Terms on every rate con
Free time, detention, layover, TONU and lumper reimbursement, asked for on every load. When a broker refuses, you hear it before you decide, with our own read on the docks.
Soft rates
Slow freight market dispatch: protect every accessorial dollar while rates are soft.
When linehaul rates drop, carriers feel it first in the margin. You can't make the market tighter. You can stop leaking the money that doesn't depend on it: the detention you didn't bill, the TONU you didn't claim, the empty miles to a reload you found too late. In a slow freight market, dispatch is less about finding higher rates and more about keeping every dollar a load should pay. That's where we put our effort, and you still decide on every load.
The same soft month, with and without terms.
The stack is a made-up month for one truck when rates were down. Linehaul is the same either way. Switch between rate cons that had accessorial terms written in and rate cons that didn't. The waits at the docks, the delivery that got pushed a day and the load that cancelled after dispatch all happened in both versions. Only one version gets paid for them.
That gap is why accessorial terms matter more when rates are soft. On a strong month, a few unpaid hours hurt. On a thin month, they can be the difference between covering the truck payment and not.
The lumpers sit outside the fee in both versions. They come back to you because you paid them, and our percentage never touches them.
Total $18,840
Dispatch fee at 5%: $910 on $18,200. Pass-through money is never in the fee. You keep $17,930.
$1,000 more for the same hours, same miles and same docks.
What we do differently when rates are down.
Reloads planned early
Empty miles cost the same in any market, so they hurt more when rates fall. We look for the next load before you deliver this one and avoid lanes that end where freight doesn't leave.
Your rate floor, held
You set the lowest rate you'll run. We hold to it, and when a load below it would set up a strong reload, we lay out the numbers and let you decide.
Paperwork the same day
In a soft market, cash flow is tight. PODs and receipts the same day mean invoices out the same day, and accessorial claims filed while the times are fresh.
Brokers who pay
A good rate from a broker who pays late or disputes everything is worse than a fair rate from one who pays on time. We weigh payment history when we choose who to work with.
Fewer wasted days
Docks with long waits and no detention terms get flagged. In a slow market, a day lost at a slow receiver is harder to make back.
Reading the market without guessing.
Freight markets move in cycles that are hard to call. We don't forecast, and you should be wary of anyone who does it with confidence. What we watch is narrower and more useful for one truck: which of your lanes are moving this week, where reloads are easy, and which brokers are posting more than usual.
For the bigger picture, public data on freight volumes by mode and over time helps put a slow stretch in context. Our US freight shipping statistics (coming soon) page collects that data with sources and dates.
To see what a thin load is really worth after fuel, tolls and empty miles, run it through the load profitability calculator before you accept.
The costs you can still control.
Rates are the market's decision. Several big costs are yours. Empty miles are the largest: every mile without freight burns fuel and hours for nothing, so planning reloads before delivery matters most when rates are low. Idling at docks burns fuel too, and a reefer burns more. Paying for a long wait with no detention terms is a cost. So is a broker who pays in 45 days when you need the money in 15.
Know your cost per mile before the market turns, so you can tell a thin load from a losing one in seconds. Our free tools work it out from your own numbers, and the result is the floor we hold every offer to.
Slow markets also reward patience at the right moments: waiting a few hours for a better reload rather than grabbing the first cheap one out of a weak area.
Small fleets in a slow market.
With several trucks, a soft market can mean choosing which trucks run and which sit, instead of running all of them on thin freight. We help you see each truck's week on the same page: rate per mile after empty miles, accessorials collected, and what each truck would earn on the loads available. Sometimes parking one truck for a few days beats running it below cost. That's your decision; our job is to make the numbers clear.
Load offer 1 of 2
ExampleAtlanta, GA to Jacksonville, FL
- Miles
- 346
- Rate
- $820
- Per mile
- $2.37
- 2 hrs free, then detention per hour
- Reload lined up in Jacksonville
- TONU if cancelled after dispatch
Pickup Mon 07:00
Soft market or not, you choose.
The second made-up offer pays more and looks better at first glance, until you count the empty miles out of the delivery area and the missing detention terms. We put both side by side, with what we know, and you decide. Accept, and the rate con comes straight to you. Decline, and it costs nothing.
If the trouble is finding any load at all, start with what to do when you can't find loads.
The fee shrinks when the market does.
Because it's a percentage, our fee falls when your gross falls, and it's nothing on weeks you don't haul. 5% of linehaul and accessorial pay collected for one truck past 6 months of authority; 4% for two trucks or more; 7% for a new MC until month 7. Example In the soft month above with terms in writing, the fee is $910 on $18,200, and the $640 in lumpers is untouched. More on the pricing page.
Slow market questions
What do you do when the freight market is slow?
We tighten everything that doesn't depend on the market: accessorial terms on every rate con, reloads planned before you deliver, fewer empty miles, faster paperwork so invoices go out the same day, and brokers who pay on time. We also hold to the rate floor you set, and tell you plainly when an offer is thin so you decide whether it's worth running.
Is detention harder to collect in a slow market?
It can be, because brokers have more trucks to choose from and some push back harder on claims. That makes the terms and the proof matter more, not less. A rate con with free time and an hourly rate, plus your in and out times and a message sent before free time ended, is much harder to refuse than a call after the fact.
Should I take loads with no detention terms?
Sometimes, at the right rate, from a shipper and receiver that move trucks quickly. A load with no terms at a dock known for long waits is a bigger risk in a soft market, because one bad day can wipe out the margin on a thin rate. We tell you what we know about the docks before you decide.
Can I set a minimum rate you won't go below?
Yes, and we'd like you to. Tell us your rate floor, loaded and with deadhead counted, and we won't bring you offers below it unless you ask. In a soft market we may ask whether you want to run slightly under it for a load that sets up a strong reload, but that's your call every time.
How long do freight recessions last?
Nobody can tell you reliably, including us. Past slow stretches have varied a lot in length, and they end for reasons that are hard to predict. We don't forecast. We plan each week with the freight that's actually moving and help you protect margin until the market turns.
Rates are soft. Your terms don't have to be.
Send the application. Every offer comes with accessorial terms worked out and a reload in view, and the decision is yours.
You approve every load. No setup fee. No contract.