How to Calculate Your Trucking Cost Per Mile (With Example)
Rate per mile is the number everyone in trucking talks about. Cost per mile is the number that decides whether you survive. If you do not know your true trucking cost per mile, you cannot tell a profitable load from a loss. This guide shows you how to calculate it, which costs to include, and […]
What Is a Bill of Lading? Types and How to Fill One Out
The bill of lading, usually shortened to BOL, is the most important document in any freight shipment. It is a receipt, a contract, and in some cases a document of title, all in one. Errors on a BOL are a leading cause of billing disputes, freight claims, and reclassification charges. This guide explains what a […]
Best Load Boards for Owner-Operators in 2026 (Compared)
Load boards are still the front door to spot freight for many owner-operators and small fleets. But “best load board” depends heavily on what you haul, where you run, and how much time you can spend searching. This guide compares the most widely used options in 2026 and, more importantly, gives you a framework for […]
How to Get an MC Number: Motor Carrier Authority Step by Step
An MC number is the credential that lets a for-hire trucking company haul regulated freight across state lines. Many new owner-operators assume it is a single form and a few days of waiting. In reality it is a short sequence of filings that must line up: your business entity, your USDOT number, your operating authority […]
Freight Broker Bond (BMC-84): Cost, Requirements & How to Get One
If you are getting ready to launch a freight brokerage, the first big check you will write is not for software or marketing. It is for a surety bond. The freight broker bond, formally called the BMC-84, is a federal requirement, and misunderstanding it is one of the most common ways new brokers lose weeks […]
Volume LTL vs. Partial Truckload: How to Choose
You have eight pallets. Too much for standard LTL to price sensibly, not enough to justify a full truckload. This is the awkward middle of domestic freight, and it is where shippers routinely overpay — not because they chose badly between two options, but because they did not know there were four. Here is how […]
How to File a Freight Claim That Actually Gets Paid
Freight gets damaged. Pallets go missing. A shipment arrives short three cartons and nobody at the receiving dock notices until the customer complains. At that point you have a claim — and whether you recover anything depends almost entirely on what happened in the first few minutes at the delivery dock, long before anyone thought […]
De Minimis Is Gone: What Importers Should Do Now
For years, a large share of direct-to-consumer imports entered the United States without duty because each individual parcel fell under the de minimis threshold. Whole business models were built on it: manufacture overseas, ship each order individually to the end customer, pay nothing at the border. That structural advantage has been substantially curtailed. If your […]
3PL Pricing for Importers: What Container Warehousing Costs
Search for 3PL pricing and you will get page after page written for ecommerce brands shipping parcels. Pick and pack, per-order fees, kitting for subscription boxes. None of it applies if what you actually do is import containers and ship pallets. Container-receiving 3PL pricing works differently, and the fee structure that matters to you is […]
Chassis Fees, Splits, and Pools Explained
Chassis charges are the most consistently misunderstood line on a drayage invoice. Everyone knows the container needs something to roll on. Almost nobody outside of drayage operations can explain why the chassis costs what it costs, why there is sometimes an extra charge called a split, or why the answer is different at different ports. […]