Pricing above your floor
A higher paying loads dispatcher who starts from your floor, not the broker's first offer
Nobody can promise you higher rates, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can do is price every load on all its miles, push past the first offer, and bring you only the loads that clear the floor you set. You still say yes or no.
How a load reaches you
- 1Priced on loaded plus empty miles
- 2Countered above the first offer
- 3Checked against your floor
- 4Called to you with the numbers
- 5Your yes, your signature on the rate con
Pricing above your floor
Your floor is the lowest all-miles rate you will run. It comes from your own costs: fuel, insurance, payments, maintenance, permits and your pay, divided by the miles you run. Write it down. A dispatcher who doesn't ask for your floor on the first call is pricing loads for someone else's truck.
We use your floor in two ways. Loads that can't clear it after counting the empty miles never reach your phone. Loads that can get countered before you hear about them, with a target rate that reflects the lane, the equipment and the timing. The counter offer target rate calculator shows the same math for your own loads.
Sometimes the right answer is a load below your usual target, because it gets you out of a dead market or home on time. When that happens we say so plainly, show you the numbers, and let you choose.
Review your floor every few months. Fuel prices, insurance renewals and repairs change your costs, and a floor set last spring may be too low by fall. Tell us when it changes, and every offer after that is checked against the new number from the next call on.
Better freight rates come from four habits
Never taking the first number. Brokers expect a counter. Most loads have room in them, and the first offer is rarely the last.
Pricing the whole trip. A rate per loaded mile hides the empty miles. All-miles pricing tells the truth.
Knowing when to walk. A dispatcher who never says no to a broker has nothing to bargain with. We pass on loads that don't pay.
Timing. Rates move with the day of the week, the season and how many trucks are nearby. Booking the reload before you deliver usually beats searching after.
What drivers earn as employees
For context, the median pay for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers working as employees was $58,640 a year in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 dataChecked October 2026 Owner-operators earn from their gross minus their costs, so the comparison only works once you know your cost per mile.
Specialty premiums, honestly
Hazmat, heavy haul, car hauling and livestock can pay more per load, but they cost more to enter: endorsements, insurance, trailers and experience. Read our guides to heavy haul freight rates and car hauling cost before you chase a premium.
What we won't do
Promise you a rate, a weekly income or a load count. Book a load without asking you. Take a cut from the broker's side. Our only income from your truck is the percentage of the loads you choose to haul, so a better rate for you is a better week for us too.
The money beyond the linehaul
A lot of a load's real value sits in the extra lines on the rate confirmation: detention after the free time, a payment if the load is cancelled after you were dispatched, tarp pay, stop pay for extra drops, layover when a delivery slips a day, and lumper reimbursement. Each one is small. Together they decide whether a load was good.
We ask for those lines before the load is booked, because they are much harder to add afterward. Then we log the times and file the claims when they apply, so the money actually arrives.
Seasons and lane direction
Rates are not the same in both directions of a lane, and they move with the seasons: produce in spring and summer, building materials with construction, retail freight before the holidays, grain at harvest. A dispatcher who knows those patterns can point your truck toward the side of the market that is paying, instead of fighting for loads out of a region with too many trucks.
What owner-operators ask us about rates
"Can you guarantee a rate per mile?" No, and nobody honest can. We can promise to price every load on all the miles, counter every offer and only bring you loads above your floor.
"Will you take cheap loads to keep me moving?" Only if you agree. Sometimes a modest load beats a long deadhead or a weekend stuck far from home, and we show you the numbers either way.
"How will I know if rates improved?" Compare your weekly reports with the month before you started: average all-miles rate, empty miles and gross. Those numbers settle the question better than anything we could say.
"Do higher rates mean riskier brokers?" Not if the broker is checked. A rate that looks too good from a broker with a poor payment record is not a better rate, and we drop it.
The rate is always your decision
We call you with the load and the rate we negotiated, and the all-miles number beside it. If it doesn't work for you, say no and we keep looking. After your yes, the broker sends the rate confirmation to you to sign.
Over a few weeks, your weekly report shows the trend: average rate per mile, empty miles and gross. That is how you judge whether a dispatcher is getting you better freight, not by any promise made before you start.
If the numbers don't improve, tell us. Either we change the lanes and the plan, or you leave with 30 days notice and no penalty.
The fee
5% of gross for one truck on an MC older than 6 months, 7% while the MC is under 6 months and for 26 ft box trucks and hotshots, and 4% per truck for fleets of 2 or more while that limited-time rate lasts. Nothing to set up, no minimum loads, and idle weeks cost nothing.
Because the fee is a percentage, it only grows when your gross does. See the full dispatch fee breakdown.
Rate questions, straight answers
01Do specialty loads pay more?
Often, because they need more: endorsements, special trailers, permits, insurance and skill, and fewer carriers can take them. But they also cost more to run and often come with longer empty miles. A specialty load only pays more for you if what is left after those costs beats the simpler freight you could have hauled instead.
02What is a good rate per mile for heavy haul?
There isn't one honest number, because heavy haul rates depend on weight, dimensions, permits, escorts, the route and the season. What you can control is the comparison: the linehaul divided by all the miles, against your own cost per mile and floor. Our heavy haul freight rates guide explains how quotes are built.
03How are car hauling loads priced?
Usually per car, with the price set by the lane, the distance, the vehicle type and whether the trailer is open or enclosed. A full deck adds those prices up into the trip total. Compare that total with all the miles the trip takes, including the drive to the first pickup.
04How do I set my floor rate?
Start with your cost per mile: fuel, insurance, truck and trailer payments, maintenance, permits and your own pay, divided by the miles you run in a typical month. Your floor sits above that by the margin you need. Then judge every load on its total pay divided by loaded plus empty miles.