Link 01Pricing
Truck dispatch fee: what you pay and what you keep
Our truck dispatch fee is a percentage of the gross rate on each rate confirmation, between 4% and 7% depending on your authority age and truck count. Drag the sliders and you'll see the exact number.
- No setup fee
- No monthly minimums
- Month-to-month, 30 days notice
- No haul, no pay
- Same rate for every truck type
MC under 6 months
7%of rate con gross
- Gross / week
- $6,000
- Our fee
- $420.00
- You keep
- $5,580.00
In 3 months your MC turns 6 months and the fee drops to 5% on its own. Nothing to request.
Same rate for every truck type. No setup fee. No haul, no pay. month-to-month, 30 days notice.
Link 02Three tiers
Three rates. Two things decide yours
Your MC's age and your truck count. Not your trailer, not your lanes, not how good a negotiator you are on the phone.
| Your situation | Fee | What changes it |
|---|---|---|
| MC under 6 months | 7% | Drops on its own the week your MC turns 6 months old |
| MC 6+ months, 1 truck | 5% | Add a second truck and every truck moves to 4% |
| MC 6+ months, 2+ trucks | 4% | Stays as long as you run two or more trucks |
What the percentage applies to
The gross rate on the rate confirmation; lumper reimbursements excluded. If the broker pays detention, layover or TONU on a load you delivered, that money is part of the load's gross. Lumper reimbursements aren't, because they're your own money coming back.
When you pay it
We invoice weekly, on delivered loads, after the loads deliver, not when they're booked. The broker pays you first; our invoice is separate and lists each load. New to your own authority? Our new authority dispatch page covers the first six months in detail.
Why a new MC pays more for six months
A brand new authority is more work for a dispatcher, not less. Many brokers won't set up a new MC at all, others want extra references or a call with the owner, and a first packet often gets bounced back two or three times. The higher rate covers that extra setup work. Once your authority has some age and a few brokers on file, the work evens out, and so does the rate. Fleets pay less per truck because one set of broker relationships and one planning call cover several trucks at once.
How the fleet rate adds up
Take three trucks that each deliver $6,000 of loads in a week. At 4% per truck, the fee is $240 per truck and $720 for the week. If one truck sits for repairs, that truck's line is zero and the other two bill as usual. Add a fourth truck later and it starts at the fleet rate from its first load, as long as your MC is past the 6-month mark. Each truck gets its own lines in the weekly report, so you can see which ones earn and which ones sit idle.
Link 03A month on paper
A month on paper, including the bad week
EXAMPLECarrier A runs one dry van on an authority that turns 6 months old in the middle of the month. Week three the truck sits in the shop. Here's every load and every fee.
| Week | What happened | Loads | Rate con gross | Fee | Carrier keeps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | MC 5 months old (7%) | 4 | $6,280 | $439.60 | $5,840.40 |
| Week 2 | MC 5 months old (7%) | 3 | $5,250 | $367.50 | $4,882.50 |
| Week 3 | Truck in the shop, no loads (7%) | 0 | $0 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Week 4 | MC turned 6 months: rate steps down (5%) | 4 | $6,350 | $317.50 | $6,032.50 |
| Month | All four weeks | 11 | $17,880 | $1,124.60 | $16,755.40 |
Week three cost Carrier A nothing in dispatch fees. A flat weekly fee would have billed the same as any other week. Week four shows the step-down: same carrier, same desk, lower rate, and nobody had to ask for it.
The “carrier keeps” column is before fuel, insurance, truck payment and maintenance. Your profit depends on those, not on us. To see whether dispatch pays for itself on your numbers, try the dispatch ROI calculator.
One load, line by line
Say the rate con reads $2,150 all-in, and the receiver holds you long enough that the broker pays $100 detention. You also pay a $150 lumper that the broker reimburses. The load's gross for our fee is $2,250: the rate plus the detention. The lumper is left out because it was your money to begin with. At 5%, the fee is $112.50. The broker pays you $2,400, and our weekly invoice shows that load with its $112.50 line.
Link 04Who charges whom
Our fee comes out of your rate. Never out of the shipper's
Three different people get paid on a brokered load, and it helps to see them on one bar. The shipper pays the broker. The broker keeps a margin and pays you the carrier rate on the rate con. Our dispatch fee is a slice of your carrier rate, which you pay us separately.
You usually won't know what the shipper paid, so the left end of the bar is often a guess. What we never do is take money from the broker or the shipper to put your load in front of them. That would make us their agent, not yours.
Move the carrier rate and watch the margin shrink. That gap is where negotiation happens, and it's why a broker's first offer is rarely its best one.
Where the shipper's money goes
EXAMPLE- Shipper pays
- $2,600
- Carrier rate
- $2,150
- Broker margin
- $450 (17.3%)
- Dispatch fee (5%)
- $107.50
Our fee comes out of the carrier rate only. We never take part of the shipper rate or the broker's margin.
Link 05How dispatchers charge
How much do dispatchers charge? Three models, honestly compared
Dispatch service cost depends on the pricing model more than the number on the quote. Most ranges you'll find online come from dispatch companies describing their own market, so we won't repeat them as fact. Here's how each model behaves instead.
Percentage of each load
You pay more on big weeks and nothing on empty ones. Your dispatcher earns more only when you do. Watch what the percentage applies to: linehaul only, or gross including fuel and accessorials.
Flat weekly fee
Predictable, and cheaper on a strong week. The bill still comes when the truck sits, and the dispatcher earns the same whether your loads pay well or poorly.
Flat fee per load
Simple to check, but it can reward booking more short loads over fewer good ones. Ask what counts as a load when there are multiple stops.
Whatever the model, ask about setup, technology and cancellation fees, and whether the contract has a minimum term. Our guide to dispatch contract clauses lists the questions. To compare a real quote against ours on your own numbers, use the dispatcher fee calculator.
Four ways a quote looks cheaper than it is
- A low percentage with a setup fee. A few hundred dollars up front can cancel out months of a lower rate if you leave early.
- A minimum weekly charge. It turns a percentage into a flat fee on exactly the weeks you can least afford it.
- A long notice period or minimum term. If the service disappoints, you keep paying for it while you wait to leave.
- Payment routed through the dispatcher. If the dispatcher collects your freight money and pays you later, your cash flow depends on their bookkeeping. Ours never touches it.
Link 06What the fee covers
Included in the percentage
- Load search on the major boards and with our broker contacts
- Rate and terms negotiation on every load
- Broker record checks before your packet goes out
- Carrier packet setup and renewals
- Every load sent to you to confirm, with the terms written out
- Pickup details, check calls and delivery updates
- Deadhead and reload planning around your home time
- Detention, layover and TONU requests with your timestamps
- Invoice matching and written payment reminders
- A weekly report on every load and every open item
- A desk you can reach nights and weekends
Not included, and never charged
- Factoring fees: those go to your factoring company, if you use one
- Fuel, tolls, insurance, permits and truck costs
- Load board subscriptions: you don't need your own to work with us
- Collecting your freight money: the broker pays you directly
- Setup, onboarding, technology or cancellation fees: we don't have them
Running two to ten trucks? See how the fleet rate works per truck on small fleet dispatch, or read how we work for the full process.
Questions about our fee
How much do truck dispatchers charge?
Is your fee on gross or net?
Do you charge when my truck isn't moving?
When does the new authority rate drop to 5%?
Is the 4% fleet rate per truck?
Are there setup or cancellation fees?
Do box trucks or hotshots pay more?
Carrier pays dispatcher 5% of the rate con gross on delivered loads.
The rate in writing before your first load
Apply in about 2 minutes. We send the agreement with your exact percentage before anything is booked.