How truck dispatch works, from the first call to the first rate con
The fear of hiring a dispatcher is mostly fear of the unknown: what do they take, what do they touch, who controls the truck. So here is the whole machine, part by part, including the documents, the phone traffic and the parts we never touch.
A setup week, hour by hour
HYPOTHETICAL, for illustration: a one-truck dry van carrier, authority 14 months old, home base Memphis.
- MON
Application lands at 9:40. Dispatcher calls at the time picked: 20 minutes on equipment, lanes, floor rate and home days. Document list sent by text and email.
- TUE
W-9, COI and authority letter come back. We verify the MC in FMCSA's system, note insurance limits, and build the carrier profile: no Northeast, home Fridays, floor $2.05 loaded mile on 500+ miles.
- WED
Packets go to the brokers that fit the profile. Two setups clear same day; one asks for an updated COI with their name as certificate holder, which the agent issues in an hour.
- THU
First offers worked. Two pass the floor; both sent with full numbers. The carrier passes one, confirms the other. Broker sends the rate con directly to the carrier, booked for Friday morning.
- FRI
Pickup check call done at 8:15, delivery confirmed 16:40, POD submitted. Monday reload is already negotiated and waiting for the carrier's yes.
Timings vary with the market and a newer MC adds broker-vetting days up front; the new authority page covers that stage honestly. The sequence itself is the same for every truck.
You confirm every load. Here is that moment, working
This is the piece that decides whether a dispatcher works for you or owns you. On our desk: we find and negotiate the load, send you the numbers, and the broker's rate confirmation goes directly to you. You tap confirm, or you pass and we find the next one. Try it:
No forced dispatch, no signing in your name, no rate cons you never saw. If any dispatch service cannot show you this exact moment, ask why.
The documents we ask for, and why
Five documents, all things a broker will demand anyway. Tap a card for what it is and who issues it. Notice what is not on the list: logins, blank signatures, power of attorney.
What we never ask for: your FMCSA portal login, your load board accounts, your factoring login, or documents signed blank. A dispatcher asking for those is collecting your identity, not your paperwork. More on that pattern in the COI red flags guide. Building the stack from zero? Use the carrier packet checklist.
When you hear from us in a normal week
After setup, dispatch settles into a rhythm. You hear from the desk at exactly these moments:
When a load clears your floor
The offer with full numbers: rate, miles, pickup window, broker. You confirm or pass.
Before every pickup and delivery
Check calls run with the broker so you are not the one doing hold music at a dock.
When waiting starts costing
Detention documented from arrival time and invoiced with the POD.
Friday
The weekly earnings report: every load, rate, fee and claim, line by line.
When something breaks
Nights and weekends included. Freight does not keep office hours and neither does the desk.
The meter behind all of it is one percentage of gross on hauled loads: 5% standard, 7% while an MC is under 6 months, 4% per truck for fleets. The fees page prints the whole list; factoring carriers can see how the money flows on dispatch and factoring together.
Where the money actually flows
- 01The broker pays you (or your factoring company, if you sent an NOA), on the terms in the rate con. Load money never routes through our account.
- 02If you factor, the factor advances most of the invoice fast and takes its fee; the dispatch fee has nothing to do with that transaction.
- 03We invoice weekly for the dispatch percentage on delivered loads, attached to the earnings report that lists every load and rate, so the bill audits itself.
That separation is deliberate. A dispatcher who touches your freight money has become something else, and you should read any such arrangement twice.
Load cancelled after you drove to pickup
We chase the TONU (truck ordered, not used) with the broker, documented. Collected TONU money is load revenue like any other.
Dock holds you for hours
Detention clock documented from arrival; we invoice it with the POD and keep the receipts in Friday's report.
A load smells like double brokering
We flag it, verify the broker in SAFER and against the rate con details, and pass unless it checks clean. You never find out the hard way at the dock.
Broker pays slow or not at all
We chase with paperwork and escalate toward the broker's bond. Factored loads shift most of this risk to the factor, which is half the argument for factoring.
Truck breaks down mid-load
You fix the truck; we handle the broker, reschedule or recover the load, and rebuild the week around the downtime.
Q-01Will you ever ask for my FMCSA login?
No, and treat anyone who does as a threat. FMCSA credentials control your authority itself; no dispatcher needs them for any legitimate task. We work from documents you send: W-9, COI, authority letter. The access list stops there, permanently.
Q-02Do I approve every load before it is booked?
Yes. We send the load with full numbers, and the broker sends the rate confirmation directly to you. Nothing is booked until you confirm, and passing costs nothing: finding the next option is our job, not your penalty.
Q-03How does truck dispatching work?
You hire the desk as your agent. We find loads, negotiate rates from your floor, run broker setups and check calls, and plan reloads, while every booking decision stays yours. The fee is a percentage of gross on loads actually hauled, nothing else.
Q-04What paperwork does a dispatcher need?
Your authority letter, certificate of insurance, W-9, truck and trailer details, and your notice of assignment if you factor. CDL carriers also confirm their drug and alcohol testing enrollment because brokers check it. That stack is exactly what brokers require; we just stop you from re-sending it forever.
Q-05How do dispatchers get paid?
Honest ones: a percentage of gross after loads deliver, billed weekly against a report you can audit line by line. Ours is 5% standard, 7% under 6 months of authority, 4% per truck for fleets. Walk away from big setup fees and prepaid weeks.
Q-06Do you sign carrier packets for me?
No. Packets and broker agreements carry your company's name, so you sign them. We prepare every packet, fill the details, flag anything unusual in the terms, and send it ready for your signature, which is the part that should never leave your hands.
Now you know how the machine runs. Turn it on.
Setup usually takes a few business days once your documents are in. No setup fee, no contract, every load your call.
Pick your truck and start