Questions carriers
actually ask.
Answered straight.
These are the real questions that come up on first phone calls, in the order they usually come up. If yours is not here, call and ask it. We would rather answer it now than have it become a problem in month two.
The money.
The linehaul figure on the rate confirmation. That is the money for moving the freight from A to B. Detention, layover, TONU, stop pay, lumper reimbursement and fuel surcharge are all excluded, and stay entirely yours.
On a load with a $2,400 linehaul and $300 of detention, our fee is $168. Not $189.
Neither. Onboarding is free, including the broker setup packets we complete on your behalf. If we book you no loads in a given week, we send you no invoice for that week.
We invoice every Monday for the loads delivered the previous week, itemised load by load. You can pay by ACH or card, or your factoring company can deduct it, in which case you never handle the transaction.
We check broker credit before booking, which avoids most of it. If one does go bad, we chase it alongside you and we do not charge our fee on a load that was never paid. We are not going to earn money on a load that cost you money.
Yes, or none at all. We take no referral commission from any factor, so we have no reason to steer you. If you are shopping around, we will tell you honestly what our carriers report about theirs.
Contracts and control.
No. There is a one page dispatch agreement that sets out the fee and confirms either side can end the arrangement at any time. No term, no notice period, no cancellation fee.
If you want to stop, tell us. We finish any load already booked and dispatched, invoice for that, and that is the end of it.
Never. Every rate comes to you for approval before anything is signed. It is your authority and your truck. Some carriers eventually tell us to book anything above a set rate per mile without checking, and we will work that way if you ask, but only if you ask.
Yes. This is dispatch, not leasing on. Your MC number stays yours, your insurance stays in your name, and every broker relationship we build is registered to your authority. If you leave, you take all of it with you.
Of course. Plenty of carriers run their own dedicated freight part of the week and use us for the rest. You pay seven percent on what we book and nothing on what you found yourself. Just tell us so we are not searching for a day you already filled.
Yes, and you do not need a reason. If there are certain receivers, cities or commodities you will not take, tell your dispatcher once and they will stop appearing.
Whether you qualify.
Ninety days is the usual floor for dry van, and around six months for reefer, flatbed, step deck, hotshot, power only and Conestoga. This is not our rule, it is what brokers and their insurers require before they will set you up.
If your authority is newer than that, call anyway. There are brokers who work with newer carriers and we can tell you which ones and what they will want to see.
Auto liability at $1,000,000 is effectively universal. Cargo coverage is typically $100,000 for most trailer types, and $25,000 to $50,000 for box truck work. Some reefer and high value freight asks for more, and we will tell you before booking anything that does.
Both. Single owner operators are the core of the desk, and we run small fleets up to around ten trucks. Fleets get one dispatcher across the whole operation and one itemised invoice covering every truck, rather than a separate relationship per unit.
Tell us upfront rather than letting us discover it during a broker setup. Some brokers screen on it and some do not. Knowing early means we point your setups at the ones who will approve you instead of collecting rejections.
Running with us.
Monday to Friday, seven in the morning to seven in the evening eastern. Carriers already running with us get a number that reaches a person outside those hours, because a detention problem at nine at night is not a tomorrow problem. Weekend coverage is available when your schedule needs it.
Yes. One dispatcher who learns your truck, your lanes and your preferences. Lane knowledge and trust are the whole value here and neither survives a rotating desk.
Home time is a planning constraint we build the week around, not a favour you ask for on Thursday. Tell your dispatcher at the start of the week and loads get sequenced to land you where you need to be. The earlier we know, the better we can do it with freight on the trailer instead of deadheading home.
Call us first. We contact the broker, work the appointment, and if the load has to be reassigned we manage that conversation so it does not turn into a service failure on your record. We cannot fix your truck, but we can stop a mechanical problem becoming a commercial one.
Most carriers are running inside forty eight hours of the first call, assuming your documents are in order. The variable is broker setup approvals, which is why we start those the moment your paperwork lands rather than after your first load.
Tell us early and let us try to fix it. If it is still not right, leave. Nothing is holding you and there is no fee for going. At thirty days we will proactively look at your rate per mile, deadhead and home time against where you were before, and if the numbers are not better we will say so ourselves.
Still have a question?
Ask it on the phone. Fifteen minutes, no obligation, and you will get a straight answer even when it is not the one that wins us the account.