Any box truck operator will let you know the issue is the load. It usually isn’t. There are loads over there. The money drains through during the hours in between them when the truck is not moving, the door is left down, and the week is ticking on the clock without any income to back it up. Very seldom does a box truck lose money on the load. Loses it between gaps.
A Box Truck Loses Money Between Loads, Not On Them
The load pays. That part works. The issue is that after the final delivery is made, no one is booked, and the day is heating up.
Whether or not you reserved (booked) that next load, sitting still still costs you the same. The payment runs. Insurance runs. The week is finite. For example, each hour parked becomes an hour of that week that you cannot sell twice. A driver who books well but does not work during these periods between intervals finds himself spending a lot of time sitting between bookings and earning a bad calendar.
Why Box-Truck Gaps Hit Harder
Box trucks require quick turn-times and need to be on short trips. That sounds efficient. This also brings more loads per week, which brings more gaps per week to mismanage!
If a shipment were being transported by a long-haul truck, maybe the truck would be unloaded twice a week. An eight-time box truck load. Each of those passes is an opportunity to sit, and the short passes have no “fat” cushion to pick up the dead time. Miss one day in a 300-mile day, and that gap might be wider than the day itself.
The Reload Timing Most Operators Miss
The error is committing the next load upon completion of delivery of the previous one. By that time, you’re parked, you’re searching, you’re already late for the day you wanted!
The reloading process should be set up prior to the coming of a halt. The next pick-up depends on where you are delivering, as you must be rolling towards the next pick-up while you are at the delivery. Take it after, book what you’re left with near the dock, you didn’t plan to sit at.
What Dispatch Does That DIY Booking Can’t
The truck is towed by one person, and the other three work on moves. Gaps are where we don’t do both at the same time.
While you are still running on the current load reading where your delivery gets you, a desk is booking the reload in lanes where box-truck freight actually repeats. The difference lies between a week loaded two loads in advance and a week performing by reactive delivery. Box truck dispatch services are delegated using an identical planning rationale, which is to get as close to the gap as possible before it opens.
The Number That Tells the Truth
Count the empty times in your last 10 box truck loads while you are waiting to unload and get picked up. Add them up. The property worth of what an hour of your truck costs times that total is the gap cost you. So if the number surprises you, it is to say that the loads never caused a problem.
👉 Contact Dexter Dispatch Services at www.dexterdispatchservices.com or call us at [682-336-0385]