DAT Trendline Explanation

Hi Ed.

I work for DAT. The broker "buy" price is the rate that the broker pays to the carrier. The broker "sell" price is the rate that the broker charges the shipper.

We don't intend for the numbers to be mysterious, but they are highly aggregated, so they may not help you decide how to price a job.

If you are looking for rates that are being paid by brokers today, specifically from Point A to Point B, we sell a product that provides that information and states how many loads were moved by how many companies in that lane during the past seven days. The information in the product is refreshed daily.

If you look at the Trendlines pages for regional rates, you will see that some lane rates are cited in detail. We update van rates on Trendlines every week and the flatbed and reefer rates in alternating weeks. We provide this information at no charge, including a weekly email update if you want it.

Thanks for your insightful comments. We'll keep them in mind.