Skip to content
RescueLoad

    Owner-operators

    Dispatch service for owner operators who are done waiting at docks for free.

    You already know the drill: two hours free, then three more in the lot that nobody pays for, a lumper you cover out of pocket, and a broker who stops answering when you ask about detention. Our dispatch service for owner operators starts there. We get the terms in writing before you accept a load, keep the proof while you're at the dock, and file the claim. You keep the wheel and every yes or no.

    Get paid for my dock time

    Owner operator dispatch services all sound alike on the first page of a search. The difference shows up in the answers to a few blunt questions, so here are ours first.

    Eight questions owner-operators ask first

    Can I choose my own loads?
    Every load is your choice. We bring you offers that already fit the rules you gave us, like your lanes, your rate floor and your home time, and you accept or decline each one. The rate con goes straight to you to sign. Turning a load down costs nothing and doesn't put you at the back of any line.
    Can I run only certain lanes?
    Yes. Tell us where you want to run, where you won't go and how far from home you'll be. We plan loads and backhauls inside those limits. If the only way to keep you rolling is a load outside them, we'll tell you why and ask first. You can change the lanes any time with a text.
    Can a dispatcher plan my home time?
    That's part of the job. Give us the days you want at home and how often, and we plan backwards from them so the last load of the run delivers near the house. It doesn't always land perfectly, because appointments move, but we plan for it from Monday, not on Friday afternoon.
    Do you file detention and lumper paperwork?
    Yes. We get detention, layover and TONU terms on the rate con before you accept, log your in and out times, warn the broker before free time ends and send the claim with proof attached. For lumper fees we send the receipt for reimbursement, and our fee never touches that money.
    Do you help with cargo claims?
    We help you document and respond. That means making sure damage or shortage is written on the POD, collecting your photos and the seal record, and getting notices to the broker and your insurer on time. We aren't lawyers, so a large or disputed claim may need one, and we'll tell you when.
    How do I pay the dispatcher?
    We bill our fee after the loads are delivered, from the loads you hauled and the accessorial pay we collected: 5% for one truck with 6 months or more of authority, 7% before that. The billing schedule is written into the short agreement we send after the first call, before any load is booked.
    Do you work with owner-operators who factor?
    Yes, with any factoring company. We send invoices and paperwork to your factor instead of the broker, with the notice of assignment in your carrier packet so brokers pay the right party. If you don't factor yet and want faster pay, we can refer you for a quote, but you don't need to factor to use our dispatch.
    What reports will I get?
    A weekly report with each load, the miles, the gross, the rate per mile, the deadhead, and every accessorial claim with its status: filed, paid or refused. It's the report you'd keep yourself if you had time, and it's what we use to plan the next week with you.

    Put a number on the hours you already give away.

    Fill in a normal week: how many stops, how long you're usually on site, the free time your rate cons give you, and a detention rate. The card shows the hours past free time and what they're worth at that rate.

    That figure isn't a promise. It's the ceiling: what those hours would bring in if every load had detention terms in writing and every stop had times and messages to back up the claim. If you're collecting far less than that, the usual reason is simple: the terms were never on the rate con.

    Closing that gap is the first thing our dispatchers work on, before rate per mile, before lanes. It's money for time you already spent.

    How detention works from start to finish is in what detention means in trucking, and the claim itself in how a dispatcher gets detention and lumper money paid.

    Unpaid hours cardYour numbers
    hrs
    hrs
    $/hr

    Billable hours a week

    12.0

    Worth at your rate

    $600/wk

    $27,600 a year, if every hour had detention terms and proof behind it. Brokers don't always pay. A claim with times and proof attached is much harder to ignore than a phone call.

    Load offer 1 of 3

    Example

    Memphis, TN to Dallas, TX

    Miles
    452
    Rate
    $1,150
    Per mile
    $2.54
    • 2 hrs free, then detention per hour
    • Lumper reimbursed with receipt

    Pickup Mon 06:00

    Your truck, your call, every load.

    The card on the left is a made-up week of three offers for one dry van. Accept the first and the rate con arrives in your inbox for you to sign. The second pays more on paper but comes with no detention terms and a long run away from home; decline it and nothing happens except we keep looking. The third brings you home on the day you asked for.

    That's how it works for real. A common worry about dispatchers is being pushed into loads. Here you can't be: nothing moves without your yes, and saying no is free.

    Set your rules once, like the lowest rate you'll run, the lanes, the home days, and the brokers you won't work with, and every offer is checked against them before it reaches your phone.

    A week from the cab, with us on the other end of the phone.

    1. SUNWe text you Monday's offer with the rate and the terms. You say yes from the couch.
    2. MONYou pick up and send your in and out times. We tell the broker you're loaded and line up Wednesday's reload.
    3. TUEYou drive. We make the check calls and answer the broker's questions.
    4. WEDThe receiver keeps you three hours past free time. You send the gate slip. We warn the broker before free time ends and send the detention claim with the times after you leave.
    5. THUYou turn down an offer that would keep you out past Friday. We find a shorter one that heads toward home.
    6. FRIYou deliver and send the POD. The invoices go out with the paperwork attached, and you get the week's report.

    Example A made-up week to show who does what. Real weeks vary with freight, lanes and receivers.

    What we handle so you can drive.

    • Finding the load

      Load boards and the brokers we know, matched to your lanes and your rate floor.

    • Working the rate and the terms

      Counter-offers, free time, detention, layover, TONU and lumper reimbursement, before you see it.

    • Carrier packets

      Your authority, insurance and W-9 on file with each broker so loads aren't held up.

    • Check calls

      Broker updates from pickup to delivery, so your phone stays quiet.

    • Dock time and claims

      Your times logged against free time, the broker warned in writing, the claim sent with the proof. and layover too.

    • Invoices

      Built from the signed rate con with the POD and receipts attached, sent to the broker or your factor.

    • Planning the next one

      The reload lined up before you deliver, to keep deadhead short.

    • Nights and weekends

      Dispatch desk: nights and weekends included. If a receiver turns you away on a Saturday, someone answers.

    Picking the best dispatch service for owner operators

    "Best" depends on how you run, so judge any dispatch company for owner operators on things you can check. Does the rate con come to you? Can you decline a load without a penalty? What exactly is the percentage charged on? Is there a setup fee or a contract longer than a month? Will they put detention terms on the rate con before you accept, and file the claim after? Ask every service the same questions, ours included, and compare the answers in writing.

    If you want to see how one load moves from offer to paid invoice with us, the step-by-step booking guide shows every punch on the card. Want to see what last week's waits were worth first? Try the detention pay calculator.

    When dispatch isn't worth it for an owner-operator.

    A dispatcher costs a percentage of every load, so it should earn more than it costs. It may not if you already run a dedicated lane for one shipper that pays on time and pays detention without being asked, or if you genuinely enjoy the load boards and the broker calls and have the hours for them. In those cases your time is already well spent, and our fee would mostly buy you quiet.

    It usually pays when the time is the problem: hours on the boards every evening, detention you never bill because there's no one to chase it, invoices that go out late because the POD sat in the truck. If that sounds like your week, run your numbers through the card above and compare them with our fee.

    5% of gross, and only the right gross.

    One truck with 6 months or more of authority pays 5% of the linehaul and the accessorial pay we collect. If your MC is newer, it's 7% until month 7, then it drops on its own. Lumper reimbursements, tolls and scale tickets are never in the fee, because that's your money coming back.

    No setup fee, no minimum, month to month. A week the truck is in the shop costs you nothing. The full breakdown is on our dispatch pricing page.

    Example A week with ,200 in linehaul and 50 in detention collected comes to a fee of 5% of ,350, which is 67.50. A 20 lumper reimbursed that week isn't touched.

    Price my week

    Example week
    $

    Our fee (5%)

    $270

    You keep

    $5,280

    Fee on $5,400. $150 in lumper money passes straight to you.

    Stop giving the dock your hours for free.

    Send the application. On the first call we set your lanes, your rate floor and your home time, and the first offer comes with its terms in writing.

    Get paid for my dock time

    You approve every load. No setup fee. No contract.