Power only dispatch services built on hooks, not dock doors
Power only is the purest version of what this desk is for. You bring the tractor, a shipper or broker brings the trailer, and the best power only weeks are the ones where you almost never sit at a dock. A preloaded trailer at 05:00, a drop at a distribution center, a reload already waiting in the next yard. Every hook that replaces a live load gives hours back to your 14-hour window. Our dispatchers build weeks around those hooks, and every load still reaches you as a rate confirmation for your yes or no.
RATE CON · 05:00
HOOK: YARD 4, DOOR 12
PRELOADED
READY
A hypothetical power only week, day by day
Meet Driver A, a solo owner-operator with a day cab and no trailer. Driver A doesn't exist; this week is a hypothetical built to show how preloaded trailers change the clock, not a record of real results. Tap any day to open its log. Notice how short the amber on-duty blocks are when the work is a hook instead of a live load, and notice Wednesday, which is the day the plan breaks.
DRIVER A · POWER ONLY WEEKHYPOTHETICAL
The plan breaks: the preloaded trailer wasn't ready and the yard held Driver A for 2 hours. Detention gets claimed, the afternoon leg is shortened, and Thursday's hook moves later so the 10-hour break stays whole.
Hypothetical week for illustration; not a real driver or real results. Limits per 49 CFR 395.3.
Wednesday is in there on purpose. Power only plans break, and they break in predictable ways: a trailer that isn't loaded when the yard said it would be, a yard jockey who's two trucks behind, a seal number that doesn't match the paperwork. A dispatcher can't prevent those. What a dispatcher can do is see them coming, claim the detention, and move the next hook before your 10-hour break gets squeezed.
How power only actually works
- 1Yard or shippertrailer staged
- 2Inspect & hookseal, lights, paperwork
- 3Drive the loadinside your 11 and 14
- 4Drop & hook againreload already waiting
In power only, the trailer belongs to someone else: a shipper, a broker with a trailer pool, or another carrier. You provide the tractor and the driver. Loads usually run in one of three ways. Drop and hook, where you drop a loaded trailer at the receiver and hook an empty or a preloaded one. Pool programs, where a broker or shipper keeps trailers staged at yards and assigns you loads out of them. And one-off moves, where you pick up a loaded trailer, deliver it, and leave it.
Programs vary a lot. Some large brokers and shippers run structured power only programs with their own onboarding, insurance requirements, trailer inspection rules and app-based load assignment. Others are informal. Rates, requirements and rules change, so check each program's current terms before you count on it, and read the trailer interchange agreement before you sign it. We help you sort which programs fit your base and your hours, and we handle the setup paperwork.
Yard work deserves a note. Moving a trailer around inside a yard can be recorded on your ELD as a yard move, which counts as on duty not driving, but only when the movement really is within the yard or terminal. Yard moves aren't a way to hide driving on public roads, and we never plan as if they were. Yard moves on an ELD, explained
YOUR TRACTOR · THEIR TRAILER
Why hooks beat docks on the clock
The 14-hour window under 49 CFR 395.3(a)(2) runs from when you come on duty, and it doesn't stop while a dock crew unloads your trailer. A live unload that takes three hours costs three hours of window. A drop and hook usually takes a fraction of that: inspect, hook, check the lights and the seal, sign, roll. On a two-stop day that difference can be the gap between a reload today and a reload tomorrow.
That's the whole economic case for power only, and it's why our planning starts with the yards, not the rate. A slightly lower-paying load with a preloaded trailer waiting can beat a higher rate with a live unload, once you count the hours. We show you both sides of that math on the rate con conversation before you decide.
Power only rates also come with their own fine print. Some programs pay a flat amount per move, some pay per mile, some add a fee when the trailer isn't ready on time, and some don't. Before you see a power only load, we confirm how it pays, whether there's a trailer-not-ready or detention clause, and how the program handles a trailer you have to reject at the yard. Those details matter more in power only than anywhere else, because the trailer is the one thing you don't control.
WHERE THE 14-HOUR WINDOW GOESEXAMPLE
Two live unloads
Two drop and hooks
- Driving
- Live load/unload
- Break
- Hooks & inspections
What a power only dispatcher handles
Finds the programs that fit your base
Confirms the trailer before you roll
Plans hooks into your clock
Claims yard delays
Keeps the reloads coming
Protect yourself on someone else's trailer
When you hook a trailer you've never seen, you inherit its condition. A careful pre-trip on every hook is your first protection: tires, lights, brakes, mud flaps, the landing gear, the doors and the seal. Note any damage on the paperwork before you leave the yard, and take photos. If a trailer has a defect that makes it unsafe, it doesn't leave the yard with you.
Then read the trailer interchange agreement for each program. It spells out who pays for what if the trailer is damaged in your care, and what insurance you're expected to carry. We'll help you compare programs, but the agreement is a contract between you and the trailer owner, so read it yourself before you sign.
Your ELD will also show the moves other drivers made with a shared tractor or in a shared yard as unassigned driving events if your device picks them up. Review and annotate them when they appear; a fleet's unassigned events are a common audit question, and they're easier to explain the same day than six months later.
WHO IT FITS
Power only fits owner-operators and small fleets who want to drive more and wait less, who live near active drop yards or trailer pools, and who don't want the cost and upkeep of their own trailers. If your area has few power only programs, a dry van or reefer of your own may earn more, and we'll tell you that honestly on the setup call. Either way, every load still reaches you as a rate confirmation first, and the decision is yours.
What you need before your first power only load
Your own authority
Trailer interchange coverage
The right tractor setup
A clean pre-trip habit
An ELD you know well
Running your own trailer too? Dry van dispatch works the same way, with the same fee.
What power only dispatch costs
The fee is the same for every truck we dispatch: 5% of gross for one tractor with authority older than 6 months, 7% while your MC is under 6 months, and 4% for fleets of 2 or more trucks while the fleet rate lasts. No setup fee, no minimums, month to month, and nothing on a week you don't haul. Full pricing
- one tractor, authority 6+ months
- 5%
- new MC, first 6 months
- 7%
- fleets of 2+ (limited time)
- 4%
- setup fee or minimums
- $0
More hooks, fewer doors, same legal clock
Apply in about 2 minutes. We answer nights and weekends.