1. Introduction
- Hey There
It is certainly dangerous, especially for newcomers to start the journey on Amazon Relay with mistakes that even the most experienced carriers make on a daily basis. At first, I assumed that it was too early for me to write about Amazon Relay strategies. But after working with a few companies on behalf of Rolling Global Digital, I found myself gathering tons of information about the platform, just in case I would ever decide to write something like this. And so the day came.
This list of recommendations and observations is written for people who already operate on Amazon Relay and know the basics. It does not contain any information on how to start a business with Amazon or how to buy your first truck (I am not here to copy and paste what you can google).
One thing is certain though: this paper is practical and critical to your business. These observations are time-tested and proven to work overtime in multiple regions across the U.S. within the logistics world. This paper is better suited for 53’ Power Only operators, but similar trends can be seen in box truck operations.
But you didn’t pick up this paper to read about how it was written. You are looking to take action and improve your business. Let’s go!
2. Why are Amazon Contracts not as good as they get marketed?
If you are a box truck operator, you can go ahead and skip this part, as Amazon contracts are only available for 53’ Power Only operators at the moment of writing this article (You have no choice, but use the Load Board and Post a Truck).
However, for those Power Only carriers, the choice between Amazon Contracts, Amazon Load Board or Post a Truck is a crucial decision.
Remember that the goal of this paper is to tell you something distinct and unique, and I am not going to waste your time writing about the consistent workflow that Amazon Contracts provide (You can find this information on Amazon Relay’s website).
This is the most common mistake that beginners usually make: they try to book anything to keep their trucks busy
Nikita
I can only warn you: Amazon will tell you all about the consistency that your business could have, just to make you close your eyes on other opportunities that are being offered to you. This is the most common mistake that beginners usually make: they try to book anything to keep their trucks busy.
So what makes contracts unattractive to me and why?
Amazon contracts are assigned in blocks of time, rather than in miles (miles are not shown at booking and only appear a certain amount of hours before the load starts). That means the same Solo1 (13h) contract can be 200 miles or 400 miles long, meaning a high percentage of payouts for longer runs end up being $2/mile or below.
Why? Because the price of a contract is about $800 (not peak season price) after the accessories are paid out. So by booking an Amazon Relay contract you are locking yourself into a price not knowing how many miles you are going to drive. THAT SOUNDS CRAZY TO ME! That does not seem rational as price per mile is one of the most important metrics in trucking. If you don’t know your cost per mile before booking your load, you are basically asking not to do well in the business.
But nobody is perfect... I used to book contracts all the time as it meant consistent work and cash flow for the company. The first time I asked myself “Hey, am I doing the right thing by booking these Amazon contracts?” was when I met an owner operator from Las Vegas...
This is what he told me:
He told me I was insane to book 400 miles loads for the money Amazon was offering (It was around $750 per trip, $800 after accessorials were paid at best). He soon shared his financials and I started comparing his Amazon Relay spot numbers to my contract numbers and realized I was an idiot.
He was making DOUBLE or TRIPLE the amount for the same mileage doing spot work on Amazon Relay. I bet you are wondering how he did it. I will share some of his time-tested recipes later in this article, but for now I wanted to prove again that the numbers you make off of Amazon Relay contracts are in fact what I call a DISASTER at times.
Amazon Relay Load Board
Spot work on Amazon Relay Load Board is certainly different from other load boards in the trucking industry. Spot market loads are often same day loads from shippers who offer them at inconsistent times and inconsistent lanes. Spot market rates are determined by the ratio of the number of loads in the market compared to the number of trucks available to move this freight.
Due to technological advances of the load board, Amazon Relay provides space for unconventional ways of dispatching and securing loads. I have worked on it countless hours and I wanted to share my opinion on recommendations that circulate around social media.
Hopefully, you can find something new and unorthodox in my analysis.
I believe the differences and significant profits come due to the technology that Amazon Relay implemented into its Load Board. What do I mean by that? Amazon makes it easy for a carrier to book a load by clicking a button instead of calling and negotiating prices.
Eliminating this vital step allows you to secure greater profits. Just look below at the load that my New York partner sent me.
Isn't that crazy? While some secure high paying loads, others struggle to book anything at all...
I will show you how to get those numbers a little bit later, just bare with me!
3. How to use "Post a Truck" to your advantage?
When I was writing this paper, I told myself that I did not want to explain what Post a Truck feature is, but rather explain how it can be used differently to your advantage. I promise I will have a separate article with definitions for those who are just starting out.
To begin with a little life story, I didn't give a single chance to Post a Truck feature when it first came out, and I definitely regret this now. Not only does post a truck allow you to get great loads, it is a great built-in analytical tool for dispatchers. Just look at the screenshots, I bet you did not see it this way!
The place to look at is a phrase that says “Based on trips available on Relay Load Board over the past 6 weeks...X trips would match your criteria”. As you can see both of the searches are the same in terms of mileage and pricing, except the main component which is location.
It is very simple to realize that Area number 2, will have significantly more loads than Area number 1. Just look at the numbers that Amazon Relay provides itself 230 trips vs. 74. You can try this out right now at your domicile and let me know if that worked!
OF COURSE I AM NOT ONLY USING POST A TRUCK AS AN ANALYTICAL TOOL...
As I mentioned, this feature can in fact get you well paying loads, However, I am not using it separately from the search on the Load Board, I believe the combination of Load Board + Post a Truck will get you the best results.
Most of the people on Facebook are usually complaining that their Post a Truck order has not been filled many days in a row, but it was always used separately from a regular Load Board search. In fact you need a
combination of two, and here is why.
Doing both will significantly increase your chances. However, they will be more time consuming as you will need to delete your post a truck order once you have booked something on the load board or vice versa.
Am I glad that I have met this owner operator from Las Vegas? Every time that I think about it I am thankful that I have decided to text a random guy on Facebook that day. I can honestly say that I have never spent an hour of time looking at contracts since.
TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY...
We can be fools by taking cheap loads for a bit of consistency.
OR we can play it smart and secure the kind of loads you saw above.
In the next part of this guide I will be talking about your Amazon Relay performance and what are some ways you can turn what seems to be difficult to control into something that you can turn to your advantage.
I'll see you there!
4. How to keep your performance score at a 100%
The performance metrics change from time to time, however the main 4 components have stayed the same for a long period of time ( On Time, Acceptance, App Usage, and Disruption Fee). At the point of writing this
article your overall performance score is NOT AVERAGE of the four performance metrics , but the LOWEST out of the four.
This was supposed to change, however picking the lowest metric as your performance score has stayed the same. Work executed within the past 6 weeks is considered for score evaluation.
This information will still be valuable if this changes and the score becomes the average of your four metrics and you will see why.
App Usage and Disruption Fee Explained
Keeping your App Usage and Disruption Fee metrics at a high standard is simpler than other performance metrics on Amazon Relay and I am going to explain why.
To keep your App Usage at a high percentage your driver simply has to use the driver’s app to check in and check out at the guard shack. The issue usually arises when a new driver is not informed on how to do so. The one thing you can do to prevent this is to be proactive and train your driver before he starts his or her first load on Amazon Relay.
My personal Disruption Fees mostly came when one of my drivers stopped to have a break during a longer run with the trailer attached (loaded/empty do not matter). You will get an email notification which
states that your driver has been stationary for a long period of time, and this would be a great time to call your driver and remind him not to do so.
How rejections affect your Acceptance Score?
Working with multiple companies I have quickly realized that the HARDEST PERFORMANCE METRIC to sustain among the logistics companies (especially the new companies) is Acceptance.
Why is this the case? We already talked about the ease of booking a load on Amazon Relay due to their tech approach.
However, the ease of booking also becomes an issue when companies are more likely to overbook themselves with loads that lead to rejections and of course a hit in the performance in the long run.
Another thing carriers do not think about while rejecting a load is that Amazon’s algorithm is a simple math approach where if you book a total of 3 loads during the week and you reject one of them your performance falls to 66%, which will eliminate your access to a load board overall.
My game on Amazon Relay was always about quantity. Doing multiple short runs a night instead of doing a single longer run will significantly benefit your score because mathematically you will have more room for
rejections.
I’ve always advised people to never reject a load because once they do, a load is almost impossible to recover, even if you send 50 emails to ROC explaining why you could not do a load. You can simply forget about your score for 6 weeks. In the next paragraph I will explore how you can keep your On Time score at a 100% at all times.
Keep reading, this won’t be on your next Amazon course.
All you need to know about On-Time Performance and how to keep it a 100%
I’ve decided to keep a conversation about On Time performance to the last just to see how many of you were going to read through to get to this part.
TIP: Make each rejection weigh less on your overall performance score by increasing the total number of your trips.
Nikita
Get ready, I believe most of you have not heard this anywhere and will be
surprised at how you can KEEP YOUR SCORE TO 100% while being consistently late. Think it’s crazy? Read on.
Amazon tracks the timestamps of your arrivals and departures from their facilities. Obviously, most courses on Amazon Relay will teach you by saying “be 30 min earlier, and you will be fine”, but we know that anything can happen and of course you will have those “OH MY GOD I am late moments'' very often (you can’t tell me otherwise).
Amazon tracks the timestamps of your arrivals and departures from their facilities. Obviously, most courses on Amazon Relay will teach you by saying “be 30 min earlier, and you will be fine”, but we know that anything can happen and of course you will have those “OH MY GOD I am late moments'' very often (you can’t tell me otherwise).
It’s trucking, it happens even to the best of us. So, why don't those Amazon Relay gurus tell you anything about these situations?
Many Amazon stops will cause hours of delay and there is nothing you can do to correct that score after. But I am here to teach you how you can play the system, so stay with me.
Here’s a little secret: For a while, many technologically advanced companies were by-passing the system by downloading different applications that would change their geolocation and allow a dispatcher to check in to any location from home on time. However those days have passed and only few companies in the industry can offer this service right now. If you are interested to see if this is still available right now please contact us.
BUT do not get disappointed, there is still another way for you to keep your "On Time" performance score to a 100%. Browsing through social media I have noticed that there are few people online that can fix your performance rate to a 100% no matter if you are 10 minutes or a day late to a load. Mostly importantly the correction takes minutes compared to days when creating the official case.
If you give them access to your account and pay them around $100-$200 they can easily fix your performance in a matter of hours. You can always email us too at rolling-global.com and we will fix your On Time performance guaranteed. We have posted positive reviews on our page for you not to worry about the safety of your account, so check them out! Most importantly if you are going to trust somebody else please make sure to do your research on them.
From my personal experience a little bit of money invested into that can save you a lot more in the future. By knowing that you can always fix your On Time performance, you have the ability not only to be late to your stops, but occasionally overbook yourself and not reject any loads. Do you see where I am going with that? Once we eliminate On Time performance as a threat to us, we can concentrate solely on rejections and keep them close to none.
5. Early access does't always mean better loads?
There are certain people that are proud to say they have early access on Amazon Relay. For those unaware of early access, it is a status that you get once your performance reaches a certain level. I am not mentioning a specific number as it is subject to change often, just be aware that early access means a good performance score.
With this being said, there are people online that scream about their early access and how it helps them to move their truck, where in reality the hype of early access is slightly over exaggerated. THE LOADS THAT PAY WELL ARE THE LAST MINUTE LOADS that are available to everybody, no matter their score.
The only way they are unavailable is if you do not have access to the Load Board at all.
Just to give you a real life example, I was working with one of our clients from New York and his Acceptance score fell to 60%. Yes, he was still getting great loads.
The main takeaway in terms of performance is that out of 4 metrics, we are really dealing with one - Acceptance. Remember it is always better to try to pick up a load very late than get it rejected. You can always fix your On Time performance to a 100%, simply paying for it.
Nikita
With this being said I am not telling you to not care about your performance score, all I am saying is that more money on Amazon Relay can be made by booking last minute loads that will pay x2 of an early
access load. Do not think that solely early access will allow you to run a successful business on Amazon Relay.
Remember: The loads that pay well are the LAST MINUTE LOADS mostly available to all.
Nikita
SO KEEP IN MIND:
When talking about superior profits on Amazon Relay, we are definitely looking at last minute loads that pay out significantly more than any contract or early access load you ever booked. It took me multiple years to understand that and I want you to understand that concept too.
Once you know that your goal is to grab these loads your overall strategy changes to figuring out how to book these loads successfully and retain your drivers as their schedules might not have the consistency they once had.
Next, we are covering a social media myth that Amazon Loads pop-up at certain times of the day on Amazon Relay Load Board
6. Do Amazon Loads only pop-up at certain times of the day?
Going through my Facebook and Instagram feed I have noticed that some individuals who sell online courses costing more than $300 are preaching about the idea that they wake up at 2AM to book their loads, and that they know when to look at the load board (bla bla bla).
So to prove this rumor wrong, we have run our internal analytics tool that analyzes Amazon Relay Load Board 24/7 and captures every single load and as you can predict there were no correlations between time and the amount of loads.
YOUR DAILY SPOT WORK will come at different times. Below you can see an
analytics report that we run for Atlanta area, box truck loads:
“Created” column on the right is the timestamp for when a corresponding load appeared on the load board. The time range from 5am to 10pm tells us that there is no relevance between time and loads posted on Amazon Relay load board.
With this being said we broke another rumor about Amazon Relay, and you are finally at the point where you understand that most of the Amazon Relay business is a game and very few understand how to play it
right and profit from it daily while others complain in the Amazon group chats.
The last part of this paper will talk about Automating your workflow on Amazon Relay and how a software can help you book last minute loads effortlessly, securing higher profits and most importantly saving you your time.
7. How to automate your work flow and get alpha results on Amazon Relay?
We have already mentioned the nature of working on Amazon Relay, where your success depends on how quickly you react to the Load Board and its new upcoming loads and press the book button ahead of your
competitors. I am deeply convinced that an owner operator or a dispatcher will not have the patience to press a refresh button all day long...
With this being said, you are potentially losing money and wasting more energy on cheaper loads, because well-paying loads disappear from the load board in a matter of milliseconds. YES you heard that right,
milliseconds. You might not even see them ever!
Let me ask you a question: If there is a way to set up a tool on your desktop that will book a load for you once it pops up to the Amazon Relay Load Board, why make ourselves do the manual work? We can pretend to be busy at work, but are we really?
Automation will not only allow you to save time and money, it will give you an opportunity to scale your business. Once you know how to implement the tool in your day-to-day operations you will be able to pass the knowledge to your dispatchers. Do you see where I am going with that?
About a year ago, I started discovering the recommendations and tips I talked about in this article. Presently, I am using all of these tools on my daily basis.
Not only have those worked personally for me, they keep working for our clients that work all over the United States, that just proves the point that this could work anywhere! In the last part of this article I will go into explaining what the Amazon Relay Auto Booker & Auto Refresher tool is and what are some basic functions that will help you succeed on Amazon Relay.
What is Amazon Relay Auto Booker & Auto Refresher?
To put it in simple terms, Auto Booker or Auto Refresher is a tool that imitates a human dispatcher by refreshing the Amazon Relay Load Board until the desired load is found and books it on your behalf. Auto Booker is a google chrome extension that mainly works on desktops and needs to be installed separately. Here is how your Load Board would look like with RGD Auto Booker (image is subject to change due to the new updates)
As you might have noticed, there is a big difference between a load board WITH and WITHOUT the Amazon Relay Auto Booker or Auto Refresher. In this paper we are not going to cover all the features in depth, but rather go over the basic capabilities.
There is no doubt that the main attraction of the Auto Refresher is its ability to auto book loads. However, there are other functions that could also attract the user. For example, you can understand past and future behavior of Relay Load Board by analyzing and comparing recently added loads with the feature called Board Intelligence. This feature will make your load selection process more efficient and much more sophisticated. More data you have, the less you should rely on your gut.
Adding to that you have the ability to book multiple loads at the same time with a feature named "Series" if you have multiple trucks. Other features available to you are; single & multiple notifications, confirmation, humanlike refresh rate, and many others that are updated frequently.
Essentially, the software allows you to Auto Book the best available loads on the Amazon Relay load board and forget about low rates or idle trucks. That’s literally like having someone else do your work (better and faster), even when you are away from the computer!
All of these features will significantly improve your experience on Amazon Relay and increase your chances for success. I hope that this paper was informative and brought a new look at Amazon Relay. Just remember what I said at the beginning, you didn’t pick up this paper to read how it
was written. You are looking to take action. Let’s go!
Essentially, The Auto Booker is a tool that books $5/mile, $6/mile and even $7/mile loads on a DAILY basis.
Nikita