Carriers using load boards for more than 40 percent of their loads can earn an additional $800 per truck every month
, according to TransCore's 2010 Carrier Benchmark Survey of more than 500 fleets.

As the economy improved, freight increased and rates trended up, fleets' revenues rose by almost $1,500 per truck over 2009, the survey found.

"There is a myth that carriers don't need to use load boards when freight is abundant," said David Schrader, senior vice president, TransCore Freight Business Services. "But this survey calls that into question. Thousands of small carriers use our services as a kind of 24/7 sales department that helps them compete with larger carriers who have in-house sales staff."

Of the companies surveyed, 60 percent said they had 10 or fewer trucks, and 87 percent reported having 50 or fewer.

For frequent load board users, with 40 percent or more of their loads coming from load boards, their revenue per mile in 2010 averaged 3 cents more than less frequent users, and they averaged 309 more load miles per truck every month compared to less frequent users.

As a group, they averaged 4.2 percent fewer empty miles every month than carriers who used load boards less often.