This article previously appeared in Overdrive.
What is Amazon Relay?
Amazon Relay is a self-service web portal and mobile app designed for carriers and fleet owners of all sizes to find and book available work. Relay offers a wide selection of work including dry vans, reefers, box trucks, as well as port and rail drayage. With peak season getting started, carriers can access thousands of loads at any time to fit their schedules, with quick and reliable payment options. Relay’s Load Board provides a wide array of spot work for carriers to keep their trucks moving, and the Post A Truck feature helps to find and automatically book work that matches preset criteria.
Relay Load Board
With the Relay Load Board, carriers can view and book a wide selection of spot work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – all without having to pick up the phone. With loads available from coast to coast, carriers can narrow their searches to focus on specific work types, including blocks, one-ways, or round trips, as well as origin and destination cities. For carriers looking to reduce their trailer maintenance overhead expenses, as well as loading and unloading wait times, Relay offers a wide variety of power-only loads.
Carriers have visibility into the facility addresses, whether a load is live or drop, as well as the rate offered so they better understand the load details prior to booking. Upon completion of work, carriers receive quick payment and, with consistent high performance, can earn early access to work.
“The great thing about Relay Load Board is I can search for a load quickly, originating anywhere in the U.S. Once I find the optimal load, I can immediately book. No third party involved. Blocks are also available on Relay Load Board. With Blocks, I can get a round trip and not have to look for back-hauls.”
Post A Truck
Relay also offers Post A Truck, an industry-first feature that reduces the time spent to search for and book available work by automatically booking loads for carriers based their availability and load criteria. Carriers can reduce empty miles and idle time by sharing when and where their trucks are available up to two weeks in advance, letting Amazon automatically book matching loads before they become available on the Relay Load Board.
Post A Truck offers Saved Searches and Recommendations to conveniently post orders with pre-filled criteria. Carriers can save their regular search criteria using Saved Searches and use the feature to place Post A Truck orders, especially if loads are unavailable at the time of search. Post A Truck also offers order recommendations based on carrier’s order history on Post A Truck, and booking history on the Load Board. Carriers can define who the driver is on their Post A Truck order and when a match is made, drivers receive communications directly – saving time for the dispatcher.
Post A Truck calculates and displays the order’s probability of matching with a load, based on past six weeks of availability. Carriers can choose to modify their orders to increase their chances of matching with a load, or post them as-is. When a load matches with the exact criteria, it is booked for the carrier, and an email notification with trip details is sent out. Similar matches are also provided to help find loads that are similar but not exact matches to their posted criteria.
“If you are an owner-operator, Post A Truck is your dispatcher. Post A Truck allows an owner-operator to stay on the road without having to worry about searching for their next load.”
Book work with Relay
Carriers can access the Relay Load Board and Post A Truck within the Relay mobile app, available on iOS and Android.
To join Relay, click here. Carriers with an Amazon Prime account can click “Sign In” and use their Prime account username and password to start the application process. For those who do not have a Prime account, click “Create your Amazon account” to start a Relay application.
Amazon also has a frequently asked questions section regarding all things Relay and more guidance on how to join.
Disclaimer: Amazon does not tender loads through any third-party load boards. Any Amazon loads posted on third-party load boards will only be tendered directly to approved and onboarded carriers via the Relay web portal or Relay mobile app. If you are interested in hauling loads for Amazon, sign up and book directly on relay.amazon.com.
