An OTR dispatch service that plans the whole loop, home date first
Over-the-road work lives or dies on planning. One load at a time leaves you chasing reloads across the country and coming home whenever the freight allows. Our OTR dispatch service plans multi-state loops: loads that chain together, hours of service that fit the appointments, winter routes checked before you commit, and a last leg that gets you home on the date you set.
What do you run?
An example loop for one, two or three weeks out
Slide the weeks out and the loop redraws. Turn on winter and legs on mountain routes are flagged. The home base here is Dallas as an example; your loop starts and ends at your home, and the cities depend on your equipment and the freight that week.
2 weeks
Loop / home base Dallas
- 1. Dallas to Atlanta
- 2. Atlanta to Charlotte
- 3. Charlotte to Columbus
- 4. Columbus to Chicago
- 5. Chicago to Kansas City
- 6. Kansas City to Dallas
Home on the date you set: the last leg points back to Dallas.
Notice the shape. A good loop doesn't just go out and come back. Each leg ends where the next one starts, ideally in a market with steady outbound freight for your trailer. The longer the loop, the more chances to drift into a dead end, and the more it matters that someone is looking two or three loads ahead.
That's hard to do from the cab. While you drive, a desk can watch outbound freight in the next two or three markets on the loop, see which brokers are short on trucks this week, and line up the next pickup before the current delivery. By the time you're empty, the decision is already in front of you instead of starting from scratch at a truck stop. It's the single biggest difference between an OTR week that pays and one that drifts.
The winter flags matter just as much. A loop through the mountains that pays well in October can be a different job in January. Check the rules for any route with the chain law checker.
How we plan an OTR loop
- 01Start from homeYour home date and the direction you'd like to head out. Everything else is fitted between the two.
- 02Pick the anchor loadA strong first load that points the loop toward good freight for your trailer.
- 03Chain the middleEach next load chosen before the current one delivers, ending where the following pickup is.
- 04Check the clockEvery leg checked against your hours of service, appointment times and resets.
- 05Check the seasonWinter mountain routes, summer heat for reefers, harvest or construction swings.
- 06Point it homeThe last load or two selected to end near home on the date you set.
Hours of service and home time
Working with your clock
An OTR load that looks perfect on the map can be impossible on the clock. Long deadheads, slow docks and tight appointments all eat driving hours. We check every leg against the hours you'll actually have, including the resets a long loop needs, and we don't offer a load that only works if you run past your limits.
Tell us how you like to run: early starts or late ones, where you prefer to take your 34, whether you like to stop near certain cities. Those preferences shape the plan.
Home on the date you set
The most common OTR complaint is coming home late because the last load fell through. We plan the return first. If you want to be home on a Friday, the loads in the last few days are chosen to end near home, with a backup in mind if one cancels.
If something changes, like a family event or a truck problem, tell us and we re-plan the rest of the loop around it. You never owe us an explanation for wanting to come home early.
Every load in the loop is still an offer
Planning a loop doesn't mean committing you to it. Each load reaches you as an offer with the lane, miles, rate, extras and how it fits the loop. You approve or pass, and every rate confirmation comes from the broker straight to you. If you pass on one, we re-plan around it.
Load offer / Leg 2 of 6
Atlanta, GA to Columbus, OH
- Miles
- 570
- Rate
- $1,800
- Per mile
- $3.16
On the rate con: sets up Chicago reload, set 34 F
Pickup: Wed 06:00
Nothing is booked until you say so. You see the lane, the miles, the rate and every extra before anyone commits your truck.
Seasons, fuel and the cost of being out
The OTR calendar
Long-haul freight shifts through the year: produce seasons pull reefers south and west, construction seasons move flatbed freight, and winter makes mountain routes harder and slower. We plan loops around where freight is heading, and in winter we route around passes when a flatter loop pays nearly as well.
The cost of being out
Every week out costs more than fuel: food, parking, showers and wear on the truck and on you. A loop has to pay for all of it. A loop that grosses well but keeps you out an extra week can still lose to a shorter one once those costs are counted. Run your fuel for the whole loop with the trip fuel cost calculator, and compare the loop's gross with what the weeks really cost.
OTR, regional or local: which fits you
| Style | Home time | Freight pool | Planning load |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTR | Every one to three weeks | Widest | Heaviest: loops, hours, seasons |
| Regional | Most weekends | Wide within a region | Medium: weekly loops |
| Local | Nightly | Narrowest | Daily: many short loads |
Many owner-operators mix them: OTR in strong seasons, regional when they want more home time. Tell us what you want this month, and the plan follows, whichever style you pick. For the bigger picture of running one truck, read dispatch for owner-operators.
The OTR setup call, and when a load falls through
What we ask an OTR driver
- 01How long out, and when homeWeeks per loop and the days you want at home.
- 02Regions you like and avoidSome drivers love the West, some won't touch the Northeast in winter.
- 03Chains and winter drivingWhether you carry chains and run mountain routes in winter.
- 04How you run your clockEarly or late starts, and where you like to take resets.
- 05Rate floor for long haulsYour minimum all-in rate per mile, empty miles included.
- 06Brokers to avoidOff your list for every loop.
When a load in the loop falls through
Loads cancel, shippers run late and trucks break. A loop planned one load at a time collapses when that happens. A loop planned two or three loads ahead has somewhere to go: we look for a replacement that keeps the same direction, or we re-route the rest of the loop around the gap, with the home date still fixed.
If a broker cancels after you were dispatched, we push for the truck-ordered-not-used payment on the rate con. If you're stuck at a slow dock, the broker hears about it while it's happening, and we tell you what the delay does to the next load before it becomes a problem.
What OTR dispatch costs
Loop planning is part of the service, not an extra. The fee is 5% of gross for one semi truck with an MC older than 6 months, 4% for fleets of 2 or more semi trucks, and 7% for new MCs, 26 ft box trucks and hotshots. No setup fee, no minimums, month-to-month with 30 days notice. Details on the dispatch pricing page.
- Two-week loop gross
- $11,800
- Rate
- 5%
- Fee
- $590
- Home on the set date
- Yes
OTR dispatch questions
Note 01Do you dispatch OTR trucks?
Yes, for every equipment type we dispatch. Over-the-road work is mostly about planning: loops that chain loads across several states, hours of service that line up with appointments, and a last leg that brings you home on the date you set. We plan the loop, and you approve every load in it.
Note 02How do you plan home time?
We start from the date you want to be home and work backward. The last load of the loop has to end near home on time, so the loads before it are chosen to set that up. If a great load would break the home date, you hear it as an option, never as a plan we've already committed to.
Note 03Do you plan around hours of service?
Yes. Every load in a loop is checked against your available driving hours, the appointment times and the resets you'll need along the way. A loop that only works if you run out of hours isn't a plan. Tell us how you like to run, and we fit the loads to your clock.
Note 04What about winter chain laws?
Several mountain states require tire chains on some routes when conditions call for it, and those rules differ by state and road. In winter, we flag loads on mountain routes before you accept them, so you can decide whether to carry chains or take a different loop. Check the rules for each route.