Service / freight
Power only loads, found and booked for your tractor
Power only loads rarely sit on one board waiting for you. They come out of trailer pools, broker phone lists and shipper drop yards, and the good ones go fast. Our desk works all of those for your truck.
What are you running?
THE PROBLEM
The freight is there. It just isn't in one place.
A van carrier can open a load board and see most of the spot market in one list. Power only freight is split up. Some of it lives inside the apps of large carriers and brokers that run trailer pools. Some is posted on public boards under a power only filter. A lot of it never gets posted at all, because the broker texts the five carriers already set up to pull their trailers. So the power only loads available to your truck on a given morning depend less on the market and more on how many of those lists you are on.
Then there is the trailer itself. Every power only load starts with a drive to wherever the trailer sits, and that empty leg is unpaid unless someone prices it in. Two loads with the same rate can be a good week and a bad one depending on how far the trailer is from your truck and where the next one waits after you drop.
LOAD TYPES
Five kinds of power only freight loads we book
Pick a type to see its route: blue dashes are miles you drive empty, red is loaded. The share of empty miles is what decides whether a rate is any good. Tow away and load out moves have their own guide: tow away vs load out guide.
How it runs
The trailer is loaded and sealed before you arrive. You drop an empty if the yard needs one, hook the loaded trailer, verify the seal and roll. Usually the fastest pickup in power only.
Check before you hook
Seal number on the bill of lading, trailer condition, lights and tires. Report damage before you leave the yard.
GETTING APPROVED
How to qualify for program freight
Shippers and brokers hand their power only shipments to carriers they have already vetted. The large trailer-pool programs publish their own requirements, and they differ. These five come up in almost every approval we handle. Requirements change, so we check each program's current page before we apply for you.
REQ 01
Active authority
MC and USDOT in good standing. Some programs and brokers also want a minimum authority age before they set you up.
REQ 02
Insurance that matches the program
Auto liability, cargo and trailer interchange or non-owned trailer coverage at the limits each program publishes. Amazon Relay, for example, lists $1,000,000 auto liability and, for semis, $50,000 trailer interchange.
REQ 03
A clean safety record
Programs check your FMCSA safety rating and inspection history. A conditional rating or high out-of-service rates can block approval.
REQ 04
Tracking on every load
A working ELD and the program or broker app running on your phone so they can see the trailer move.
REQ 05
Signed interchange agreements
Each trailer owner has its own agreement covering damage, return time and per diem. Read it before you sign it.
- Sources: Amazon Relay carrier requirements and Relay insurance requirements, checked October 2026. We are not affiliated with Amazon or any program named on this site. Not insurance advice.
THE DESK
How our dispatchers book power only loads
01
Program apps and portals
We watch the trailer-pool programs you are approved with, where many preloaded loads are posted first.
02
Load boards with power only filters
Public boards carry some power only freight. We filter by equipment and lane, and call on the ones that fit your brief.
03
Broker contacts
Brokers who move power only freight often call carriers already set up with them before posting anything. Every setup we complete for you adds to that list.
04
Reloads before you drop
We start working the next trailer when you pick up the current one, so the empty miles after delivery are planned, not guessed.
Want to know which public boards carry power only freight and how to filter for it? See our power only load boards guide. For shipper networks that run their own drop trailers, read Amazon Relay and Walmart power only loads.
THE EMPTY LEG
Deadhead to pick up the trailer: how to price it
Quote every power only load on all-in miles: the empty miles to the trailer plus the loaded miles. Divide the pay by that total and you have the number that tells you whether the load is worth it.
all-in rate = load pay ÷ (deadhead miles + loaded miles)
Flip it around to set a floor. If you won't run below a certain all-in rate, the least a load can pay is that rate times the total miles. We negotiate from that number, not from the loaded miles alone.
The empty miles are not free. The American Transportation Research Institute put the average cost to run a truck at $2.336 per mile for 2025, so 70 empty miles cost roughly $164 at that average. Your own cost per mile may be higher or lower.
A load that looks better than it is
At $3.06 on loaded miles it looks fine. All-in it is $2.70, short of the $2.60 floor, so we would counter at about $1,600 or keep looking. If the broker adds pay for the deadhead, or the reload after delivery is close, it can still make sense.
EXAMPLE numbers, not market rates.
Run your own load through the power only load profit calculator with your fuel, MPG and wait time.
THE FEE
6% of the load pay, only on loads you haul
On the $1,586 counter above, the dispatch fee would be $95 for a single truck. Fleets of 2 or more pay 5%. No setup fee, no contract, and nothing on weeks you don't run. Full details on the pricing page, and the onboarding steps on how it works.
Or start at the power only dispatch homepage.
Power only freight questions
How do I find local power only loads near me?
Start with the trailer pools and drop yards within your daily range: shipper yards, program pools and dealer lots near your base. Day cab carriers do well with short shuttle and drop and hook freight between yards in one metro area. We build that local list on the intro call and book from it.
What are the best power only loads?
The best power only load is the one that fits your lanes with little deadhead to the trailer and a reload waiting near the drop. A slightly lower paying preloaded drop and hook load often beats a higher rate that comes with a long live load and 150 empty miles.
Can a new authority get power only freight?
Yes, but some doors open later. Many brokers will set up a new MC; some trailer-pool programs want a minimum authority age (Amazon Relay asks for 180 days). We start you with the brokers and programs that accept new carriers and apply to the rest as you qualify.
Can any power only carrier haul intermodal loads?
No. Power only intermodal loads usually require the carrier to be a party to the UIIA equipment interchange agreement with the matching insurance endorsement, plus terminal access. If you have them, we can mix container moves into your week.
Do I need trailer interchange coverage for every power only load?
Most loads where you pull a trailer you don't own come with an interchange agreement that makes you responsible for that trailer, and many require proof of trailer interchange or non-owned trailer coverage. Limits differ by owner, so confirm them with your insurer.
How many power only loads will you book me per week?
We can't promise a number. It depends on your lanes, home time, minimum rate and the market that week. We can promise to work every source for your truck and show you the math on each load before you say yes.
Next load starts here
Let our desk find your next trailer
6% of gross for one truck, 5% for 2+ trucks. No setup fee, no contract, and no fee on weeks you don't haul.
What are you running?