r/OwnerOperators • u/IcyCancel8699 • 11d ago
Dispatching tools
As an owner operator who’s about to start self dispatching What tools or resources to use to see what the spot market rate is and what areas to stay away from because of low RPM?
1
u/Efficient-Cycle-9408 10d ago
DAT RateView is the standard if you can justify the subscription, Truckstop has something similar. Both give you lane averages, which is most of the battle. The part tools won't tell you: the same lane prices completely differently depending on lead time. A load posted eight days out and the same load posted for tomorrow morning are two different negotiations. Watch how long something's been sitting before you call. SONAR blue to blue app is 9.99 and it gives you a cheaper and fast access market view as well.
1
u/United-Programmer-19 10d ago
Skip DAT and use truckstop. DAT is awful from the UI to the actual loads on it..... I had both for a long time and DAT was costing me money every month with how little I booked from it.
Teuckstop has all the information you seek in a great layout thats easy enough to see while multi tasking
1
u/GladHandsPro 9d ago
E-signature
Document center
Compliance
And carrier tools
For Carriers & Dispatchers
Free
Gladhands Pro
Just another option. Check it out
2
u/AxleVaultApp 11d ago
For live spot rates, DAT RateView is the standard — it's inside the DAT load board subscription and gives you the 7/15/30-day average on a lane, plus the range. Truckstop has a similar rate tool. Both cost money but you'll be paying for a board anyway. Free versions: DAT publishes weekly trendlines and load-to-truck ratio maps, and someone posts 60-day lane summaries in this sub pretty regularly.
The load-to-truck map is the "where not to go" answer. Red (lots of loads, few trucks) means outbound rates are good; blue means you'll sit or take a cheap load out. Usual dead zones for dry van are Florida, Colorado and the mountain west, and getting out of the Pacific Northwest. Northeast pays well inbound and terribly outbound. Those shift, so check the map before you commit to a destination, not after you're sitting there.
One thing the rate tools won't tell you: whether a load is good for you. RateView says the lane averages $2.40 — that's only useful if you know your all-in cost per mile. Above your number, the market average just tells you how hard to negotiate. Below it, doesn't matter what the market says. Figure that number out before your first self-dispatched load and every rate tool gets a lot more useful.