DAT One vs. Truckstop: how a dispatch desk works both boards
Ask ten dispatchers which board is better and you get ten answers, because the answer is the lane. Here is what each board gives a working desk, and why we run both every day.
What DAT One shows
DAT One has the deepest posting volume on most dry lanes and the most brokers posting the same load. Its search gives age, posted rate, trip miles, origin and destination deadhead and the broker's credit score. The posted rate column is where new dispatchers get fooled: it is the rate on the trip, not on the trip plus the deadhead to get there.
What Truckstop shows
Truckstop often has postings DAT does not, especially from regional brokers, and its load panel puts the broker's credit, days to pay and contact in one view. Rates are shown per load, so the rate-per-mile math is on the dispatcher. On some lanes the same load is posted on both boards at different rates, which is useful to know before you call.
How the desk works both
- Same search on both boards at the same time: origin, deadhead radius, destination region, equipment
- Rate per mile with deadhead calculated on every row before any call, so the comparison is honest
- The lane's recent rate trend next to the posting, so a counter has a number behind it
- One call list across both boards, sorted by what the load actually pays, not by what is posted
- Call memory: who already said no today, who offered what, and which loads are covered
Where carriers lose money on the boards
Taking the first posting with a good-looking rate per mile and a 200-mile deadhead. Calling the same broker twice for a load that was covered an hour ago. Missing the Truckstop posting that paid more than the DAT one. None of that is about which board is better. It is about working both with the math done.
Our desk runs DAT One and Truckstop side by side with the numbers computed on every row. That is also what our Chrome extension puts on the board for dispatchers who want it.