Dispatch ROI calculator

How the calculator works

The calculator compares one ordinary week two ways.

Doing it yourself. Your gross is loaded miles times your rate per mile. From that it takes the value of the hours you spend on load boards, calls, negotiating and paperwork, at the hourly figure you choose. Those hours are real cost even when no money changes hands: they come out of driving, rest or home time.

With a dispatcher. Your gross is your miles, plus any extra loaded miles you expect, times your rate, plus any rate change you expect. From that it takes the dispatch fee as a percentage. Your load hours drop to close to zero, because the dispatcher does the searching and negotiating while you approve.

The difference between the two is the weekly result. The break-even line answers a sharper question: with the same miles, how much more per mile would a dispatcher need to get you to cover its fee after counting your time? If the line says none, your time saved already covers the fee.

Rate and mileage gains start at zero on purpose. They're what good dispatch aims for, not something anyone can promise, so the calculator lets you put in your own expectation and judge it.

Worked example

Example

Miles x rate

2,500 x $2.50

Load hours / week

12 at $30

Fee

5%

DIY kept

$5,890

Dispatcher kept

$5,938

Weekly difference

+$48

With twelve hours a week valued at $30, the time saved covers the 5% fee by itself, before any better rates. Cut the hours to six and the result flips to about $133 a week behind, with a break-even gain of roughly 6 cents a mile. That's the honest shape of the decision: the fewer hours dispatching costs you today, the more a dispatcher has to win on rates and miles to earn its fee.

Reading your result

If you come out ahead with zero gains entered, the case is mostly about time. If you come out behind, look at the break-even gain and ask whether it's realistic for your lanes. Our load profitability calculator and guide to flatbed shipping rates help with that judgment. If you're still weighing whether to run your own authority at all, the lease-purchase deal analyzer and our flatbed owner-operator guide cover the bigger picture.

How to count your load hours honestly

Most carriers underestimate the time. For one normal week, write down every block spent on freight that isn't driving: searching load boards, calling and emailing brokers, negotiating, waiting for a call back, setting up with new brokers, sending rate cons and paperwork, and answering check calls. Include the minutes at a fuel stop or in the sleeper, because they add up.

Then decide what those hours would otherwise do. If you'd drive more, use your net earnings per driving hour. If you'd rest, the value is your safety and your hours-of-service clock. If you'd be home, only you can price that.

When doing it yourself makes sense

Booking your own freight can be the better choice. If you have steady direct customers, run the same lanes every week, or genuinely enjoy the negotiating, the hours may be few and the gains from a dispatcher small. The calculator will show that as a loss, and that's a fair answer. A fair test is to try both for a month on the same lanes and compare the real weeks.

What the numbers leave out

Some benefits don't fit in a weekly figure: fewer phone calls while you drive, someone handling broker check calls, help with paperwork when a load goes wrong. Some costs don't either: learning to work with a new desk and sharing your preferences until the loads fit. Weigh those yourself.

Our fee is a percentage of loads you approve and haul, with no setup fee, no minimum and no contract beyond 30 days notice; see dispatch pricing.