Freight dispatch services at a flat rate, never a cut of your freight.
A freight-trained desk that books loads to your lanes and rate floors, checks the rate cons, runs check calls and documents detention, on your authority, at a flat monthly rate.
Freight dispatch services find, negotiate and book loads for a carrier, then manage the paperwork and communication until the load delivers: rate confirmations, carrier packets, check calls, track-and-trace and detention claims. TransportBPO runs this as a flat-rate desk working on your authority, inside your load boards and TMS. You set the lanes and rate floors and approve every load; we never take a percentage.
How freight dispatch services works with TransportBPO
A freight dispatcher’s day starts before the truck is empty. Where will it deliver, how many hours does the driver have left, and which outbound lanes pay from there? Everything else follows: working the load boards, calling brokers, negotiating, booking, checking the rate confirmation, sending the driver the pickup details, and staying on the load until the POD is in hand. TransportBPO’s freight dispatch services put a dedicated, freight-trained agent on that work for owner-operators and small carriers, so the driver drives and the next load is lined up before this one delivers.
Most freight dispatch services charge a percentage of each load’s gross. That has a real upside: in a slow week, you pay less. It also has a side effect. When the dispatcher’s pay rises with the rate and the miles, the incentive leans toward volume, not toward your rate per mile, your deadhead or your home time. We price freight dispatch as a flat monthly rate, never a percentage of the freight, so a strong week does not raise the fee.
You stay the carrier. Your authority, insurance and safety obligations stay with you, and so does the final yes on every load. Our desk is a support desk working under your direction, not a freight broker or a dispatcher of record: we do not sell your capacity, take a margin, or sign anything you have not approved.
Whether you call it a truck dispatch service, owner-operator dispatch or simply trucking load booking, the same desk also serves freight agents who need back office support (carrier packets, rate cons, track-and-trace and POD collection) and car haulers who need someone working the boards while they load. The first week is free, with no card, no setup fee and month-to-month terms after that.
Freight dispatch services, line by line.
Load sourcing and booking
The desk searches your load board accounts and calls brokers on posts that match your equipment, lanes and rate floor, then books with your approval. The reload gets planned while the current load is still rolling.
Rate negotiation and rate cons
Every rate is negotiated before you commit, and every rate confirmation is checked against what was agreed: rate, pickup and delivery times, accessorials, detention terms and payment terms. Errors get fixed with the broker before the truck moves, not argued after delivery.
Check calls and track-and-trace
Scheduled check calls at dispatch, pickup, loaded, in transit and delivered, logged in your TMS. Brokers and shippers get updates before they ask, by call, email or their tracking portals, and problems go to your on-call contact by your rules.
Detention and layover documentation
Arrival and departure times are logged as they happen, and the broker is told when the free time in the rate con runs out. Detention, layover, TONU and lumper claims go out with the timestamps attached, so the claim is documented before anyone disputes it.
Car hauler dispatch
Multi-car loads built around your trailer capacity and route, with pickup windows confirmed and condition reports and BOLs kept together at every stop.
Night and weekend dispatch
Freight does not stop at 6pm. The desk can cover nights, weekends and holidays: answering driver calls, working breakdowns to your escalation rules, confirming early pickups and updating brokers overnight, then handing your morning team a clean log.
What a freight dispatcher does, hour by hour
A dispatcher’s value is less about any single call and more about sequence: the reload booked before the truck empties, the appointment confirmed before the driver arrives, the detention clock started the minute the free time ends. This is the routine our freight desk runs on every load:
- The night before: check where each truck delivers tomorrow, the driver’s available hours and home time, and shortlist outbound lanes.
- Morning: work the load boards and broker calls, negotiate, book with your approval, and confirm the rate con matches the deal.
- Dispatch: send the driver the load details, pickup number, appointment and special instructions.
- Pickup and transit: check calls on arrival, loaded, rolling and near delivery, with broker updates the moment a load runs late.
- Delivery: collect the signed BOL or POD, log the times, file accessorial claims, and assemble the invoice packet for billing or factoring.
Flat-fee vs percentage dispatch: the honest trade-offs
Percentage dispatch is the common model, and it suits some carriers. If you run few loads, have irregular weeks or are testing whether dispatch help is worth it at all, paying only when loads move keeps the risk low. The trade-off shows up as you grow: the fee climbs with every rate increase, and a dispatcher paid on gross has little reason to care about deadhead, fuel or whether the load gets the driver home on Friday.
A flat monthly rate turns that around. The cost is fixed, so it makes the most sense when your trucks run steadily and the desk has a full week of work. It is not the cheaper option for every operator in every week, and we would rather say so. Run the comparison on your own gross from the last few months: what a percentage would have cost against a flat seat, and what check calls, detention and night cover are worth to you.
Your lanes, your rate floors, your final yes
Before the first load, you set the rules the desk books to: equipment limits, preferred and banned lanes, minimum rate per mile, maximum deadhead, home-time dates, brokers you avoid, and how you approve loads. The desk works your own load board accounts and broker relationships, so the history and ratings stay yours if you ever leave.
When a load is close to the floor but not over it, the desk tells you and lets you decide. When a broker pushes a load that does not fit, the answer is no. The desk exists to keep you loaded on freight that works for your business, not to keep the truck moving at any rate.
Car hauler dispatch: same desk, different freight
Car hauling runs on its own boards, customers and paperwork. Loads are built car by car to fill the trailer on a sensible route; pickups come from dealers, auctions and private customers with their own windows; and every vehicle needs a condition report at pickup and delivery. The desk dispatches car haulers on those terms: multi-car loads built to your capacity, every pickup and delivery contact confirmed, inspection photos and BOLs kept together, and payment terms settled before the trailer is loaded.
What stays with the carrier
Outsourcing the desk does not outsource the responsibility. These stay with you, by design:
- Your operating authority, insurance, and the contracts you sign with brokers and shippers.
- Safety and hours-of-service compliance, driver supervision and maintenance decisions.
- Accepting or declining every load: the desk recommends, you decide.
- Your billing and factoring, unless you add our billing desk. We never act as a broker or hold authority of our own.
Four ways to get freight dispatched, compared honestly
From first call to a live desk.
Set your rules
Equipment, lanes, rate floors, deadhead limits, home time and how you approve loads, written into an account playbook so every agent books the same way.
Connect your accounts
You grant access to your load boards, TMS, email and ELD or tracking feed, and share your carrier packet. No migration: the work lands in your systems.
Book the first loads together
During the free first week, the desk books with your approval on each load, so you can judge the rates, the paperwork and the check calls before you pay.
Run, review, adjust
Regular reviews of loads, rates and deadhead keep the rules current. Add nights or weekends, or scale back, month to month.
Freight dispatch services: questions operators ask.
Related desks and guides.
Put your freight dispatch services on a live desk.
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