Join the LFS carrier network
The LFS network is a group of trucking companies that LFS manages and keeps compliant. Each company keeps its own authority, its own name and its own trucks. Here is what being in the network means, what we check before a company joins, and how to start.
What the LFS network is
LFS builds trucking companies and freight brokerages for its clients, and every company we build becomes part of the LFS network. Established trucking companies can ask to join as well.
Network companies run under LFS management and LFS compliance oversight. Each one operates under its own operating authority: its own USDOT number, its own MC number and its own insurance. Joining the network doesn't move your authority anywhere.
Why it exists: a small trucking company on its own carries every job at once. The owner drives or manages drivers, finds freight, bills, chases payments and keeps the filings current, usually late at night. Most of the companies that fail don't fail on the road. They fail in the back office. In the network, that work is done with you by people who do it every day.
As we put it: "One truck is a straight line. A business built right turns in circles." The network is how we keep each company's circle turning: research, the right load, dispatch, operations, billing, collection, cash in the bank and compliance kept current.
What a network company gets
Management and compliance oversight
LFS keeps your compliance program current: driver files, drug and alcohol program, hours of service and filing dates.
Dispatch
8% of each load's gross, done by a PLSP trained through Freight University, with freight research and broker review included.
Back office
Billing, invoicing, collections follow-up, paperwork and IFTA help.
Freight research
Which lanes, customers and brokers pay, so the truck runs on freight that makes money.
What LFS checks before a company joins
We check by number and by contact details, not by name. Names get shared, misspelled and copied, and thieves copy USDOT and MC numbers too, so we match the numbers to the phone and email FMCSA has on record, not just the ones on the paperwork.
Company snapshot
We pull your record on FMCSA's SAFER system by USDOT or MC number and confirm the operating status, the authority type and the address and phone on file.
Licensing and insurance
On FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance site we compare the insurance required against the insurance on file, and look at authority history, insurance history and any pending cancellation. For-hire carriers of general freight in interstate commerce must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage.
Safety record
We look at the inspection and crash data in FMCSA's Safety Measurement System. If something stands out, we ask you about it up front.
Match the paper to the record
The W-9 name, the insurance certificate and the authority all have to match the company in FMCSA's records. We confirm contact through the phone number on file.
Compliance review
We look at your driver qualification files, drug and alcohol program, hours-of-service records and filings. A gap doesn't always keep a company out. Often it becomes the first work we do together.
Documents we ask for
Nothing is agreed on a handshake.
- W-9, signed, with the legal name and tax ID of the company on your operating authority
- Certificate of insurance (ACORD form) sent by your insurance agent, with auto liability and cargo coverage and the policy dates
- Your operating authority: USDOT and MC numbers, active for the freight you haul
- The LFS network agreement, read and signed, setting out the services LFS provides and what they cost
Your authority stays yours
Joining the network is not leasing on, and it is not handing over your company. Your company name stays on the trucks and the paperwork. Your authority, your insurance and your customers stay yours. LFS works on your business under a written agreement, and you can see what we do and why.
We check every company carefully because freight fraud hits real carriers first. Thieves copy a good carrier's name and number. Chameleon carriers close one authority and open another to walk away from claims and a bad safety record. A network is only as trustworthy as the companies in it. Read more in freight fraud warning signs and our article on chameleon carriers and double brokering.
- Your USDOT and MC stay in your name
- Your insurance, your customers, your trucks
- LFS management and compliance under a written agreement
Join a network with education behind it
Companies that join the LFS network get more than a management company. They get Freight University's education behind them: a team doing freight research, keeping compliance current and building the back office the right way. How we work.
- A team behind your company
- Freight research and compliance
- Built the right way under the federal regulations
Questions and answers
Do I keep my own authority?
Yes. Every company in the LFS network operates under its own USDOT and MC numbers and its own insurance. LFS manages the business and keeps it compliant; the authority stays yours.
Is joining the network the same as leasing on?
No. Leasing on means your truck runs under another carrier's authority. In the LFS network, your company keeps running under its own. If you're an owner-operator without authority, see owner-operators.
Can a new authority join?
A new authority alone isn't a reason we turn a company away. We look at the whole picture. If you're still building your company, LFS can help you get your authority set up from the start.
What does it cost?
It depends on the services your company uses. Dispatch is 8% of each load's gross. Everything else is explained and put in writing before you join.
Why does the insurance certificate have to come from my agent?
A certificate sent directly by your insurance agent is far harder to fake than one forwarded by anyone else.
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Ask about joining the LFS network
Send your company name, USDOT and MC numbers, how many trucks you run and your contact details. We'll reply with what we need and the next steps.
Prefer the phone? Call 901-205-9679.