How do dispatchers get paid? Who pays, how much, and when

The three payment models

Percentages are the most common, because they move with the work and with your revenue. What each percentage costs in dollars is in 5%, 7% or 10%: the dispatch fee percentage in dollars.

Follow the money on one load

Switch the dispatcher's pay model and turn factoring on or off. The chain shows who pays whom on a single made-up load.

With a percentage or a flat fee, the dispatcher's pay is on an invoice you can read. With the broker-paid model, it isn't, and the rate you were offered was set by someone the broker pays. That is the core of the conflict.

When the fee is invoiced

The usual pattern for a percentage dispatcher:

1. You haul the load and send the signed bill of lading.
2. The broker pays you, or pays your factor, on the broker's terms.
3. The dispatcher invoices you, typically weekly, for the loads delivered, with each load's gross and fee listed.
4. You pay the invoice, or authorize your factor to pay it from your advances.

If you factor, the details of paying a dispatcher through the factor are in how to pay a dispatcher when you factor.

Red flags

• Money before loads. A setup fee, deposit or first-week fee before any freight moves. Read why you should never pay a dispatcher up front.
• Undisclosed broker payments. If the dispatcher won't say in writing that brokers don't pay them on your loads, assume they do.
• Freight money routed through the dispatcher. Brokers should pay you or your factor. A dispatcher who collects your load pay and sends you "your share" controls information you need.
• Loads booked without your yes. The rate confirmation should come to you, and you should be able to decline any load.
• No itemized invoice. If you can't check each fee against a rate confirmation, you can't check the fee.

Company dispatchers and broker reps are different jobs

Not everyone called a dispatcher works the same way. A company dispatcher works for a trucking company and is paid a salary or wage by that company to plan its own trucks; there is no fee to a driver. A broker's carrier sales rep works for the broker, is paid by the broker, and is trying to cover the broker's load at a rate that leaves the broker its margin. An independent dispatcher, the subject of this page, works for carriers who own their trucks and is paid by those carriers. Only the last one is on your side of the rate.

Questions to ask any dispatcher about pay

1. Who pays you on my loads, and does anyone besides me pay you?
2. Is the fee a percentage, a flat amount or per load, and what exactly is it charged on?
3. When is it invoiced, and will each load be listed with its gross?
4. Is there any fee before the first load, or in a week I don't haul?
5. Can my factoring company pay you from my advances if I authorize it?

Write the answers down. A dispatcher who is comfortable with all five is usually comfortable being checked every week too.

How we get paid

We are paid by the carrier and no one else. The fee is 5% of gross for one truck with authority older than six months, 7% for a new MC, a 26 ft box truck or a hotshot, and 4% per truck for fleets of two or more. It is invoiced weekly, for loads delivered that week, on loads you hauled; there is no setup fee, no minimum and no contract term. Brokers pay you or your factor directly. Every line is on our dispatch fees page.