Load, self-dispatch automation: Heads up on two services

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Updated Feb 26, 2015

Since I wrote the 2013 “Load by phone” feature about the load-board/application landscape, services have continued to be introduced that bill themselves as enabling a greater level of automation of the process. More and more, they’re pitching access to shipper-direct as well as brokered freight. I’ve covered Go By Truck as well as the increasing automation ongoing among service providers who’ve been around longer, and KeepTruckin’s future intentions relative to freight matching.  

The following two announcements came across the desk from new entities getting into the game. And if you’re utilizing either of these services today for freight, let us know in the comments what you’re seeing there. 

DashHaulDashHaul
Chicago-based DashHaul.com bills itself as a “neutral freight-dispatching system for owner-operators and small fleets” — neutral in that serves only as a go-between for shippers and/or brokers and carriers, charging a service per transaction in a manner similar to what Go By Truck is doing. It’s looking to host truckload freight from shippers and brokers, and the technology works by automatically matching a driver’s “available truck location to live shipments posted by brokers and shippers,” according to the company.

“The app allows drivers to book a load from the road without ever having to search, negotiate or directly communicate with the party that tendered it,” notes company cofounder Mike Schreiber. “And although it is an innovative concept for a market that has been a little slower to adapt to technology, that doesn’t mean it’s complicated. Very little has to change to the way independent drivers conduct their businesses. They still check the location of their truck in, get offers and transport goods.”   

Both load offers and payment on the back end are automated (payment, the company website states, will come within 72 hours of delivery) via a smartphone/tablet app and web application. Though they don’t advertise what percentage the company takes of each load, or their flat fee, as the case may be, they do say that the fee’s already been calculated within the system and that the rates you see with offers and at confirmation are the rates you’ll get. You can check out info available at their website via DashHaul.com. DashHaul is free join and try out. 

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ComFreightComFreight
ComFreight.com has been in existence a little longer, but its intentions are at least similar — in the words of cofounder Steve Kochan, to “create a open exchange and marketplace for shippers, carriers and brokers.”  Access to the system takes place via an online platform, “with no software to download,” and it’s catering to shippers in hopes of boosting direct freight in its system. Rather than charging transaction fees, use of the system for carriers and brokers requires a monthly subscription ($15 for carriers, $19 for brokers), but for shippers it’s free.

Broader searching tools as well as customizable load alerts are a part of it, a recent press release from the company noted, and there’s a 10-day free trial for carriers.

The video below from the company’s YouTube channel rounds up some of the capabilities of the system, but Kochan notes that a recent update to the system expands functionality to streamline the user interface for direct shippers. “We cater to our direct shipper users to show them that there are other ways to get lower freight rates from smaller carriers and that there are other options out there than just FedEx and UPS,” he said. 

Find more via the Youtube channel and the Comfreight website. 

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