LoadPilot Freight Broker Software

LoadPilot is committed to helping our brokers be as successful as possible. That's why were always working on new features and improvements.  Today LoadPilot is proud to announce our new QuickBooks export feature.  You can now export all of your accounting info to QuickBooks 2006, 2007 and 2008. And we're working on the export for 2009 right now. Try it out for yourself and let us know what you think.

And if you can think of any other cool new features you'd like to see,  please let us know.

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - President George W. Bush called for legislation on Thursday to allow the administration to raise fuel-economy standards on all cars.

"I encourage (Congress) to give me that authority," Bush said while visiting a gasoline station in Mississippi.

In March, the Bush administration announced it would raise fuel economy standards by 1.9 miles per gallon for sport utility vehicles, pickups and vans -- the biggest gas guzzlers -- between 2008 and 2011.

Passenger cars were not included in the initiative. Those must get 27.5 miles per gallon. A White House official said that Bush only has the authority to raise the standards on light trucks.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said U.S. Transporation Secretary Norman Mineta would be sending a letter to Congress to formalize the request, adding that the administration believes a rise in the standards would "save jobs, save lives and save fuel."

Read the rest at:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/04/27/bush_cafe/index.html?iref=newssearch

Just when you thought it couldn't go any hire, it keeps on going. Check out this article I found on www.freep.com. 

Americans are shell-shocked at $4-a-gallon gas. But compared with Europe, U.S. motorists have nothing to complain about.

In France, gas runs nearly $10. In Turkey, it's more than $11.

Varying national taxes and subsidies are the main reasons for the differences, along with limits in refining capacity and hard-to-reach places that drive up shipping costs.

As a result, plenty of European adults never even learn to drive, preferring cheap mass transit.

But prices have soared. In Germany, a gallon costs $8.33, more than double 2002 levels.

Fishermen in Spain and Portugal began nationwide strikes Friday, keeping their boats docked at ports. The Spanish fishing confederation estimates fuel prices have gone up 320% in five years.

In London, truck drivers clogged streets this week, demanding that Prime Minister Gordon Brown lower energy taxes.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, drivers are protesting shrinking gasoline subsidies. That's in a nation where nearly half the population of 235 million lives on less than $2 a day.

Russia is the world's second-leading producer of oil, but gas there comes to about $3.68 a gallon -- about the same as in the United States, where workers earn about six times as much money.

Much of the Russian cost comes from taxes. Limited refining capacity and the costs of transporting gasoline across the country's vast expanse also push up prices.

In China, government-mandated low retail gas prices have helped farmers and China's urban poor but contribute to the nation's pollution problems. The Chinese used about 5% more gas in the first four months of this year than last.

And there is Venezuela, where government subsidies and bountiful supplies mean gas sells for 12 cents a gallon. Consumers there are snapping up SUVs.

You can read the rest at:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/NEWS07/805310322

  One of the more time consuming, but necessary aspects of Brokering is the credit check process.
I started out using a service that gave me unlimited credit checks for $150 and a second source transcredit to validate the firsts findings. I also tried the manual method of calling the references myself, but found the references very uncooperative in giving forth useful information about there customers. The trouble with the unlimited credit reports were they were too generic. In freight brokering you need industry specific credit information and the best source I have found so far is First Advantage. They have many credit reports already done with D&B scores and will do new one with up to 5 references in 48 hours. I realize 48 hours is too long for some deals, so if there is no report already on fie or if there credit is below an 80 D&B I require my shipper to provide a credit card back up. I can authorize the card prior to shipment and it holds the money for 30 days. If the shipper does not pay by then, charge the card, or reauthorize to give them more time. I still use transcredit  as a second check source. The only limitation in there credit reporting process is your customer.If the customer does not provide there information quickly it will delay the report.

  There are many shippers who back away once my credit company calls. This saves me the hassles of late or unpaid bills later. It still comes down to your analysis and decision in the end. Using these methods I have only had on unpaid freight bill in 2 years of operation for $1000 and that owner had a stroke and cannot work any longer.

  Please share your experiences and we will all benefit. Trey S. Creighton- Truckavailable

Oil companies are experiencing record profits, Oil production is up, consumption is leveled out, more oil fields are being discovered in places never thought to have oil and Alaska is sitting on what might be one of the largest Oil fields yet to be discovered. With all this why are we paying record prices for oil?

To make matters worse, a huge ripple effect has begun to show its effects. Do to the high fuel prices, the price on food and other goods has gone up as well due to the fact that is now quite expensive to haul theses goods. To make matters worse, we are spending all kinds of resources on bogus alternative fuels.

When will it end.

LoadPilot has integrated with Epay Manager (www.epaymanager.com).  Epay Manager specializes in helping freight brokers and logistics companies with their various billing needs. Now LoadPilot users who are also members of Epay can automatically send their billing info to Epay for processing. Talk about a time saver! Epay Manager can help reduce your processing costs by up to 75% in some cases. 

LoadPilot was built by brokers for brokers, and we’re dedicated to doing anything we can to help your business succeed.  When you succeed then LoadPilot succeeds too. We have a group of brokers around the country that will be acting as contributing authors every month.

We want to bring you different views and a variety of freight broker information.  So check back frequently and let us know what you think. And if you’d like to be a writer for the Freight Broker Blog, (or just contribute an article every now and then) please email us at blog@loadpilot.com.

Best of luck to all of you,

LoadPilot