Is a truck dispatch service the same as a freight brokerage?

Listings use these words loosely. A page headed “dispatch company” may describe a brokerage, and the reverse happens too. For a buyer the difference matters, because the customer, the revenue and the money flows are not the same. Use the points below to pin down what a listing really offers, then check it against the seller’s own records and contracts.

Whose customer is it?

A dispatch service generally serves the carrier or owner-operator: it finds freight, negotiates, books loads and handles paperwork. A brokerage generally serves the shipper: it takes a load that needs moving and finds a carrier. Ask the seller who signs the agreement with the business, and who calls when something goes wrong.

How the revenue arrives

Dispatch revenue is often a fee from the carrier, set in the agreement between them. A brokerage’s revenue is usually the difference between what it collects from the shipper and what it pays the carrier. Ask to see how each charge appears on invoices and in the books, and whether the seller’s description of revenue matches them.

Receivables and payables

A brokerage can sit between money owed by shippers and money owed to carriers, which affects cash needs. A dispatch service may handle less of that. Have your accountant look at what is owed to and by the business at closing, and ask the seller how late payments are handled.

Questions that settle it

Ask for a sample of recent files from start to finish. Ask who the business invoices and who it pays. Ask what rules or approvals the seller says apply, and take those to your lawyer; they differ from one business model to the other. Our trucking buyer checklist is a starting point.