Origin is no longer allowed for Basic or Pro subscribers on the new version. Curiously, selecting multiple states for the Destination is still allowed.
* Pro subscribers CAN list multiple states as the Origin using the Map feature. This is detailed later on in this review.

Basic and Pro subscribers can filter the available loads based on multiple criteria and is one of the features that was sorely needed to improve the old version. The filters allow me to de-clutter the searches by removing all loads that have no weight listed or who are too heavy for certain vehicles. Most importantly, I can filter out those brokers who repost their 50 shipments every 10 minutes.

There is a Map feature available for those with a Pro account, allowing them to easily visualize the locations of all shipments offered by a given search using a Google Maps applet. This greatly helps those who may be unfamiliar with a given location or (In my case) who are just bad at remembering where cities are in relation to one another. Carriers who employ Hotshot or LTL vehicles will also find this feature helpful.
Being that both of those points affect me and my business (We have several Hotshot vehicles), I consider this feature a very important tool for our business. Unfortunately, this tool was greatly mishandled during the transition from the Old board to the New board. I will detail the process for using both the New and Old versions below:
- In the new version, you need a Pro account to access the Map feature. To use it, you click on the Map button, which will navigate away from the Load Board to the Map application. You must then enter in the information about the search you wish to visualize, and then run the search. You can zoom in and out and pan the map.
- In the old version, you need a Basic account to access the Map feature. To use it, you click the little “V” button on any Search Tab you wish to visualize to bring up a popup window with a map in it. The window will automatically show all the shipments for the Search Tab you clicked on without navigating you away from the Load Board. You cannot zoom in and out or pan the map.

In a similar vein, the Multi-Trip feature was made available to Pro subscribers as well. It functions the same way as the Map feature, however it emulates A “Triangle Run” method where instead of moving a load from A to B, you instead attempt to link up from A to C, and then C to B.

A Live Load Board feature is available to Pro subscribers that reduces the duration between automatic load board updates from about every 60 seconds with a Basic account to once per second or less. There is still a noticeable delay (Especially between overlapping searches), but it is significantly shorter than a non-Live Load Board. This feature does not apply to the Map and Multi-Trip searches.
* Some clarification – The Map and Multi-Trip features do NOT automatically update, and must always be refreshed manually.

Basic and Pro subscribers can block Brokers, effectively removing their loads from your view across all Search tabs. Note that Brokers with multiple branches will have to have each branch blocked separately.

Pro subscribers can mark a load as “Not Interested”, removing it from view across all Search tabs. Though unlike blocking a broker, the load will re-appear if the broker reposts it. This feature should be used sparingly because short of the broker reposting the shipment it there is currently no way to un-hide a load that has been hidden.

Other features are available such as the Average Rate feature that gives Pro subscribers a look at the typical rates for a lane. I do not consider these features to be that important to the business so I did not cover them here.

Long story short, Truckstop is still provides more features than DAT at a similar price point, though its current design

Positive: - All key features are unlocked at a cheaper subscription tier than its competitors.
- More useful at its lowest subscription tier than its competitors.

Negative: - Max of seven searches, of which only one can be seen at a time.
- Changes to existing features introduced with the relaunch have no real purpose other than to force subscribers into higher subscription tiers.
- Development team provides small new features instead of updating or repairing issues with features introduced with the relaunch.
- Unreliable, slow, and/or completely absent customer support team. Users with problems instead populate the community forums.

Summary: Very dissatisfied that I am the account owner and cant even reach my account manager, not via email, phone, nothing. I have even requested a Truckstop manager contact me and all I have heard is crickets.

Positive: Nothing really, becoming more of a pain in the rear than helpful we have had nothing but problems with Truckstop for over the last year and can see why carriers and brokers are leaving the platform for DAT.

Negative: We have more problems with Truckstop than any other software we use. Anytime we want to call in to Truckstop to update our account we have to call them from our offices main number, not an extension, cell phone, or any other phone. If you do call in from any other phone than the main number the customer service rep tells our company owner that sorry your number doesn't match what is in the account and hangs up the phone call. They wont verify anything or even allow us to talk to our account manager. We have had so many problems with this that we have been locked out of our account for over a month now and can not get anyone to get this issue resolved. No wonder carriers and brokers are leaving your platform as you are making it so locked down even the account owners cant even talk to anyone or get into the accounts. Completely dissatisfied with Truckstop and their customer service they are providing.