Jared Flinn connects the truckers and shippers that keep America’s commodities moving
STORY by Sara Schafer
Jared Flinn’s desk phone rarely stopped ringing. Fresh out of college and working in truck logistics for Bartlett Grain Co. in Kansas City, the farm boy from Truxton spent his days surrounded by five flashing phone lines. Each call brought another load of grain to match with a trucker who could haul it.
The work was relentless. Personalities clashed and schedules shifted by the minute. Jared found himself caught in the middle, trying to keep trucks moving and everyone happy.
“Truck logistics was a necessary evil,” he says. “It is an integral part of the supply chain, and yet nobody was focused on it. In the back of my mind, I thought, ‘There has to be a better way.’”
Connect the Dots
During nearly six years at Bartlett Grain, Jared saw how technology could transform grain transportation. An idea began to take shape: What if people with grain to ship could connect directly with truckers? Instead of managing countless phone calls, shippers could post available loads and truckers could choose the jobs that worked for them.
Jared had faith in the idea — an online marketplace connecting agricultural truckers with available freight. In 2011, he left his job in Kansas City and moved to southwest Missouri with his wife, Nici. A room in the basement became his new headquarters.
Around the same time, Jared met Matt Fredin. While Jared had experience in trucking and agriculture, Matt brought a background in technology. The two teamed up and began building the business that would become BulkLoads.
“I left Bartlett in April, and we had four months of savings before we had to tap into our emergency savings,” Jared recalls. “Well, May hit, June hit, July hit, and there was nothing coming in. One morning at breakfast, Nici said, ‘Hey, I don’t want you to worry, but we have no money left in our checking account.’ It was a gut punch for me.”
Jared, a member of White River Valley Electric Cooperative, and the team doubled down on their vision. They launched the online marketplace with its membership system so grain shippers could pay to post loads, while truckers could find available work.
“August rolls around, and it wasn’t like the floodgates opened, but on the first day we had $400 in revenue,” Jared says. “We always had a goal that if we could get 1,000 members, that would sustain the business. We hit 1,000 members in eight months.”
Today, BulkLoads has 10,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, including 2,100 in Missouri.
Originally, the service focused on agricultural products hauled in large quantities, such as grain and feed. It has expanded to truckers moving many types of raw materials, including gravel, sand, gasoline and liquid fertilizer.
“We connect truckers to loads and loads to the truckers; we’re that marketplace that digitally connects them,” Jared says. “So instead of a merchandiser making 200 phone calls, he makes one listing, and it goes out there to that whole network of carriers, and then they can bid on it.”
Listen and Grow
Since Jared and Matt founded BulkLoads 15 years ago, it has grown to include complementary businesses. These provide insurance for bulk truckers, trucking management software, data about bulk material shippers and faster payment to truckers awaiting customer payment. They also acquired LivestockNetwork.com to serve cattle haulers.
The team, which now totals 80 in Springfield, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska, launched each service in response to needs they heard about directly from their customers.
“A lot of truckers in rural America are the truck driver, the mechanic, the dispatcher,” Jared says. “They’re wearing like five hats. So when they work with us, we can take one or two of those hats off their plate.”
To Jared, the trucking industry is filled with people whose stories deserve to be shared. In 2018, he launched a podcast to spotlight the characters, leaders and innovators who keep this vital industry moving.
“I love storytelling,” Jared says. “With the podcast, we give farmers and truck drivers a platform. We don’t talk about BulkLoads. We just share the stories of our customers.”
Each week, Jared and his guests discuss safety, technology and success in the bulk freight industry. The podcast has since expanded to YouTube, allowing audiences to see and hear from the people behind those stories.
As BulkLoads grows, Jared and Nici are raising their three children, Maggie, Thatcher and Cotton, who may one day find roles in the family business. Jared credits mentors, including his father-in-law, with teaching him to provide more value than the price customers pay.
“We have a niche because we’re tied to agriculture,” Jared says. “If we’re serving truckers across rural America, it’s a win.”
Learn more at BulkLoads.com and follow the company on YouTube and TikTok.
Email Sara Schafer at sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop.