Getting Better Carrier Offers: How to Set Up Your Load

The offers you get back from carriers are only as good as the load you post. When Fifth Wheel's AI voice agent answers a carrier's call, it can only represent the freight as well as you described it. A vague or half-filled load produces vague quotes and a lot of wasted back-and-forth. A well-built load lets carriers self-qualify before they ever pick up the phone.

This tutorial walks through the Create Your Load form field by field, so the AI has everything it needs and every one of your 20 inbound calls counts.

Why the Load Form Matters

Each load includes 20 inbound carrier calls. That's your budget. Every carrier who calls, gives your reference code, and talks to the AI counts against that limit. So the goal isn't just to get calls—it's to get the right calls from carriers who actually run your lane, with your equipment, at a rate that works.

The more accurate context the AI has, the more it can answer carrier questions on the call and the fewer tire-kickers you burn calls on. Every field you fill in is a filter that helps carriers decide whether this load is for them before they commit.

Setting a Realistic Target Rate

The Target Rate is the single most important number on the form. It's required, and it's the value your dashboard compares every incoming offer against. In the Inbound Calls table, a carrier's rate shows up green when it's at or under your Target Rate ("In Range") and amber when it's above it ("Above Target"). Your Best Offer KPI, your Range (the spread between your best and worst offer), and the In Range filter pill all key off this number.

Set it wrong and every offer misreads. Set it too low and legitimate market-rate carriers all show amber, and the "In Range" filter comes back empty. Set it far too high and everything shows green, which tells you nothing.

• Base it on what you actually expect to pay the carrier on this lane—not your shipper rate, and not wishful thinking.
• Use recent rates you've paid on the same or a similar lane as your anchor.
• Treat it as your internal benchmark. It's the line that separates a good offer from one you'll have to negotiate down.

Advertising a Range: Posted Rate Min and Max

Target Rate is your private benchmark. Posted Rate Min and Posted Rate Max are the range you advertise—the numbers carriers see and reason about. These optional fields give the AI a band to talk within, so carriers self-select instead of calling in wildly high.

1. Set the Min at or just below your Target Rate so competitive carriers know there's a real number here.
2. Set the Max at the top of what you'd realistically consider, leaving yourself room to negotiate.
3. Keep the band tight and honest. A believable range attracts serious offers; an absurdly wide one invites noise.

A carrier who sees a posted range that can't work for their truck simply won't call—and that saved call stays in your budget for someone who will.

Getting the Freight Details Right

These fields describe the physical load. They're what a carrier needs to know whether their truck fits and whether the number makes sense for them.

Equipment Type

Equipment Type is required, and it's the most basic filter of all. Choose the right one—Dry Van, Reefer, Flatbed, or Power Only. A reefer carrier and a flatbed carrier are running completely different equipment; getting this right means the AI only encourages the carriers who can actually haul your freight to leave an offer.

Commodity and Weight

Commodity and Weight (lbs) are optional, but they meaningfully sharpen a carrier's quote. A carrier prices a light, easy commodity differently than a heavy or awkward one. When the AI can tell a caller what they're hauling and how heavy it is, the rate they offer is grounded in reality—so fewer offers fall apart after the call when the details finally surface.

Reefer Temperature

If you selected Reefer as your equipment type, a Temperature °F field appears. Fill it in. Reefer carriers need to know the set temperature to price the load and confirm their unit can hold it. Leaving it blank invites a round of questions the AI can't fully answer and offers that may not hold once the temp is known.

Dates, Time Windows, and Appointments

Timing decides whether a carrier's truck is even available for your load. The tighter and clearer you are here, the fewer mismatched calls you take.

• Pickup Date and Delivery Date are required. A carrier compares these against where their truck will be and when it's free.
• Pickup Time Window and Delivery Time Window are optional but valuable. A driver who can't make a morning pickup window will skip the load instead of calling and eating one of your 20 slots.
• Pickup Appointment Required and Delivery Appointment Required flags tell carriers whether they're dealing with scheduled appointments or live/first-come freight—an important factor in how they plan and price the run.

Special Requirements: Team and Notes

Team Required

If the load needs a team, set the Team Required flag. Team loads are a different pool of capacity at a different price point. Flagging it up front means solo drivers self-select out, and the carriers who do call are the ones who can actually cover it.

Additional Notes

Additional Notes is your catch-all for anything the structured fields don't capture—driver-assist expectations, tarps, detention terms, specific facility instructions, or "no-touch freight." The AI has this context on every call, so carriers get answers instead of surprises. Good notes prevent the single most common cause of a fallen-through booking: a detail nobody mentioned until it was too late.

A quick tip: you can also add a Load Name / Number (like a PO#) to keep the load easy to identify in your own records.

How Good Setup Shows Up on the Dashboard

Once your load is unlocked and carriers start dialing in, the payoff of a well-built load is visible right in the KPI strip:

• Your Best Offer reflects the lowest rate received—more likely to land In Range when carriers understood the load before quoting.
• Your Offer Rate %—the share of calls that actually produced an offer—climbs when the callers are qualified rather than confused.
• Your Range tightens, because carriers are quoting on the same, well-defined freight instead of guessing.

Every field you filled in is a call you didn't waste. With a hard limit of 20 calls per load, a load that lets carriers self-qualify means more of those 20 come from carriers who can cover it—and a better Best Offer to book against.

The Bottom Line

Better offers don't start when the phone rings. They start on the Create Your Load form. Set a realistic Target Rate, advertise an honest Posted Rate range, and fill in the freight, timing, and special-requirement fields so carriers can decide for themselves whether the load is theirs.

Do that, and the AI represents your freight the way you would—so the offers that land in your Inbound Calls table are competitive, In Range, and worth booking.