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Guides
Trucking guides, in plain English.
The paperwork questions that cost small carriers money: getting invoices paid, reading a rate con, and getting a new authority set up right.
Getting paid
Invoices and brokers
Most of the money a small carrier loses is lost on paper, not on the road. A load delivers on time, and then the invoice goes out three days late, without the signed POD, for an amount that doesn't match the rate confirmation. Net 30 quietly becomes Net 60. These guides cover that gap: what a broker's accounts payable team is actually matching your invoice against, what to send with it, and what to do when the due date passes and nothing lands.
How to invoice a freight broker
What goes on the invoice, the packet brokers want, when to send it, and why invoices get rejected.
Read → GuideWhen a broker won't pay
The steps in order, from a polite email to a claim on the broker's $75,000 bond.
Read → GuideReading a rate confirmation
The 12 things to check before you sign: detention, TONU, lumper, fines and terms.
Read → GuideBilling detention
The money carriers are owed most and collect least, and the five steps that get it paid.
Read → GuideFactoring vs quick pay
What each way of getting paid early really costs, and the free days to take first.
Read →Paperwork and setup
Getting it right from the start
The paperwork that decides whether you get paid is signed long before the invoice: the rate confirmation when you book, and the bill of lading when the freight moves. And a carrier running under new authority has a list of registrations and records to put in place in its first months, most of which the safety audit will ask to see. Both guides are written for someone doing it for the first time, without the jargon.
Bill of lading vs proof of delivery
What each one is, who signs it and when, and why the POD is the one you get paid on.
Read → GuideNew authority checklist
Your first 90 days: insurance, UCR, IRP, IFTA, drug testing, DQ files and the safety audit.
Read → GuideWhat it costs to start
Filing fees, insurance, the truck, and the six-week gap nobody budgets for.
Read → GuideMC number vs DOT number
What each one is, which you need, and what a broker is really checking.
Read →Compare
Choosing software
We make RIZE TMS, so treat these as what they are: our side of the comparison, with the prices checked on each company's own site and the places where they beat us said out loud. Most trucking software charges by the truck, which is cheap for one truck and expensive by ten, so the fleet size you'll be running next year matters more than today's price.
Best software for small fleets
Six options, what each is best at, and what it costs.
Read → CompareTruckingOffice vs RIZE
Price at every fleet size, and where each one fits.
Read → CompareTruckLogics vs RIZE
IFTA done for you, or one flat price for the fleet.
Read → CompareAxon vs RIZE
A full trucking ERP sold by quote, against a flat $39 a month.
Read → CompareTailwind TMS vs RIZE
Priced per user and now part of CargoWise. What that means for a small carrier.
Read → Buyer's guideFree dispatch software
The three kinds of free, and what each one actually costs you.
Read →Stop chasing paperwork.
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