How SmartLoads works
Customers email their loads to SmartLoads, and the loads land on your board. SmartLoads posts them to Truckstop and builds your DAT upload file. You claim, book and cover each load, and SmartLoads fills Aljex for you to check and save.
SmartLoads is your agency's load board. This is the path a load takes, with the full article for each step.
1. Loads come onto your board
Your board is SmartLoads in the left menu.
Each customer has an intake email address. When they send loads there, SmartLoads reads the email and puts the loads on your board. You can also upload an Aljex Big 500 file, or add a load yourself with Create Load.
See How loads get on your board.
2. Carriers see them on load boards
- Truckstop: once your agency connects Truckstop, SmartLoads posts loads through its API, one at a time or with auto-post. See Post loads to Truckstop.
- DAT: on the board, click Export to DAT, pick the sources and click Export. SmartLoads downloads an upload file, and you upload it to DAT yourself. See Export loads to DAT.
3. You claim, book and cover
- Open a load and click Claim, so your team knows you're working it.
- Click Book when you have a carrier.
- Click Cover… and check the Confirmed Rate.
A person does each step. SmartLoads' super intelligence (SI) never books or covers a load. Dispatchers claim, book and cover from the dispatch page.
See Claim, book and cover a load.
4. Paperwork and Aljex
Carrier rate cons and shipper paperwork collect on the board's Delivery tab, each next to its load. Check the rate con, then click Mark covered. See Rate cons and the Delivery tab.
If you use Aljex, click Copy for Aljex, and the SmartLoads Chrome extension fills the Aljex shipment form. You check every box and click Save. See Fill Aljex from SmartLoads.
5. The board clears overnight
Each night, loads from earlier days that aren't booked or covered come off the board. To keep a customer's loads until they ship, turn on Keep loads through ship date on that customer's page. See When the board clears.
Outlook
With the Outlook panel, you can quote a rate request with Truckstop market rates beside it, and send carrier rate cons to SmartLoads.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I start?
Admins start with Set up your agency. Everyone else can start with Claim, book and cover a load.
Does SmartLoads book loads by itself?
No. A person clicks Book and Cover… on every load. SI reads rate cons and shipper paperwork, but it never books or covers.
How do I get back to this help center?
In SmartLoads, click Help in the left menu. It opens this help center in a new tab. On the dispatch page, click Help at the top, then Help center.