Owner-operators leased to Landstar are using a new mobile technology designed to increase revenue opportunities and keep trucks loaded. Landstar System, Inc., a worldwide, asset-light provider of integrated transportation management solutions, announced the launch of its enhanced Landstar Maximizer® mobile app, a robust search engine that enables owner-operators to look for and book back-to-back loads, creating multi-leg, full-week runs.
After entering a destination, origin and date range, an owner-operator clicks the app’s Ask Max® button and the Landstar-exclusive technology takes seconds to find the right combination of loads. The Landstar Maximizer app does more than connect dots on a map – it analyzes rates, distance and time, and presents the owner-operator with the best possible load combinations to maximize the potential revenue they can generate for the time period they choose. The results show cities, pick-up dates and revenue per load. The Landstar owner-operator, which the company calls a business capacity owner (BCO), can choose which combination best meets his or her needs – whether that’s maximizing revenue or being in a certain city by a specific date. Then he or she contacts the Landstar agents to book the loads.
The Landstar Maximizer mobile app launched in beta version in late 2017 to a small group of Landstar BCOs. Since the app’s recent full roll-out in 2018, nearly 70 percent of Landstar’s more than 9,600 BCOs have downloaded and used the tool.
According to Landstar BCO Stephen McFarlane, the app has changed his business and helped him achieve a new level of success. “It’s very easy to use and gives me a lot of data to make the best decision for my business,” says McFarlane.
“The app uses loads available from the Landstar load board to create the multi-leg runs based on the user’s search criteria. The technology is designed to help BCOs spend less time searching for loads, with less downtime between loads – which means more revenue opportunities for owner-operators leased to Landstar,” said Landstar Transportation Logistics Executive Vice President of Capacity Development Rocco Davanzo. “This another example of how Landstar provides BCOs the opportunity to decide what to haul, when to haul and where to haul.”
The Landstar Maximizer® mobile app is one of the many technologies created and customized to support the company’s vast network of small businesses, including more than 9,600 owner-operators, more than 50,000 truck brokerage carriers and 1,200 independent agents. All of the company’s technology enhancements and new developments are geared toward empowering and building efficiencies for the thousands of business owners in the Landstar network who move freight throughout North America and globally for more than 25,000 customers.