Personal dispatch services

Loads out of MD heading north are paying between $2 to $3 a mile from direct shippers heading out of NE going back pays crap anywhere from a Low of $1.10 to at best $1.65 and thats from direct shippers there are some that pay over $2 but not many in my 21 years i have only 3 shippers that pay that good out of NE to many trucks up here and not enough freight, i whish you luck but i just dont see that kind of money for this area from brokers. Sounds way to good to be true.

 

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So what, he's doing the easy part. How about bill collection, and making sure you actually get paid for the work your doing? For $50 a month you can sign up at any load board and get all the loads you ever wanted. This guy isn't doing anything magic. All he's doing is logging onto his account and making 1 or 2 phone calls. Craigslist is full of guys wanting to be your broker lol.

Lets say he does give you a guarantee. Now what? If he cant keep up his end of the bargain what do you get in return? Ill guarantee you (in writing) that when push comes to shove your going to be stuck as your own bill collector.

Then again, what ya got to lose trying it for a month or so..?

 

Well, let's flip this around and look at it from a different angle - if you were to hire someone to do your dispatch work - what he is claiming to be capable of doing for you, how much would you pay that person in wages or salary for doing it?

You already pointed out one of the trade offs you have to make - you trade driving time and/or personal time to look for loads, get them booked and to keep you rolling. How much is it worth to you to not have to worry about that? Another question to ponder is how he works the fuel surcharge, even on all-in pricing. I'd think 10% taken after an appropriate regional fuel surcharge wouldn't be all that bad but then again, if he can get the rates high enough that you are making more money than you currently are, the trade-off isn't all that bad.

If he is as good as he claims and will guarantee it with an appropriate clawback clause for your benefit, I'd take the 7 day trial. I would think an appropriate clawback on his guarantee is that the commission is reduced by the negative variation from his $2.00 p/m guarantee. So if he books a load for $1.80 per mile, you would pay him based on $1.60 pm rate ($2.00 - $1.80 = $.20 ... $1.80 - $.20= $1.60). I think this would be equitable given that he is giving you a guarantee, he still makes some money but the incentive is still to push the rate over $2.00. In other words, there is still mutual benefit for doing business with the guy even if he has to eat some of the variance.

You will probably want a lawyer to look over his contract just for legal sake and to make sure whether you have to treat him as an employed contractor or a purchase of services from his own business. You want to CYA so you don't run into any labor issues or disputes down the road where he might claim he was employed by you rather than offering business services on a B2B basis. Check to see how his business is run: sole-proprietor, llc, etc. Hopefully the guy is registered as an LLC so you make payments to his business and not him personally. It makes it easier to settle those disputes when you are paying an entity and not a person.

 

Truckloadplanner Do you dispatch all 48 states? What is the rate you charge an O/O? Thanks

 

I have a girl who works for a large brokerage and she does dispatching on the side. I pay her $100 per week flat rate while I'm on the road. The most important thing a dispatch service offers is that you keep moving without spending the day looking for loads and doing the paper work.

I would NEVER pay someone a percentage.

 

I also use a dispatch service. i pay a flat fee $350 a month. No contract , so far i am pleased with the service.

 

My dispatch service is $50 a load if its over 750 miles if its 500 to 750 miles its $35 a load under 500 miles is local she gets $250 a week she does all the billing and paper work when i drop off she has a load waiting on me

 

truckloadplanner, I will have to look you up when I am ready. Maybe I can PM you for more info.

 

I would say on the average maybe 1.3 loads. I tend to do a lot of long runs going out West. I just returned from the West and am in SD right now headed for TN and will stay East of the Mississippi. Now I'll probably do 2 to 3 loads a week until I head home.

 

No, not just a few faxes. First you have to find a load and that usually involves many phone calls and searching the load boards which is sort of hard when your driving, unloading then trying to find a spot to park. This is where a dispatch service comes in handy. They are looking and doing all this while your doing your job.

If your already setup with a broker then it's pretty easy to just say I'll take the load and they fax you the rate agreement. After you sign and fax it back you get the pickup address.

If your not setup with a broker you have to wait for the carrier packet to come in. That is usually 20 pages or so. Print it out, fill it out, initial each page then fax it back. Call your insurance company to have them fax your insurance certificate. After all that you wait until they approve you and send you the rate agreement. This all does take at least 2 hours and most times more.

You drive 10 hours, 600 miles then unload in 100+ plus heat then find a spot to park ready to eat a horse. The LAST thing you want to do is find a load and paperwork!!!!

I take a shower, eat and go to bed. In the morning I wake up, read my email and there's the rate agreement and address of my next load waiting for me that my dispatch girl did for me.

In a few weeks it will be one year since I've had this one girl finding me loads. She's a broker for a very large carrier and does this on the side for a few of us. I pay her $100 per week and it SURE IS WORTH IT.