The truck dispatch fee, printed in full: 5% standard, 7% new MC, 4% fleet
No quote call needed to learn a percentage. This page is the whole price list: what each rate is, who pays it, what it buys, and what we never charge for. Slide the worksheet below and watch the math do itself.
The three questions everyone opens with
How much do dispatchers charge?
Across the industry, mostly 8 to 12% of gross, sometimes dressed up with setup fees and weekly minimums. Our card reads 5% standard for one truck with 6+ months of authority, 7% while an MC is under 6 months, and 4% per truck for fleets of 2 or more. Nothing joins those numbers later.
Is it legal for a dispatcher to charge a percentage?
Yes. No federal regulation sets or caps dispatch fees. What the rules care about is the role: a dispatch service must work as the carrier's agent, hired by you and answering to you, not re-sell freight like an unlicensed broker. FMCSA published final guidance in 2023 drawing exactly that line.
FMCSA guidance, 88 FR (Nov 2023) · checked Oct 2026Is the fee on gross or net?
Gross load revenue: the number on the rate confirmation, before fuel or any other cost. Gross is the honest base because it is the one number both of us can read off the same document. And it is only charged on loads you haul. No haul, no pay.
Three rates. Everyone fits exactly one.
5%
Standard
One truck, authority 6 months or older, any equipment we dispatch.
The rate most carriers live on. Same desk, same service, whatever you haul.
7%
New authority
Any equipment while your MC is under 6 months old.
New MCs take double the phone work: broker vetting, packet setups, identity checks. At 6 months you drop to 5% automatically. No call, no renegotiation, it just happens.
4%
Fleet
Per truck, fleets of 2 or more trucks.
More trucks on one desk plan better: reloads chain across units and the per-truck work drops, so the rate does too.
Every tier: no setup fee, no monthly minimums, month to month with 30 days notice, fee on gross load revenue only for loads hauled. And on every tier you confirm every load; the broker's rate con goes straight to you.
Run your own week through the math
Drag the gross, flip the toggles, and the worksheet recalculates live. The numbers are examples; your gross is whatever your loads actually pay.
Want the same math against what your time on the load boards is worth? The dispatcher fee calculator and the dispatch ROI calculator run both sides of it.
Stretched over a month it reads like this, as an example: four weeks at $6,000 gross is $24,000 hauled. At the 5% standard rate the dispatch fee totals $1,200 and you keep $22,800, with the boards watched, every rate argued, the packets current and the reloads planned while you were driving. A slow week with one load? The fee shrinks with it. A week parked for repairs? Zero, because no haul means no pay.
- 1Gross for the week$6,000
- 2Fee rate7%
- 3Dispatch fee$420
- 4You keep$5,580
No setup fee. No minimums. month-to-month, cancel with 30 days notice. Fee is on gross load revenue; no haul, no pay. The 7% new authority rate drops to 5% automatically at 6 months.
What the fee buys, and what is never on the bill
- Load sourcing on the major boards plus direct broker and shipper contacts
- Rate negotiation on every load, with your floor set first
- Every load offered to you: the rate con goes directly to you, and you can say no
- Broker calls, check calls, delivery confirmations
- Carrier packet setup and upkeep with brokers
- Deadhead planning and reloads booked before delivery
- Detention and layover claims chased with paperwork attached
- Weekly earnings report, dispatchers reachable nights and weekends
- Setup or onboarding fees
- Weekly or monthly minimums
- "Authority package" or filing services: you file with FMCSA directly and pay only official fees
- Document fees, packet fees, software fees
- Cancellation fees: month to month, 30 days notice, done
Against the two alternatives
Many dispatch services charge 8 to 12% for a thinner list than the one above. Self-dispatch is cheaper on paper and costs six to eight hours of board-watching and phone work a day, usually at rates a part-time negotiator accepts. The honest comparison is not 5% against 0%; it is 5% against what your off-duty hours and your average rate are actually worth. The ROI calculator linked above lets you run that number instead of taking ours. And if a cheaper desk quotes you 3%, ask what is in their included column and who confirms the loads: a fee is only low when the service behind it is the same.
How a week actually runs on the desk: how dispatch works.
Q-01Why is the new authority rate 7%?
Because the first months take more work per load: brokers that accept new MCs have to be found, packets set up from zero, identity checks answered, and early rates argued harder. The 7% covers that extra phone time. It ends automatically at 6 months; you never have to ask for the drop.
Q-02When does my rate drop to 5%?
The day your MC turns 6 months old, automatically. We track your authority date from your packet, the change applies to loads booked from that day forward, and your weekly report shows the new rate. No renegotiation, no reminder needed from you.
Q-03Is there a contract?
No long contract. Service is month to month and you can cancel with 30 days written notice. If we are not keeping your truck loaded well enough to be obviously worth the fee, you should be free to leave, and you are.
Q-04What does the dispatch fee include?
Everything in the included list above: load sourcing, negotiation on every load, broker and check calls, packet setup and upkeep, deadhead planning, detention and layover claims, and weekly earnings reports. There are no tiers of service inside a tier; one truck at 5% gets the same desk as a fleet.
Q-05Is the dispatch fee on gross or net?
Gross: the rate confirmation amount before fuel, insurance or any other cost. It is the only number both sides can verify from the same document, which keeps the fee honest and the bookkeeping short. The fee applies only to loads actually hauled.
Q-06Are there extra fees for detention or layover claims?
No. Chasing detention and layover money is part of the service, not an upsell. If the broker pays detention on a load we dispatched, the standard percentage applies to that revenue like the rest of the load, and nothing extra is charged for the chasing.
Q-07Do you charge a setup fee?
No. No setup fee, no onboarding fee, no paperwork fee, no software fee. Your first cost with us is the percentage on your first hauled load. If anyone quotes you a setup fee for dispatch, ask them precisely what work it pays for.
Q-08How do I pay my dispatch fee?
Weekly, against the loads delivered that week, alongside the earnings report that lists every load, rate and fee line by line. No prepayment and no fee on booked-but-cancelled freight: TONU money that gets collected is handled like any other load revenue.
You have seen the whole price. That was the pitch.
5% standard, 7% under 6 months, 4% per truck for fleets. The next step takes about 2 minutes.