PRICING · NO SETUP FEE · NO HAUL, NO PAY
Truck dispatch fees: 5% of gross, nothing when you don't haul
Our truck dispatch fee is a single percentage of the gross on loads you haul. No setup fee, no monthly minimum, no long contract. Below is exactly what each rate covers, what we never charge for, and the fee written in cents per mile so you can line it up against fuel, tires and your maintenance reserve.
What the dispatch fee covers, and what we never charge
Included in the percentage
- Load searching on the major load boards plus our direct broker and shipper contacts.
- Rate negotiation on every load, including detention terms and accessorials.
- All broker calls, check calls and delivery confirmations.
- Carrier packet setup with the brokers we work with.
- Deadhead and reload planning, so the next load is part of the decision.
- Detention and layover claims, chased until they're paid or closed out.
- A weekly earnings report, load by load.
- Dispatchers on nights and weekends.
Never charged
- Setup or onboarding fees.
- Monthly minimums or a charge for weeks the truck sits.
- Fees on loads you turn down. You can say no to any load.
- Cancellation fees. Give 30 days notice and you're done.
- Separate fees for detention or layover claims.
- Charges for a referral program. We don't run one.
One more thing that costs nothing: your signature stays yours. The broker sends the rate confirmation straight to you, and you sign it. We never sign for a carrier.
03 · COST LINE
How much do dispatchers charge per mile?
A percentage is easy to quote and hard to feel. Owner-operators think in cents per mile, because that's how fuel, tires and repairs show up. So here is the fee in the same units.
Take your rate per mile and multiply by the fee percentage. At 5%, a load paying $2.50 a mile carries a fee of 12.5 cents per loaded mile. Put that next to your fuel, tire and maintenance cents per mile and you can see what dispatch costs against everything else the truck burns. The calculator here is an EXAMPLE; set your own numbers and switch between the 4%, 5% and 7% rates.
The useful question is what the fee buys back. If a dispatcher's negotiation and reload planning add a few cents per mile to your average rate, or cut a few hundred empty miles a month, the fee pays for itself. If they don't, you can cancel with 30 days notice. The dispatch ROI calculator runs that math for a full month, and the dispatcher fee calculator compares percentage and flat-fee offers side by side.
A sample load
On an EXAMPLE load grossing $2,400 at 5%, the fee is $120 and you keep $2,280. Turn the load down and the fee is zero.
EXAMPLE, in cents per loaded mile. Use your own numbers.
| LINE | CENTS/MI |
|---|---|
| Fuel | 65.0 |
| Tires | 4.0 |
| Maintenance reserve | 18.0 |
| Dispatch fee (5%) | 12.5 |
Dispatch service cost: which rate applies to you
Three rates, decided by your authority age, how many trucks you run and what you pull. The rules, in the order we apply them:
- MC under 6 months: 7%. New authorities take more broker vetting and more phone time, whatever the equipment and however many trucks. Once your authority reaches 6 months, you move to the rate below that fits.
- Two or more trucks: 4%. For fleets with authority 6 months or older. This is a limited-time fleet rate.
- One box truck or one hotshot: 7%. These trucks run more, shorter loads, which means more calls and paperwork per dollar of freight.
- Everything else, one truck: 5%. Dry van, reefer, flatbed, step deck, power only, car hauler, dump, oversize, hazmat and tanker.
All of our equipment needs at least 26 ft of cargo space. Whatever your rate, it's charged on gross load revenue only, and only on loads you haul. Not sure which bucket you fall into? Set your truck in the meter, or see how setup works and ask on the first call.
Factoring is separate. If you factor with our partner or anyone else, their fee is between you and them, and our percentage doesn't change. More on that in our freight factoring guide.
EXAMPLE week. Change the numbers to match yours.
| GROSS | FEE | YOU KEEP |
|---|---|---|
| $6,000 | 5% = $300 | $5,700 |
Fee per loaded mile: 12.5 cents. No haul, no pay.
Other rates: 4% and 7%. No setup fee, no minimums, month-to-month.
Three EXAMPLE weeks, three rates
A single 26 ft box truck with two years of authority runs a week of regional freight grossing $3,800. At 7% the fee is $266, and the owner keeps $3,534 before fuel and costs.
One reefer with authority older than six months grosses $7,200 on two longer loads. At 5% the fee is $360. The week before, the truck spent four days in the shop and hauled nothing, so that week the fee was zero.
A three-truck flatbed fleet grosses $19,500 across all three trucks. At the 4% fleet rate the fee is $780. If the fleet's MC were under six months old, all three trucks would pay 7% until the authority reached six months.
These are EXAMPLE numbers, not results or promises. Your weekly report shows the real figures for every load: lane, gross, fee and what you keep.
When a dispatch fee is worth it, and when it isn't
A dispatch fee is worth paying when it gives you back more than it costs. That happens in three ways. The rate per mile goes up because someone is negotiating every load instead of taking the posted number. Empty miles go down because the reload was planned before the truck delivered. And hours come back to you, which you can spend driving, resting or keeping the truck out of the shop.
It is not worth it for everyone. If you already run a dedicated lane with a shipper who pays well and on time, a dispatcher has little to add. The same goes for carriers who enjoy working the boards, have strong broker relationships and rarely run empty. We would rather tell you that on the first call than take a percentage for work you were already doing well.
Where dispatch helps most: new authorities who need packets set up and brokers called, owner-operators who lose evenings to the load board, and small fleets where one person is trying to dispatch, maintain and drive at the same time. For those carriers the question is usually how much they keep, not how much the fee is.
Percentage vs flat-fee dispatch
Some dispatch services charge a flat amount per week or per load instead of a percentage. Flat fees look cheaper on high-paying weeks and cost more on slow ones, because you pay the same amount whether the truck grossed a lot or a little. A percentage moves with your revenue: a light week costs less, a week in the shop costs nothing.
We charge a percentage because it keeps our interest lined up with yours. We only earn when your truck hauls, and we earn more when the rate is higher. That is also why we will never push a cheap load at you to fill a slot. A low-paying load earns us very little and costs you a lot of time.
Comparing offers? Put both on the same footing: what you would pay over a typical month, what is included, and what happens in a week the truck does not run. The dispatcher fee calculator does that side by side.
What to check in any dispatcher's terms
- Is there a setup fee, a monthly minimum or a cancellation fee?
- How long is the contract, and how much notice do you have to give?
- Is the fee charged on gross, on net, or on loads you never hauled?
- Can you turn down a load without a penalty?
- Who receives the rate confirmation, and who signs it?
- Does the dispatcher ever sign documents or accept loads in your name?
- Are detention and layover claims included, or billed separately?
- Will you get a written report of every load and every fee?
Our answers, in order: no, month-to-month with 30 days notice, gross on hauled loads only, yes, you do, never, included, and yes.
Questions carriers ask
How much is a 5% dispatch fee per mile?
What if my truck is in the shop?
What does the dispatch fee include?
Is there a contract?
How much do truck dispatchers charge?
Do you charge a setup fee?
Is the dispatch fee a business expense?
Are there extra fees for detention or layover claims?
Lock in your rate today
About 2 minutes. No setup fee. No contract. Every load is your call.