Flatbed dispatch that counts the time you spend on the deck
On a flatbed, the clock runs while you strap, chain, tarp and check the load, not just while you drive. Our flatbed dispatch desk plans every offer with that time in it, so a load that looks fine on miles does not leave you short of a legal stop when the clock runs out. You say yes or no to every load, and the rate con comes to you.
Flatbed, step deck and conestoga. Steel, lumber, building materials and machinery. One fee schedule for every truck we dispatch.
5% of gross for one truck, 4% for 2+, 7% while your MC is under 6 months. No haul, no pay.
Flatbed dispatcher questions, answered first
Flatbed drivers ask sharper questions than most, because a bad load costs more than miles: it costs hours on the deck and a night in the wrong place. These are the questions we hear most often on the first call, answered straight.
Does tarping count against my hours?
Yes. Tarping, securing and checking the load are on-duty time under the federal hours of service rules. They do not use your 11 hours of driving, but the 14-hour window keeps running the whole time. That is why we ask about tarp time and shipper speed before we offer a load, and plan the stop with it included.
Where can flatbeds park with loads?
Truck stops and public rest areas take loaded flatbeds like any truck, and some shippers let you stay in the yard. Many drivers prefer a well-lit truck stop for a tarped or high-value load. Oversize loads are different and follow permit rules on travel times. We plan each night with your load and your own rules in mind.
What flatbed freight pays best?
It changes with the season and the market. Loads that need tarps, extra securement or tight timing often pay more because fewer carriers want them, but that only helps if the extra pay covers the extra hours. We look at the full day, including tarp and wait time, rather than the rate per mile alone, and tell you honestly how it compares.
Do you dispatch step decks too?
Yes. Step decks are one of the 11 equipment types we dispatch, at the same fee tiers. They suit taller freight and machinery that will not fit legal height on a flatbed. If you run both, tell us which trailer you have each week and we plan loads to match. Our step deck page has the details.
Will you force me to take loads?
No. You confirm every load before it is booked. The rate confirmation is sent directly to you. You can turn down any load, for any reason, with no penalty and no fee. If a load needs tarps you do not have or a site you would rather skip, just say so and we keep looking.
Do flatbed loads have more detention?
Often, yes. Crane loading, job sites and steel yards can run slow, and waiting time is common. We ask the broker about detention terms before we pitch the load, track your arrival and departure times, and claim the detention listed on the rate con when the shipper or receiver holds you past the free time.
Do I need my own tarps and straps?
For most flatbed freight, yes. Shippers expect you to arrive with the straps, chains, binders, edge protection and tarps the load needs. When you sign up, tell us what you carry, including tarp sizes, and we only pitch loads your gear can handle. If a load needs more than you have, we say so up front.
How much does flatbed dispatch cost?
7% of gross while your MC is under 6 months old, 5% for one truck after that, and 4% per truck when you run two or more. There is no setup fee, no minimum and no contract, and you pay nothing in a week you do not haul. The step down at month 6 is automatic.
Can a new MC get flatbed loads?
Yes. Some brokers will not book a very new authority, and some flatbed shippers ask for higher cargo coverage, so we check your insurance first and start with brokers who work with new carriers. A new MC pays 7% until month 6. The first weeks can be slower, and we say so rather than promise volume.
Do you book conestoga loads?
Yes, if you run a conestoga. A rolling tarp system loads like a flatbed and protects freight like a van, so it opens loads that need cover without the time on the deck. Tell us your trailer's inside height and width so we only pitch freight that fits under the frame.
The minutes a flatbed spends off the road but on the clock
Here is an EXAMPLE flatbed day: on duty at 05:00, a short drive to the shipper, a wait for the forklift, then securing and tarping before 420 loaded miles. Move the sliders to match a real day at a slow shipper.
The blue blocks are on-duty time that is not driving. Federal rules count loading, securing and inspecting as on duty, and the 14-hour window keeps running through all of it. Drivers already know this; plenty of load offers ignore it.
EXAMPLE FLATBED DAY · 420 LOADED MI
On duty 05:00. Pre-trip, 45 minutes to the shipper, then the load. Cargo checked at 50 miles and every 150 after.
- Driving
- 9h 09m
- On duty, not driving
- 3h 40m
You deliver at 17:49 with 1h 11m left on your 14 hours. Park by then, near the receiver.
A 30-minute stretch of on-duty work after driving, like this wait or a tarp, counts as your 30-minute break.
What the ribbon shows is the reason we ask so many questions before we pitch a flatbed load. A two-hour wait and a slow tarp do not touch your 11 hours of driving at all, but they eat the 14-hour window from the front. By the time you roll, the delivery that looked easy at 05:00 may now land after the receiver closes.
The cargo checks add up too. You inspect the load within the first 50 miles, then again at every duty status change, every 3 hours of driving or every 150 miles, whichever comes first. Ten minutes at a time is small, but on a long day it is close to half an hour on duty that never shows up as miles.
There is one small gift in the rules. The 30-minute break can be off duty or on duty not driving, so a 30-minute tarp or wait after you have been driving can count as your break. We plan with that in mind instead of adding a break you do not need.
Plan your own day in the hours of service calculator.
POSTED: eCFR, 49 CFR 395.2 (On-duty time, item 5) · checked Oct 2026
POSTED: eCFR, 49 CFR 392.9(b)(3) · checked Oct 2026
What a flatbed dispatcher checks before the offer
These questions go to the broker before a flatbed load ever reaches you:
Tarp or no tarp
Tarp size, how many, and whether tarp pay is on the rate con. A tarped load with no tarp pay is a conversation, not a yes.
Weight and dimensions
Total weight, piece count, length and height, so we know your straps, chains and permits are right before you arrive.
Shipper hours and speed
How long the shipper usually takes to load, and whether they load by forklift or crane. A crane shipper can mean hours.
Receiver hours
Many construction sites and steel yards unload in daylight only. We check the closing time, not just the appointment.
Site access
A job site with soft ground or a tight gate changes the plan. We ask, so you are not finding out at the curb.
The night
Where you can park with a loaded deck, and whether it is safe to leave a tarped load overnight.
Flatbed freight we book
Flatbed covers anything that loads from the side or the top: steel coils, beams and angle, lumber and plywood, building materials, pipe, machinery, and the odd load that does not fit anything else. Each type has its own securement rules. Steel coils and lumber have commodity-specific rules on top of the general ones, and we confirm you have what each load needs.
Pay moves with construction seasons and the steel market, so a lane that pays well in spring can soften by winter. We never promise a rate or a number of loads. Every offer shows the rate, the miles, the tarp pay and the detention terms, and you decide.
Weather, daylight and the flatbed week
A flatbed load sees the weather the whole way. Wind changes how a tarp behaves, rain can stop an unload at an open job site, and winter makes chains and straps slow to work with cold hands. We plan flatbed weeks with more slack than van weeks, and when the forecast turns we tell you before you commit to a tight delivery.
Daylight matters in the other direction. Many receivers only unload while it is light, so in winter a load that would deliver at 16:30 in June may need a night nearby. That night has to be somewhere you can park a loaded flatbed safely.
Parking with a loaded deck
Truck stops and rest areas take loaded flatbeds like any other truck, but a tarped load of building materials is a different thing to leave overnight than a sealed van. Drivers we work with often prefer well-lit truck stops near the interstate, or a shipper's yard when they offer it. Tell us your rules and we plan to them. An oversized or overlength load is a different story, with permit rules on where and when it can move.
Securement does not stop when you park, either. A strap that loosened over 150 miles of rough road is easier to find with a flashlight at the truck stop than at a scale the next morning, so a walk around the load before you sleep is time well spent. If you change duty status to rest, the rules already ask you to look again before you roll.
Running a step deck instead? Taller freight and machinery change the plan, and we cover that on our step deck dispatch page.
Starting with a flatbed dispatcher
The first call is mostly about your deck and your gear. We ask for the trailer type and length, whether you have a conestoga kit or ramps, and how many straps, chains, binders and tarps you carry, with the tarp sizes. We ask what you will not haul, like coils if you do not have the rack, or job sites if your truck does not like soft ground. And we ask how you like to run: home time, lanes, and the lowest rate you will take once tarp and wait time are counted.
From there we set up your carrier packet once and send it to every broker we book with. When an offer comes, it has the weight, the dimensions, the tarp requirement, the shipper and receiver hours and where we think you will park. You read it, you decide, and if you say yes the rate con comes straight to your inbox.
A flatbed offer, start to finish
This is how an offer from your flatbed dispatcher reads. It is an EXAMPLE, not a real load. Accept or decline it to see what happens next.
LOAD OFFER · EXAMPLE
from your dispatcher
Birmingham, AL to Knoxville, TN
- Miles
- 260
- Rate
- $1,050
- Per mile
- $4.04
- Pickup
- Mon 06:00
- Delivery
- Mon 13:00, daylight receiver
Steel angle, 44,000 lb, 4 ft tarps required. The receiver unloads in daylight only and closes at 15:00, so a slow load means a night nearby and a 07:00 unload. Tarp pay is on the rate con.
Your call. Nothing is booked until you say yes.
The flatbed dispatch service fee
Flatbeds pay the same tiers as every truck we dispatch. A new MC starts at 7% and drops automatically at month 6. Everything else is on the fees and terms page.
YOUR TIER
Standard (1 truck, MC 6+ months)
5%of gross
- Weekly gross (1 truck)
- $6,000
- Dispatch fee
- $300
- You keep (before costs)
- $5,700
Month-by-month table
| MC month | Fee |
|---|---|
| 12 | 5% |
| 13 | 5% |
| 14 | 5% |
| 15 | 5% |
| 16 | 5% |
| 17 | 5% |
| 18 | 5% |
| 19 | 5% |
| 20 | 5% |
| 21 | 5% |
| 22 | 5% |
| 23 | 5% |
Same tiers for every equipment type. No setup fee, no minimums, month-to-month, cancel with 30 days notice. EXAMPLE math, not a promise of revenue.
YOUR YES. YOUR RATE CON.
Book my flatbed
You confirm every load before it is booked. The rate confirmation is sent directly to you.
LOAD OFFER · EXAMPLE
from your dispatcher
Birmingham, AL to Knoxville, TN
- Miles
- 260
- Rate
- $1,050
- Per mile
- $4.04
- Pickup
- Mon 06:00
- Delivery
- Mon 13:00, daylight receiver
Steel angle, 44,000 lb, 4 ft tarps required. The receiver unloads in daylight only and closes at 15:00, so a slow load means a night nearby and a 07:00 unload. Tarp pay is on the rate con.
Your call. Nothing is booked until you say yes.