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Dispatch Board vs running dispatch on spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are free and flexible, and for a few trucks they can be enough. This page is about the point where they start costing you money, and how to move off them safely.

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What spreadsheets do well

A spreadsheet is familiar, it costs nothing, and you can shape it to your own business in an afternoon. For a very small operation with one dispatcher and a handful of loads a week, a good sheet plus a phone is a reasonable system. If that is you, you may not need to change anything yet.

The trouble starts as the number of moving parts grows. The sheet holds what you typed, not what has happened, and it cannot tell you that a last free day is tomorrow unless someone remembers to look.

A dispatcher at a modern operations desk with large monitors showing an abstract load board

Where they break

Dates. Last free day and per diem start dates are entered by hand and can go stale. Dispatch Board keeps tracking data from Terminal49 on the load, where covered, and shows a Problems tab for holds, last free days and late moves.
Per diem and chassis bills. Checking a bill means finding the dates in a sheet and doing arithmetic. Dispatch Board shows per diem by day with a reason, and its chassis bill checker reads DCLI, TRAC and Flexi-Van invoices against your own dates.
Proof. A dispute needs dates, appointments and closures in one packet. The dispute letter pulls tracking events, appointments and closures together.
Driver pay. Deductions that carry forward, owner-operator settlements and PDF statements are easy to get wrong by hand.
Double entry. The same load gets typed again into your accounting software. Dispatch Board syncs with QuickBooks Online and Xero.
One person. When the sheet lives on one laptop, one person is the system.

A tidy desk with a laptop showing abstract invoice charts

Dispatching from a board instead of a grid

On the board, each driver is a lane on a timeline, loads can be dragged onto a truck or driver with undo, and the same loads appear as Kanban columns and on a live map. Plan day drafts the whole day, explains each pick and shows the empty miles and late minutes saved. Limits such as licences, TWIC, 11 hours driving and 14 on duty are applied for you.

Drivers see their moves in the driver app instead of a text message. Photos, signed PODs and PDFs are saved on the phone and uploaded when signal returns, and dispatch can chat on each load.

Moving over without risk

You do not have to switch in a day. Import drivers, trucks, chassis, customers, rate tables and loads from Excel, CSV or a PDF rate sheet. The importer matches columns by heading, checks every row before saving and flags duplicates. Dispatch Board has a bulk import for loads, so your existing sheet can become a week of moves.

Run both systems side by side for part of the 14-day free trial. The trial needs no card. If you leave, a full backup file and a CSV of your loads can be downloaded, so your records are not locked in.

The Dispatch Board timeline with driver lanes and unassigned loads — Product screenshot with made-up sample data.

What it costs, and what it adds

Lite is $149 a month in Canadian dollars and includes 5 trucks, with extra trucks at $15 each up to 15, unlimited dispatcher logins and free driver logins. Whether that is worth it depends on what the sheet misses. The cheapest way to find out is to upload one recent chassis invoice and look at per diem on a real week of loads. Container tracking is on the Fully loaded plan, so check the pricing page for the features you need.

What a sheet still does better

Dispatch Board is not a blank grid. Your own columns, formulas and one-off reports are more flexible in a spreadsheet, though custom and scheduled reports and a Google Sheets sync are available. Dispatch Board does not book terminal appointments, has no EDI and does not sync with QuickBooks Desktop. If you are weighing it against another system, see the PortPro comparison.

Getting started in the free trial

Self sign-up gives you a company with sample data and a get-started checklist, so you can look around before you enter anything of your own. Then bring in your real freight: import drivers, trucks, chassis, customers, rate tables and loads from Excel, CSV or a PDF rate sheet. The importer matches columns by heading, checks every row before saving and flags duplicates.

Add your terminals and their gate hours, invite your drivers to the driver app, and run a real week alongside your current system. The Help Center has a guide for every screen. A bar at the top of the board shows the days left in the 14-day trial, and the account owner gets an email two days before it ends. Plans are month to month, and you can download a backup file and a CSV of your loads at any time.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep using my spreadsheet alongside it?

Yes. A Google Sheets sync is available, and you can export CSV files at any time.

How long does importing take?

It depends on the state of your data. The importer checks every row before saving, so you can fix problems before anything is committed.

What if I only have three trucks?

Lite includes 5 trucks at $149 a month. A sheet may still be enough if per diem and chassis bills are not costing you; the trial will show you.

Will I lose my data if I cancel?

No. You can download a backup file and a CSV of your loads before you leave.

Do I need new equipment?

No. Dispatchers use a browser, and drivers use the web app on their phones.

Try your week of loads on a board.

Every company gets 14 days free with no card. Import a week of your own freight and judge it yourself.

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