DRY VAN DISPATCH
Dry van dispatch service that keeps the backbone of your fleet moving
Dry vans haul the freight most of the economy runs on, which also means more trucks competing for every load. Our dry van dispatch service books the freight that fits each van's lanes and schedule, negotiates every rate, and handles the appointments, lumpers and detention that eat a dry van week. You approve every load. The rate con comes straight to you.
Retail and big-box
Store and distribution center freight with appointments
Dry grocery and beverage
Steady volume, lumpers common at receivers
Paper and packaging
Heavy, dense loads, often mill to converter
Drop and hook
Swap trailers, skip the dock wait
UNIT 02
What a dry van dispatcher books, and what each kind of freight asks of you
Retail and distribution
Store replenishment and distribution center freight runs on appointments. Miss the window and the load can be refused or rescheduled. The desk books these with your driver's hours and the drive time in mind, not just the pickup time, so you're not approving a delivery that can't legally be made on time.
Dry grocery and beverage
Steady volume, often in repeat lanes, and lumpers at many receivers. Beverage is heavy, so weight matters on every offer. We confirm weight and lumper terms before an offer reaches you.
Paper and packaging
Mills and converters ship dense, heavy loads, sometimes on regular schedules. Good for vans that run the same corridors each week. Watch for loads that max out the trailer's weight long before they fill it.
Drop and hook
Swapping a loaded trailer for an empty one at the dock saves hours of waiting. It needs shippers with trailer pools or spare trailers of your own. Where your lanes offer it, the desk prefers it, because hours not spent at docks are hours your truck can drive.
UNIT 03
Three ways to dispatch a van fleet
Owner-dispatched, an in-house dispatcher, or our desk. Change the inputs to match your fleet and see the cost per van per week.
The in-house line starts from the median U.S. dispatcher wage $50,340Dispatcher median annual wage$50,340BLS OEWS, May 2025, Dispatchers except police, fire and ambulance (SOC 43-5032), national median. Wages only, before payroll taxes, benefits and overhead.BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 43-5032, 2025Checked Oct 2026 and adds a percentage for what an employer pays on top: payroll taxes, benefits, a load board seat and software. Change that percentage to match your situation. The owner line counts your hours, which are real even when nobody invoices them.
For most fleets of two to eight vans, the desk costs less per truck than a salary, and it doesn't stop at 5 p.m. or on weekends. At larger sizes, a dedicated in-house dispatcher can win, especially on a dense set of repeat lanes. Our dispatch ROI calculator adds the value of your hours back to the picture, and the small fleet dispatch page shows how the desk runs several units at once.
UNIT 04
How we judge a dry van offer before it reaches you
A rate that looks good on the board can be a bad week once you count the miles around it.
All-in rate per mile
We divide the rate by every mile it takes, including the deadhead to pickup, not just the loaded miles. A $2.40 load with 90 empty miles in front of it can pay less per mile than a $2.20 load starting next door. EXAMPLE On a 500-mile load, those 90 empty miles take the $2.40 offer down to about $2.03 a mile across every mile the truck drives, so the closer load wins.
Where it leaves the truck
Dry van markets are uneven. Some cities ship plenty of freight out; others mostly take it in. A strong rate into a weak market can cost you a day of sitting or a long empty run afterward, so we price the reload into the decision.
Time at the dock
Appointment windows, live unloads and receivers known for long waits all eat hours. Two loads with the same rate per mile aren't equal if one ties the truck up for half a day. We note what we know about the facility on the offer, and we learn more about each dock every time one of your trucks goes through it.
Every one of those factors goes into the offer we bring you, along with the floor rate you set for that van. You still make the call. When we think an offer is worth taking below your floor, we say so and say why.
UNIT 05
Lumpers, detention and TONU: the money a van week leaks
Dry van work is dock work. Trucks wait for doors, receivers hire lumpers to unload, and loads get cancelled after the truck is already on the way. Each of those has a line on the rate confirmation, and each is money you're owed if you document it.
Lumpers. The rate con says who pays. Usually it's reimbursed with a receipt, sometimes paid directly. We confirm the terms before you approve the load and collect the receipt after delivery so the reimbursement isn't forgotten.
Detention. Most rate cons give a set amount of free time, then pay by the hour. We record arrival and departure times as they happen and file the claim with the broker, instead of leaving it to a driver's memory a week later.
TONU. When a load is cancelled after your truck is dispatched, a truck-ordered-not-used fee may apply if the rate con includes one. We ask for it, and we find the next load fast so the day isn't lost.
Before you approve
Lumper, detention and TONU terms checked on the rate con.At the dock
Arrival and departure times logged as they happen.After delivery
Receipts collected, claims filed with the broker.On the weekly report
Detention claimed per truck, so you see what was recovered.
UNIT 06
Dry van dispatch questions
01How much does dry van dispatch cost?
5% of gross for one van, 4% each for two or more, and 7% while your MC is under 6 months old, dropping on its own after that. Only on loads you accept and haul, with no setup fee and no minimum.
02Should a small fleet hire an in-house dispatcher?
Sometimes. A salaried dispatcher makes sense when a fleet is large and busy enough to keep one person working full days, and when someone in the office can cover nights and days off. Below that, the salary is paid whether the trucks run or not. The table on this page compares the cost per truck at your size.
03How many trucks can one dispatcher handle?
There's no fixed number. It depends on lane length, how many loads each truck runs a week and how much paperwork comes with them. Dry van trucks on long runs need fewer bookings per week than trucks doing short regional loads, which is why a desk plans by workload rather than truck count.
04Can you find drop and hook loads?
We look for them when your operation can use them, and they're worth it: less time waiting at docks. Drop and hook depends on shippers with trailer pools or on your own spare trailers, and on whether the lane offers it. We'll tell you honestly how often it shows up in your lanes.
05Who pays lumper fees?
The rate confirmation decides. Usually the broker or shipper covers lumper charges, either paid at the dock with a receipt and reimbursed or paid directly. We check the lumper terms before an offer reaches you and collect the receipt for reimbursement after delivery.
Fees are the same for every equipment type; the full breakdown is on our dispatch rates page.
Add vans without adding a dispatch office
Tell us how many vans you run and where. A dispatcher calls back, sets each van's rules with you, and brings the first offers to approve.
4% for 2+ trucks, 5% for one, 7% while your MC is new