Early summer
Wheat harvest
Winter wheat comes off the southern Plains first and the harvest moves north through the summer. Trucks follow it, often a long way from home, and the invoices follow the trucks.
Bulk freight · Grain & harvest
Grain hauling factoring
Wheat in summer, corn and soybeans in the fall, storage grain through the winter. No contract, no minimum to carry through the slow months, and same-day pay on grain loads in by 11 AM CST.
The grain year
Three seasons, one set of terms.
Grain does not move on a monthly schedule, and factoring for it should not either. There is no minimum volume, no monthly commitment and no contract: factor hard through harvest and not at all in March, and neither one costs you anything extra.
September to November
Fall harvest
Corn and soybeans. The heaviest weeks of the year: every truck running, fuel spending at its peak, and lines at the elevator.
Winter and spring
Storage hauling
Grain held in bins and piles moves to elevators, ethanol plants, feed mills and terminals as contracts and prices allow. Steadier work, on a different set of customers.
Before harvest
Set it up before the first load.
The approval that matters is your buyer's, and it happens before you haul for them. Do it in the quiet weeks.
- 01
Apply before harvest
Applications are usually processed within 24 to 48 hours. The week the combines start is the wrong week to find out what you are missing.
- 02
Get your buyers approved
We credit-check the elevator, co-op or plant that owes the invoice, not you. Check the approved shipper list, and send us any buyer who is not on it before you haul for them.
- 03
Haul and submit
Upload the paperwork to the Smart Freight Portal. Loads submitted by 11 AM CST, Monday through Friday, are paid the same day. Loads submitted after 11 AM are paid the next business day.
Who pays the invoice
Grain buyers we factor.
- Country and terminal grain elevators
- Co-ops
- Ethanol plants
- Feed mills and feedyards
- River and export terminals
- Grain merchandisers and ag brokers
What gets underwritten is your buyer’s credit, not your operating history. A buyer not on the approved list is a phone call, not a no.
Paperwork
What to send with a grain load.
Send all the paperwork related to the load. What that includes depends on the customer; these are the most common. Upload it all to the Smart Freight Portal.
Rate confirmation
The agreement with the broker or shipper, showing the load and the agreed rate.
Scale tickets
The weights, on any load that is weighed or paid by weight.
Bill of lading
Signed at delivery. It is the proof the load moved.
Grain is usually paid by the bushel or the ton, so on most loads the scale tickets are the settlement. Send them every time.
Grain questions
What grain haulers ask.
When should I apply if I want to factor this harvest?
Before it starts. Applications are usually processed within 24 to 48 hours, and each customer has to be approved before you can factor their loads, so set it up in the weeks before harvest rather than the week it begins.
Do I have to factor every elevator I haul for?
No. You choose which customers you factor, customer by customer. The first time you factor a load for an elevator, we send it a notice of assignment and all of that elevator's loads come to us from then on. To bill it yourself again, ask us for an NOA release.
Can I factor grain hauled in an end dump or a belt trailer?
Yes. What decides it is the customer who owes the invoice, not the trailer. Hopper bottom, end dump or belt trailer, the process and the terms are the same.
What does factoring cost me in the off season?
Nothing. There is no monthly minimum and no contract, so a month with no grain to haul carries no fee.
Can I factor grain I haul for a farmer directly?
It depends on the farmer's credit, the same as any other customer. Approval is about whoever pays the invoice. Call before you haul and we will check.
Set it up before harvest, not during it.
The application takes a few minutes and is usually processed within 24 to 48 hours. No contract, no minimum.