Hi all,
Has anyone had any dealings with the haulage exchange as an owner driver? Is it worth signing up with them for live and back loads?
Thanks in advance
Dom
Good idea ! Not …
Pay good money to get in among the race to the bottom and work for next to nowt.
While doing a ‘covering expenses’ job to get you home an owner driver in the area is sat twiddling his thumbs looking for a job to go out with. The only people who are making owt is the one with goods to shift as getting it done for less than half the going rate.
and found this out yourself raymundo?
strange as backloads have been about for years, most owner drivers will have outgoing work and if they need to use this sort of system maybe working as an OD isn’t the best idea.
backhauls when I was an od paid my fuel plus a bit extra hence making a day more profitable.
what I think the op is asking is if it is worth the fee or is it a as you said bid to the lowest margin.
war1974:
and found this out yourself raymundo?strange as backloads have been about for years, most owner drivers will have outgoing work and if they need to use this sort of system maybe working as an OD isn’t the best idea.
backhauls when I was an od paid my fuel plus a bit extra hence making a day more profitable.
what I think the op is asking is if it is worth the fee or is it a as you said bid to the lowest margin.
Yes, and preferred finding return loads via the Headlight magazine than using the modern day ‘back bedroom freight forwarder’, have you seen how much the likes of Courier Exchange is wanting per year for membership and some of the quotes submitted ? I was paying over three grand for two small vans hire & reward insurance a couple of years or so ago but couldn’t compete with the cowboys who were running without it so parked them up and went back to sea. Less hassle and better money.
Cheers fellas,
The idea was for the backloads, maybe live loads if its quiet and just a general top up if needed but over five hundred for th year… Not sure if its worth it…
One man band just looking to maximize revenue!
Thanks again for the views / opinions.
Not an owner drivers point of view but our firm use it.
They say it’s good for contacts and repeat business is normally direct with the new found contact.
As a driver I’ve lost count of the amount of times I end up giving our firms contact details when loading the first time and then going back there whenever we are in that area. So I assume it does have some benefits.
We put our loads on Haulage exchange and Return loads, and find that Return Loads is generally better for finding artics. Haulage exchange seems to be more popular with Van and Puddle Jumper operators. There is not a huge surplus of artics around at the moment, so rates hold up quite well compared to the vans.
raymundo:
war1974:
and found this out yourself raymundo?strange as backloads have been about for years, most owner drivers will have outgoing work and if they need to use this sort of system maybe working as an OD isn’t the best idea.
backhauls when I was an od paid my fuel plus a bit extra hence making a day more profitable.
what I think the op is asking is if it is worth the fee or is it a as you said bid to the lowest margin.
Yes, and preferred finding return loads via the Headlight magazine than using the modern day ‘back bedroom freight forwarder’, have you seen how much the likes of Courier Exchange is wanting per year for membership and some of the quotes submitted ? I was paying over three grand for two small vans hire & reward insurance a couple of years or so ago but couldn’t compete with the cowboys who were running without it so parked them up and went back to sea. Less hassle and better money.
Fair do’s 
to be honest I haven’t looked at many of these sites but having seen that uk trucker programme where they bid for work I doubt I would use one.