This week's Overdrive Radio podcast edition drops into my talk at the Mid-America Trucking Show with Charlotte, North Carolina-based owner-operator Deron Salmon about his brand-new "Truck Networking" application for iPhone and Android devices -- Truck’N for short. It's available now for a 14-day free trial with monthly subscription thereafter.
The app’s origin story stems from a void Salmon felt like he saw in broker-lookup and -review tools for owner-operators. There are some out there, for sure -- the big load boards are principal there -- yet Salmon wanted to take the concept further to allow for quicker, more inclusive ways to rate and review experiences. His thoughts on the matter stemmed from a brokered run some years ago with an appointment time that, nonetheless, had him facing the prospect of waiting quite literally all day for the pickup.
The broker offered nothing in the way of support in that regard, and after Salmon canceled the load, driving back north toward home he wondered which of the southbound truckers across the median was about to get themselves into a situation on this load, and with this broker, that they might do best to avoid.
[Related: More ways to vet brokers to combat fraud, double brokering]
What's the first thing a broker does when you call on a load? "They ask for your MC number," Salmon said. "Why aren't we doing the same thing" for them.
