Local and regional, home at night
Regional dispatch service for rigs that sleep at home
A lot of specialty work never leaves the county: water, aggregate, scrap, logs, grain at harvest, local deliveries. We keep local rigs busy inside the radius you set, and every load is offered to you before it is booked.
Your radius, your rules
- Home base and the farthest you will go
- Nights home or weekends home
- Day jobs, hourly, per ton or per load
- Customers you already serve
- Short-haul rules that fit your rig
The short-haul rules that shape local work
The 150 air-mile exception. A driver who stays within 150 air-miles of the normal work reporting location, returns there and is released within 14 consecutive hours, with 10 hours off between shifts, is exempt from the logbook and ELD sections. The carrier keeps time records for 6 months instead. 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)Checked October 2026
Non-CDL short haul. Drivers of vehicles that don't need a CDL, such as many 26 ft box trucks, have a separate option: within 150 air-miles and back each day, they can drive until the 14th hour on 5 days and the 16th hour on 2 days of any 7, again with time records. 49 CFR 395.1(e)(2)Checked October 2026
Agricultural seasons. Hauling ag commodities within 150 air-miles of their source falls outside the hours-of-service rules during the planting and harvesting periods each state sets. 49 CFR 395.1(k)Checked October 2026
A single day outside the radius can change which rules apply. Check your setup with the ELD exemption checker, and we plan loads so you stay inside the exception you rely on.
Local truck dispatch, done right
Local work rewards a different kind of planning. Instead of one long load, the day is a chain of short ones: a pickup near the yard, a delivery across town, a second load nearby, and back before the 14 hours run out. The empty miles between stops matter more than the rate on any single load.
We plan the whole day, not just the first load. That means knowing which yards and plants load quickly, when job sites open their gates and which customers pay by the hour so waiting time is covered.
Regional runs, a day or two out with a night home in between, work the same way on a larger map. You set the radius and the nights you need at home, and the plan stays inside them.
26 ft box trucks and hotshots fit this pattern well. A box truck can string together retail and furniture deliveries across a metro area in a day, and a hotshot can run parts and small equipment to job sites within a few hours of home. Both can usually stay inside the short-haul rules when the plan is built for it.
If you run more than one truck locally, we plan them together, so two of your trucks are never chasing the same load across town or crossing paths empty. Fleets of 2 or more also qualify for the fleet rate once the MC is past 6 months.
Read more about local work in our guide to short haul trucking.
Day jobs and repeat customers
Local specialty work is relationship work. A quarry, a scrap yard, a sawmill or a water contractor that likes how you work will call you first. Your existing customers stay yours; we fill the days they don't need you.
How local work pays
Much of it pays by the hour, the ton or the load rather than by the mile. Hourly protects you from slow loading; per-ton rewards a fast cycle and a legal payload. We confirm the pay basis and the payment terms before you start.
Seasons close to home
Construction, harvest and logging all have seasons, and weather can shut local work down for days. We line up the next kind of work before the current season ends, so the truck doesn't sit while you wait for spring.
A local day, the way we plan it
Picture a dump truck on a Tuesday (EXAMPLE). Out of the yard at 6, first load of base course from the quarry to a paving job by 7:30, three more cycles before lunch, then an afternoon hauling demolition debris from a site two miles away to the recycling yard. Back at the yard by 4:30, well inside 14 hours.
Nothing in that day is a long load, and nothing is wasted. The quarry was chosen because it loads fast, the paving job because it pays hourly, the debris work because it was close to the last delivery. That is the planning that makes local work pay.
When regional beats local
Sometimes the work near home dries up: a project ends, a mill shuts for maintenance, harvest is over. Running regionally for a few weeks, out one or two days with nights home in between, keeps the truck earning until local work returns. We suggest it only when the local plan can't fill the week, and you decide.
What local customers expect
On time at the gate, every morning. Clean, working equipment. Tickets that match the loads. Proof of insurance at the amounts they set, and sometimes site safety training before the first day. Local customers have plenty of trucks to choose from, so reliability is what keeps the calls coming.
We keep track of each customer's requirements and payment terms, so you know what a job needs before you arrive, and so a contractor who pays 60 days out doesn't surprise you.
What local haulers ask us
"I know everyone around here already." Good. Keep them. We fill the gaps between their jobs and find the next customer when one slows down.
"Do I need a dispatcher for day jobs?" Maybe not every week. The value shows in slow weeks, seasonal changes and the paperwork you'd rather not do at night.
Every job is still your call
We call you with the job, the site, the start time, the pay basis and the rate before anything is booked. The rate confirmation goes to you for signature once you agree. A no costs nothing, and we keep looking inside your radius.
If a job would take you outside the short-haul exception you rely on, we say so on the call. You decide whether one long day is worth it.
The fee for local and regional work
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. Hourly and per-ton jobs work the same way: the fee is a share of what the truck earned.
You owe no setup fee, no minimum, and nothing for days it sits. See the full dispatch fee breakdown.
Regional dispatch questions
01What is regional truck dispatch?
Dispatch planned inside a set area around your home base, usually a few hundred miles, so the truck stays close and the driver is home most nights or every weekend. The dispatcher looks for loads that start and end inside that area and chain together, instead of long runs that leave you far away.
02Do local haulers need an ELD?
Often not. Drivers who stay within 150 air-miles of their normal work reporting location and return there within 14 hours are exempt from the logbook and ELD requirements, with the carrier keeping time records instead. Non-CDL drivers have a similar option. Run your own operation through our ELD exemption checker to be sure.
03What specialty work keeps trucks local?
Water hauling, aggregate and site work, scrap and demolition debris, logging from woods to mill, grain at harvest and local delivery with 26 ft box trucks. Most of it runs on day jobs from a yard, often paid hourly, per ton or per load, with the same customers week after week.
04Can a dispatcher keep me home every night?
For many local and regional rigs, yes, as long as the freight near you supports it. We plan loads that start and end inside your radius and chain them into full days. If a week only works with one night out, we tell you before booking and you decide.
Close to home, every day
Send the application with your home base and radius. We'll call with local and regional work that fits, and you approve each job.