Authority is step one, not the finish line. Now you have to find freight, get approved by a stranger, haul it, and collect. Here is the sequence.
Before you touch a load board
- Authority reads Active on SAFER. Not assigned. Active. See how long that takes.
- Insurance in force. $750,000 auto liability is the floor, $1,000,000 is what brokers want. See FMCSA insurance requirements.
- Certificate of Insurance in your inbox as a PDF. See how to get one.
- Carrier packet finished. Not started. Finished.
- ELD if required. Threshold is 10,001 lbs, not 26,001. See ELD requirements.
- Load board subscription. See the comparison.
- Full list: documents you need before your first load.
Step 1: Search
Filter by equipment type, your origin, your destination, today's date. For the first one, keep it boring: a lane you know, freight that fits your trailer, a broker whose name you recognize. Do not make your first load an education in three things at once.
Step 2: The call
Something like this:
"Hi, calling about load reference [number]. I'm a dry van carrier, 53-foot, based in [city]. Available today, interested in [origin] to [destination]. Can you tell me more about it?"
They will immediately ask four things: MC number, how long you have had authority, your safety rating, and can you send your packet. Have all four in front of you. Fumbling any of them tells the broker exactly how new you are.
Step 3: Send the packet
Email the PDF to whatever address they give you. Review takes minutes to hours. They either approve you or come back asking for something. See how to fill out a carrier packet, since missing documents are the number one instant rejection.
Step 4: Rate confirmation
The contract for this load: pickup and delivery addresses, commodity, weight, your rate, accessorials like detention and fuel surcharge. Read every line. Confirm the rate matches what they said on the phone, because a verbal quote and a written rate con are not always the same number. See how to read one.
Step 5: Pick up and deliver
On time at the shipper. Inspect before signing. Write any pre-existing damage on the Bill of Lading before your pen touches the signature line. On time at the consignee. Signed POD in hand before you leave.
Step 6: Get paid
Submit signed BOL and POD. Net 30 is standard. Quick pay runs 1.5 to 3 percent, factoring runs 2 to 5 percent and funds within 24 hours. Most new carriers factor, because thirty days with no income is not a plan.
When every broker says you are too new
You will hit this. Minimum authority age of 30, 60, or 90 days is enforced by their software, not their goodwill, so charm does not solve it. Three real options:
- Target the brokers who actually take new MCs. See the list.
- Call smaller regional brokers, who are frequently more flexible than the nationals.
- Use a dispatcher, 5 to 10 percent of gross, as a bridge. Their relationships are theirs, not yours, so build your own alongside. See building broker relationships.
On the rate
Check what your lane actually paid recently on your load board's rate tool. Dry van floor is roughly $2.00 to $2.50 per loaded mile in 2026. But the number that matters is your cost per mile, because a rate that beats the market and still loses you money is a losing load. See what owner-operators actually net and how to negotiate.
Do not take a cheap load to "get started." You are not building goodwill, you are getting filed as the carrier who hauls cheap.