Flatbed Dispatch Services for Open Deck Carriers
Open deck freight pays better because fewer trucks can legally haul it. A MetaSys dispatcher books your flatbed, step deck, or RGN, confirms weight, dimensions, and tarp requirement before you commit, and gets tarp pay and permit costs written onto the rate confirmation. Same dedicated dispatcher model as our truck dispatch service, built around open deck.
The load is not booked until the tarp and the permit are settled.
Talk to a dispatcher30-minute call. No commitment.
Open deck loses money on details, not on rates.
Tarping you were never paid for
The rate confirmation says nothing about a tarp until you are at the shipper and the load is going under one. By then every bit of leverage is gone.
Weights and dims that arrive too late
A load that turns out to be 9 feet wide is a permit load, not a bargain. Finding that out at the gate costs you the day and sometimes the freight.
Securement is your signature, not theirs
The shipper loads it. You are still the one at the scale explaining chain count and working load limits. An out of service order follows your safety scores long after the load delivers.
Mill and yard hours nobody mentioned
Steel mills, service centers, and lumber yards run their own receiving windows and plenty of them stop loading early on Friday. A pickup booked an hour late costs you the weekend.
Permits ordered the night before
Every state has its own portal, fee, and lead time, plus daylight-only travel and holiday movement rules. Oversize freight fails on paperwork far more often than it fails on routing.
Freight that disappears in January
Open deck volume tracks construction. When pours and framing stop across the northern tier, a flatbed with no lane plan sits and waits for spring.
New authorities get a harder look on open deck
Permit exposure and cargo claims sit heavier on steel, machinery, and building materials than on a sealed dry van trailer, so brokers price a new MC's authority age even harder here. A carrier with no lane history gets passed over before anyone looks at the equipment.
A van dispatcher books a load. An open deck dispatcher builds one.
Load vetting before you commit
We ask for weight, dimensions, piece count, and who loads before a load is ever offered to you. If it needs a step deck, a stretch trailer, or a permit, you hear it from us and not from the guard at the gate.
Weight, dims, piece countTarp pay negotiated as a line item
Tarping is work, in whatever weather the day hands you. We get the tarp requirement and its pay onto the rate confirmation before signature, including removal at the consignee where the receiver expects it.
Steel tarps, lumber tarpsSecurement planned with the load
Chain and strap counts, edge protection, coil racks, and dunnage are checked against the federal cargo securement rule for that commodity, and we confirm who supplies them. You should not be buying lumber for somebody else's freight.
49 CFR 393Oversize permits ordered and routed
Anything past legal width or height moves on state permits. We order them, hold the approved route, and surface daylight-only windows, curfews, and escort thresholds before you plan the trip.
State by state permittingReceiving hours confirmed, not assumed
Mills, service centers, and lumber yards keep hours the load board does not publish. We confirm them, and on job site deliveries we confirm whether there is a forklift, a crane, or a moffett waiting.
Mills, yards, job sitesOpen deck lanes, not one-off loads
We track what you hauled, where it dropped, and what came back out. Open deck markets are thinner than van markets, so the reload is planned before you deliver rather than searched for after.
Reload planned before deliveryFlatbed is one deck inside MetaSys truck dispatch. If you run mixed equipment, the same dispatcher covers your dry van and reefer freight, hooks power only when the trailer belongs to the shipper, and puts the loads too small to justify your deck on a hotshot or a box truck. Freight factoring runs alongside it so a mill pickup does not wait on a 30-day broker check.
The commodities that actually ride on an open deck.
Steel and metals
Coils, plate, structural beams, rebar, and pipe moving out of mills, service centers, and distribution yards. Coils ride in racks or troughs with chains rated for the piece, never straps thrown over the top.
Chains and coil racksLumber and building materials
Dimensional lumber, OSB, plywood, trusses, and engineered wood from Southeast and Pacific Northwest mills into yards and homebuilder sites. Almost always tarped, and almost always time sensitive.
Tarped freightMachinery and equipment
Excavators, dozers, gensets, transformers, and rooftop HVAC units. Once a piece clears legal height on a flat deck it belongs on a step deck or a lowboy, and we book the trailer that actually fits it.
Step deck and RGNRoofing and interior products
Shingles, drywall, siding, and insulation into supply houses and active job sites, often on a live unload with a moffett or a boom truck. Delivery access decides this freight more than the line haul does.
Moffett and boom offloadsPipe, OCTG, and energy freight
Line pipe, casing, valves, and skid packages moving into and out of the Permian, the Bakken, and Appalachia. Long pieces, overhang rules, and yard gate hours run the schedule on these loads.
TX, NM, ND, PAPrecast, brick, and block
Precast panels, block, pavers, and concrete pipe into commercial job sites. Dense freight that is unforgiving on axle weight, so the load plan starts at the scale house instead of the deck.
Axle weight planningSecurement is dispatch work, not just driver work.
Legal limits we check first
Past any of these, the load moves on state permits. We order them before you plan the trip.
From your deck profile to a vetted first load.
Send your equipment profile
MC and DOT numbers, insurance certificate, W-9, and your deck: flat, step, or RGN. Tell us how many chains, straps, and tarps you actually carry. We dispatch to the equipment you have, not the equipment we wish you had.
Carrier packet setup
We set you up across our broker network and the open deck shippers that match your home base. Nothing is required from you while that runs.
First load, vetted before it reaches you
Weight, dims, tarp requirement, securement plan, and receiving hours come attached to the load offer. You accept or you pass. Nothing gets booked over your head.
Lane building every week
We review your per-mile average, your tarped versus untarped mix, and the deadhead out of each drop, then push the repeat lanes that paid. A rate that repeats beats a rate you renegotiate every Monday.
Prefer a system to a phone call? MetaSys AI Dispatch is in early access and built for operators who want the board worked by software. It runs on the same AI and intelligent automation work MetaSys does outside freight. Both are real options, not a contradiction.
Open deck follows construction, not the retail calendar.
The trough
Pours and framing stop across the north, mills work through inventory, and open deck capacity crowds into the South and Texas. This is when a lane plan earns its keep and when we move you toward the freight instead of waiting on it.
The ramp
Building material volume comes back first, then structural steel as projects break ground. Tarped lumber freight tightens well before the boards make it obvious.
Peak
Job sites, road work, and equipment moves all run at once. This is the window for locking repeat lanes and holding tarp pay, not for chasing the cheapest reload out of a drop.
The taper
Northern work closes out, ag and equipment moves finish, and holiday movement restrictions start biting permit loads. We book earlier and plan around the shutdown weeks.
Load boards and broker relationships behind your deck
Open deck posts move fast and the good ones rarely sit on a board long. We work the boards and the direct relationships at the same time. MetaSys also operates as a broker agent under contract with licensed US brokerages, which is how brokerage access works alongside dispatch.
Questions open deck carriers ask before they sign on
Does MetaSys dispatch flatbed and step deck carriers?
Yes. MetaSys dispatches flatbed, step deck, and RGN carriers across 48 states. A dedicated dispatcher confirms weight, dimensions, piece count, and tarp requirement before a load is ever offered to you, then handles the rate confirmation, broker setup, and check calls. Onboarding takes about 24 hours, and most carriers get a first dispatched load within 24 to 48 hours.
Do you negotiate tarp pay on flatbed loads?
Yes. Tarping is paid work, not a favor. MetaSys gets the tarp requirement and its pay written onto the rate confirmation before you sign, including tarp removal where the receiver expects it. If a broker will not commit tarp pay in writing, you hear that before you accept the load rather than after you arrive at the shipper.
Who handles oversize permits for flatbed loads?
MetaSys does. Freight over 8 feet 6 inches wide or 13 feet 6 inches high generally needs state oversize permits, and every state runs its own portal, fee, and lead time. Your dispatcher orders the permits, holds the approved route, and flags daylight-only travel, weekend and holiday movement restrictions, and escort requirements before you plan the trip.
What freight does a flatbed dispatcher book?
Steel coils, plate, beams, and rebar out of mills and service centers. Lumber, OSB, trusses, and building materials into yards and job sites. Machinery, gensets, transformers, pipe, and precast. MetaSys matches the commodity to your deck, so freight that needs a step deck or a lowboy never lands on a standard flatbed by accident.
Does MetaSys tell drivers how to secure a load?
No. Securement is the driver's call and the driver's signature at the scale. What MetaSys does is plan for it: chain and strap counts checked against the federal cargo securement rules that apply to that commodity, edge protection and coil racks confirmed with the shipper, and dunnage sorted before you arrive instead of bought out of your own pocket.
Is flatbed dispatch more expensive than dry van dispatch?
No. MetaSys charges the same percentage of gross load revenue for open deck as for any other freight type, starting at 5 percent depending on fleet size. There are no monthly fees, no setup costs, and no long-term contract. Open deck takes more dispatcher work per load, and that work is included rather than billed separately.
How does MetaSys handle flatbed freight in the winter slowdown?
Open deck volume tracks construction, so January and February are the thinnest months, especially across the northern tier. Your dispatcher shifts you toward southern and Texas building-product freight, steel moving out of service centers, and equipment relocations that run year round, and books permit loads earlier around holiday movement restrictions.
Can a brand new authority get booked on flatbed freight?
Yes. New authorities get filtered out by brokers running authority-age rules on any freight type, and open deck adds permit and cargo-claim exposure on top of that. MetaSys builds your carrier packet, gets you approved with brokers who onboard new authorities for flatbed freight, and works your first weeks toward the lane history that opens the rest.
What are the securement requirements for flatbed loads?
Securement is governed by federal cargo securement rules that vary by commodity, covering chain and strap counts, edge protection, and coil racks. Securing the load and signing for it at the scale is the driver's responsibility, but MetaSys checks the chain and strap count against those rules before the load is offered, confirms edge protection and coil racks with the shipper, and gets dunnage sorted ahead of arrival.
Hotshot vs flatbed: which pays more for a new carrier?
It depends on what you haul and what you already own. Flatbed and step deck loads tend to run heavier and pay more per load since they carry more freight and often more tarp-pay or permit work, but they need a Class A truck and trailer investment. Hotshot runs a lighter Class 3 to 5 truck and gooseneck trailer, which costs less to get started but caps how much freight and revenue per load you can take. Weigh the equipment cost against the per-load ceiling, not just the posted rate.
Related Pages
Ready to put your deck to better work?
Talk to a flatbed dispatcher. Bring your deck type, your home base, and the lanes you will not run, and you will have a load plan and a rate expectation back within one business day.