A dry van dispatch service that protects your 14-hour window
Dry van freight is everywhere, which is exactly why it's easy to run a van badly. The rate on the board is rarely what decides your week. What decides it is how many hours you lose at live unloads, how often your next pickup lands after your window has already closed, and how many detention hours you eat without billing. Our dry van dispatchers plan around those three things first: drop and hook where it pays, appointments that fit your clock, and detention filed per the rate con. Every load still comes to you as a rate confirmation for your yes or no.
RATE CON · 06:00
COLUMBUS -> INDY · DROP
$860
CONFIRMED
Same truck, same market: two days on the log
Flip between the two EXAMPLE days below. Same driver, same van, same week. The difference isn't the rate per mile; it's where the hours went. On the self-dispatched day a 3-hour live unload and an hour and a half of board work eat the middle of the 14-hour window, so the afternoon becomes deadhead toward a load that can't pick up until tomorrow. On the dispatched day the receiver is drop and hook, the next trailer was booked yesterday, and the 30-minute break happens at the hook instead of on the shoulder.
- DRIVE USED
- 6:30
- MILES
- 338
- LOADS
- 1 delivered, 0 reloaded
A 3-hour live unload plus 90 minutes on the board and phone. The afternoon goes to deadhead toward a reload that won't load until tomorrow. EXAMPLE days at an average of 52 mph; limits per 49 CFR 395.3.
Three extra hours of driving in the same window, and a reload already on the trailer. That's the dry van case for a dispatcher in one picture. It's also why we read every rate con for live versus drop terms before we read the rate.
Why the window matters: the 14-hour window · DOT hours of service
Dry van dispatch vs doing it yourself
A fair comparison, row by row. Plenty of van operators self-dispatch well; this is where the hours usually go:
| SELF-DISPATCHED | WITH OUR DESK | |
|---|---|---|
| Time on load boards | 1-3 hours a day, mostly parked during what should be rest | Ours, on our shift, while you drive |
| Rate talks | A few calls a week from a dock or truck stop | Every load countered with recent lane data |
| Live vs drop terms | Often discovered at the gate | Read on the rate con before we offer the load |
| Appointment times | Whatever the shipper had open | Picked to fit your 11 and your 14, reset protected |
| Detention claims | Filed when you remember, if the timestamps exist | Clock started at check-in, filed per the rate con |
| Cost | Board subscription plus your hours | 5% of gross standard, 7% new MC, 4% fleets |
The dry van freight we book
A 53 ft dry van moves most of what America buys, which means the work is in choosing, not finding. These are the freight types we chase for van operators, and what we watch on each:
Retail and consumer goods
Grocery dry and beverages
Paper, packaging and plastics
Drop and hook programs
What we pass on: loads whose receivers have a reputation for all-day unloads with no detention terms, and multi-stop strings whose windows can't all be met inside one legal day.
Appointments, detention and lumpers: where van money leaks
The 14-hour window runs from the moment you come on duty, and it keeps running while you sit in a door. Waiting to be loaded or unloaded is generally logged as on duty not driving unless you're truly relieved of all responsibility, and either way the window doesn't pause (49 CFR 395.3(a)(2)). So a 3-hour live unload doesn't cost you 3 hours; it costs you whatever load those 3 hours would have reached.
We handle it in three places. Before booking: we read the rate con for live or drop, the free time, and the detention rate, and we prefer appointments early in your day so a slow dock eats slack instead of your next pickup. At the dock: we start the detention clock with the broker the minute you check in, using your timestamps and ELD record as backup. After: we file the claim per the rate con and re-plan the rest of your day around the delay.
Lumpers are their own line. Some receivers require a third-party crew to unload, and the fee is usually paid by the shipper or broker. In practice you often pay at the dock and get reimbursed with the receipt, so we confirm the lumper terms in writing on the rate con before you go, and we chase the reimbursement with your paperwork.
The cheapest detention hour is the one you never sit. That's why the planning happens before the load is booked, not after the gate: an 08:00 appointment at a receiver known for long doors, with a reload booked for 15:00 a hundred miles away, is a plan that only works if nothing goes wrong. We would rather book the reload for the next morning and protect your break than promise an afternoon the dock won't give you.
ONE DOCK, TIMESTAMPEDEXAMPLE
- FREE TIME
- 2:00
- DETENTION
- 2:00 × $50
- CLAIMED
- $100
What a dry van dispatcher does that the board can't
Reads the terms before the rate
Books tomorrow while you drive today
Times the appointment to your clock
Chases the paper
Keeps the week pointed home
A dry van week, planned around the clock
- MONDROP
- TUE06:00
- WEDLUMPER
- THUDETAIN
- FRIHOME
EXAMPLE, one owner-operator with a 53 ft van based near Columbus, Ohio, home on weekends. Monday: a drop and hook retail load to Indianapolis, booked the Thursday before. Tuesday: a paper load to Louisville with an 06:00 appointment, chosen because the driver's day starts at 05:00. Wednesday: a grocery dry load that included a lumper; the terms were confirmed on the rate con and the receipt was reimbursed with the POD. Thursday: a 2-hour wait at a distribution center turned into a detention claim filed the same afternoon, and Friday's pickup was moved later to protect the 10-hour break. Friday: a load home to Columbus. Every one of those loads reached the driver as a rate confirmation first, and two others were declined that week because their windows would have pushed the day past 14 hours.
Who dry van dispatch fits, and who it doesn't
FITSOwner-operators and small fleets running 53 ft vans on spot or mixed freight, new authorities building a broker list, and anyone who loses more hours to docks and boards than they'd like.
LESS SOCarriers already on steady dedicated contracts with planned appointments get less from a desk; their freight is already organized. We'll tell you that on the setup call instead of taking a fee for nothing.
What dry van dispatch costs
Equipment never changes the fee. One van with authority older than 6 months pays 5% of gross. A new MC pays 7% for its first 6 months, then 5%. Fleets of two or more trucks pay the 4% fleet rate while it's offered. No setup fee, no minimums, month to month with 30 days notice, and nothing on a week you don't haul. Full pricing
- one van, authority 6+ months
- 5%
- new MC, first 6 months
- 7%
- fleets of 2+ (limited time)
- 4%
- on a week you don't haul
- $0
Dry van dispatch questions
More of your 14 on the road, less of it in a door
Apply in about 2 minutes. We answer nights and weekends.