Keeping small trucking companies alive
We are a carrier-first service company. Our trucking company development and management work has one purpose: to keep the small trucking company solvent, compliant, earning and not alone.
We are a carrier-first company
Logistical Forwarding Solutions is a service company, and it has been operating for more than 20 years. Our founder, Michael Thomas, has spent more than 25 years in freight: brokering loads, teaching, and building trucking companies from the first filing to the first steady customer.
What we have seen in that time is simple. Small trucking companies rarely fail because the driver can't drive. They fail in the back office: compliance that slips, cash that comes in late, rates taken without research, and brokers who get paid before the carrier does.
So every service we offer passes one test: does this help keep the trucking company alive? If something helps someone else profit at the carrier's expense, we don't do it.
- Solvent: cash in the bank, not just loads on the board
- Compliant: files and filings current before an investigator asks
- Earning: the right freight at a rate that covers the truck
- Not alone: a team that answers the phone
A company with education behind it
Everything we do is backed by the education we created at Freight University. When we build a trucking company, take on an audit, set up a freight brokerage or manage an investor's equipment, there is a team of students, interns and academics behind it, applying what they learn to help that company succeed.
When a team is building and learning at the same time, success is stronger and transparency is created. No one goes to school to fail. You don't just get a company behind you. You get a complete platform backed by education. No one else in America does this. How we work.
- Freight research by a team learning to find freight
- Compliance kept current with the newest FMCSA rules
- Checks and balances on everything we do
- Transparency in every service
One truck is a straight line. A business built right turns in circles.
That line comes from the book The Art of the Deal with 10 Wheels. A truck run in a straight line, load to load, eventually breaks down. A trucking business built right runs in a circle, and every step feeds the next one. This is the circle we build and manage with you.
- Freight researchWe study lanes, shippers and rates before the truck moves, so you know what a load is worth.
- The right loadWe pick freight that fits your equipment, your lanes and your costs, not just the first load posted.
- DispatchThe load is booked, the rate confirmation is checked, and the driver has what they need to roll.
- Driver and operationsPickup, transit and delivery are tracked, and problems are handled while they are still small.
- BillingPaperwork goes out the same day the load delivers, complete and correct.
- CollectionEvery invoice is followed until it is paid, and slow payers are noted for next time.
- Cash in the bankInvoices go out clean and on time, and late payments get followed up, so you can see what is coming in and plan for fuel, insurance and payroll.
- Compliance kept currentDriver files, hours of service, maintenance and filings stay up to date, and what we learned feeds better research on the next turn.
…and what we learn goes back into step one.
What LFS does
Each of these is a service of LFS, and each has its own page with the details. Education runs through Freight University, and free complaint help for carriers runs through FreightBrokerComplaint.com; both are below.
Trucking company development
Start a trucking company the right way: authority setup guidance, insurance, buying your first semi truck, and a truck sales broker when you're ready to buy or sell.
Freight brokerage development
We build freight brokerages for our clients: setup, the $75,000 bond or trust, BOC-3, contracts, carrier vetting and back office. The brokerage gets its own authority.
Dispatch services
8% of each load's gross, and more than dispatch: freight research, rate review, broker vetting, compliance support, TMS access, back office and business development. The work is done by a PLSP trained through Freight University.
Management and DOT compliance
Back office, fleet management and freight research, plus full DOT compliance services for carriers in all 48 states: audits, authority, filings, driver files, drug and alcohol programs and CSA.
Managed truck ownership
You own the truck. It runs with a trucking company in the LFS network, under that company's authority, and we manage it. With education behind it, your investment is more secure.
Consulting and coaching
Work directly with us on your trucking company, a new freight brokerage, or the business decisions in between.
How the LFS network works
LFS is not a freight brokerage, and we don't book freight for shippers. We are a service company. When we build a trucking company or a freight brokerage for a client, that company becomes part of the LFS network.
Every network company operates under its own operating authority, its own USDOT and MC numbers. LFS provides the management and the compliance oversight that keep it running.
The network is also how the rest of our work fits together. Truck owners place equipment into it through managed truck ownership. Freight agents trained through Freight University can be placed with network brokerages through freight agent placement. And we hire CDL-A drivers for the trucking companies in the network.
- Trucking companies and brokerages we build, each under its own authority
- LFS management and compliance oversight for every network company
- Owners' trucks run with network trucking companies, managed by LFS
- Freight agents placed with network brokerages
- CDL-A drivers hired for network trucking companies
Scammed, double brokered or not paid? File a freight broker complaint, free
Moved the load and never got paid? Booked with a broker who turned out to be somebody else? Lost money on a load to a company that disappeared and came back under a new name?
FreightBrokerComplaint.com is our free complaint service for carriers. You file what happened and upload your paperwork privately. We open a case, investigate, and contact the broker on your behalf, at no charge. No membership, nothing to buy. For cases that need a lawyer, the National Transportation Attorney Network connects carriers with transportation attorneys. It is one more way we keep small trucking companies alive.
- Unpaid freight and brokers who won't pay
- Double brokering and chameleon companies
- Identity theft, fake rate confirmations and cargo theft
- Free: we investigate and contact the broker for you
Opens FreightBrokerComplaint.com in a new tab. Complaints are allegations until the facts are reviewed. No outcome or payment is guaranteed.
When a case needs a lawyer, carriers have somewhere to turn
The National Transportation Attorney Network is a carrier-first directory of transportation attorneys in all 50 states and DC. It is a product of Logistical Forwarding Solutions, powered by Freight Broker Complaint, and it was built for one reason: to help carriers stay alive.
If you've been scammed, double brokered or not paid, start with a free complaint at Freight Broker Complaint. If your case needs an attorney, the network is there for that next step.
- Free for carriers
- Transportation, trucking and logistics attorneys
- Carrier first: no truck-accident injury attorneys
Opens nationaltransportationattorneynetwork.com in a new tab. The network and LFS are not law firms and do not give legal advice.
Latest articles
Plain articles for owners of small trucking companies: compliance, cash flow, freight research, brokers and fraud.
Dry van vs. reefer for a new trucking company
Dry van vs reefer for a new trucking company: current rates, the extra costs and risks of refrigerated freight, and how to choose from…
Passing the FMCSA new entrant safety audit in year one
How to pass the FMCSA new entrant safety audit: what the auditor reviews, the 16 violations that fail you automatically, and the records…
How owner-operators find loads: a three-channel freight plan and lane math
How owner-operators find loads in a slow market: build a three-channel freight pipeline, use the spot market with care and run lane math…
Freight University is our education arm
Freight University teaches freight brokering, freight agent work and dispatch. Its PLSP (Professional Logistics Service Provider) certification is a three-month program with live sessions twice a week. The people who handle our dispatch work are PLSP-trained, and Freight University stands behind that training. Its free library holds our books, including The Art of the Deal with 10 Wheels.
Related
How to start a trucking company the right way
This is the order we walk new carriers through: the filings in the sequence FMCSA expects them, and the business numbers alongside, so the…
Freight brokerage setup: LFS builds your brokerage
LFS builds freight brokerages for clients. Your brokerage gets its own broker authority and its own $75,000 financial security, and it can…
Trucking company management for small fleets
We run the back office of your trucking company so the truck keeps moving and the business stays alive.
DOT compliance services for trucking companies
Most small carriers don't lose their authority because they can't find freight. They lose it because they can't show an investigator the…
Managed truck ownership with LFS
You buy and own the truck. It runs with a trucking company in the LFS network, under that company's authority, and we manage it under a…
Scammed or not paid by a freight broker? File a complaint, free
You hauled the load. You should get paid for it. FreightBrokerComplaint.com is a free, carrier-first service from Logistical Forwarding…
About Logistical Forwarding Solutions
Logistical Forwarding Solutions LLC is a Utah company that has been operating for more than 20 years.
How we work: backed by education
Everything we do at Logistical Forwarding Solutions is backed by education. Your company is managed by LFS, and behind LFS is Freight…
Talk with LFS
Tell us where your trucking company is today and what you need. Someone on our team will get back to you.
Prefer the phone? Call 901-205-9679.