Dry Van Weekly Revenue Plan: How We Build Your Week, Protect Your Hours, and Hit Your Gross Target

A practical weekly planning system for dry van owner-operators and small fleets: lane strategy, rate floors, appointment logic, HOS-friendly routing, and the exact framework we use to protect revenue and reduce chaos.

The real problem with “just finding a load”

Most dry van drivers don’t lose money because they can’t find a load. They lose money because they string together the wrong loads in the wrong order—then spend the rest of the week trying to recover.

A strong week isn’t “luck.” It’s a plan.

A plan means:

• You know your minimum weekly gross goal

• You know your rate floor (what you won’t touch)

• You know your preferred lanes and what to avoid

• You know how to protect your clock so you can keep rolling

• You know how to exit Friday with money in the bank and a clean setup for Monday

That is what professional dispatching is supposed to deliver: not random loads, but a repeatable revenue system.

Step 1: Set the weekly gross target (and make it realistic)

Dry van revenue varies by lane, season, and market. What matters most is that your weekly target is tied to your reality:

• Are you running solo?

• Are you trying to be home weekends?

• Are you willing to do nights?

• Do you prefer 1–2 longer runs or 3–5 shorter runs?

• Do you avoid the Northeast?

• Are you okay with drop & hook, or do you mind live load/unload?

A simple planning baseline:

• Most solo dry van weeks are built around 2,200–3,000 loaded miles depending on lane mix and appointment timing.

• Your target needs to match what your schedule can physically support.

If your target assumes perfect freight, perfect appointments, and no delays, it isn’t a plan—it’s a wish.

Step 2: Pick a lane strategy (or the week will pick one for you)

Here’s what many drivers do:

• “I’ll go anywhere.”

Here’s what happens:

• You get pulled into cheap freight, bad receivers, and deadhead traps.

A lane strategy doesn’t mean you only run one lane forever. It means you choose a primary “money zone” and a secondary backup zone so you’re not improvising under pressure.

Example lane strategy (conceptual):

• Primary zone: Southeast ↔ Midwest

• Backup: Southeast ↔ Mid-Atlantic (select markets only)

• Avoid list: chronic detention markets / worst appointment bottlenecks / lanes with poor reload reliability

If you’re based in Atlanta, you can still run national freight—but you need a system that prevents you from accepting a load that looks good and then destroys your week.

Step 3: Build your rate floor (the minimum that protects your week)

Dry van drivers get squeezed when they don’t have a written floor.

Your floor should include:

• Linehaul (rate / mile)

• Fuel reality

• Deadhead tolerance

• Appointment risk

• Unload risk (lumpers, long waits, tight windows)

• Time cost (anything that steals driving hours)

A “good RPM” that requires:

• 150 miles deadhead,

• 6 hours waiting,

• and a receiver that eats your whole day…is not a good load.

A smarter floor uses “effective RPM.”Effective RPM = total pay ÷ (loaded miles + deadhead miles)

And then adjust upward for:

• heavy detention risk

• strict appointments

• high claims risk commodities

• known problem facilities

Step 4: Protect your hours (HOS-friendly planning is profit planning)

Your week breaks when your clock breaks.

A revenue plan should map:

• The pickup appointment

• The realistic check-in window

• Your drive hours + required 30-min break

• Your likely parking

• Delivery appointment vs FCFS

• Your next reload setup

The goal isn’t to be “busy.” The goal is to be efficient.

Best-case planning habits:

• Prefer drop & hook when available (less time stolen)

• Avoid tight windows when a facility is known for delays

• Avoid back-to-back FCFS in busy metro receivers

• Build “buffer time” into every load (because delays are normal)

Step 5: Structure the week (a simple pattern that works)

A stable dry van week often looks like one of these:

Pattern A: Two longer runs

• Mon pickup → Tue delivery

• Tue reload → Thu delivery

• Thu reload → Fri delivery (or Sat AM if driver wants)

Pros: fewer docks, fewer surprisesCons: reload timing matters

Pattern B: Three medium runs

• Mon pickup → Tue

• Tue reload → Wed/Thu

• Thu reload → Fri

Pros: more flexibilityCons: more check-ins and more chances for detention

Pattern C: Short haul + regional

• Multiple 300–600 mile loads

• Works well for certain markets and home-time goalsCons: can become detention-heavy if not vetted hard

Step 6: The “Friday close” concept (what it means simply)

“Friday close weekly targets” just means this:

By Friday, you should know:

• Did we hit the week’s gross goal?

• If we’re short, what is the cleanest way to close the gap without wrecking next week?

• Are we positioned for Monday (or are we stranded)?

A professional dispatch plan doesn’t end at “delivered.”It ends at being set up to win the next week.

Step 7: The weekly planning checklist we use

Here’s the exact structure you can use (and what a real dispatch partner runs behind the scenes):

Before booking anything:

• Driver goals for the week (home time, miles, avoid list)

• Equipment details (trailer type, special notes)

• Rate floor / effective RPM floor

• Deadhead limit

• Appointment preference (strict vs flexible)

• Known facility “no-go list”

Load evaluation (every time):

• Pickup type: FCFS vs appointment

• Delivery type: FCFS vs appointment

• Commodity risk (claims potential)

• Facility reputation (detention likelihood)

• Lane reload probability

• Total miles (loaded + deadhead)

• Effective RPM

• Weekend risk (getting stuck)

After booking:

• Confirm appointment details in writing

• Confirm detention policy / accessorials

• Confirm trailer requirements (swing doors, vented, straps, etc.)

• Confirm load/unload procedures (lumper, EFS, etc.)

• Confirm “next load” search timing based on ETA

Step 8: What “blowing them away” with service actually looks like

Most dispatchers sell “I’ll find you loads.”

High-value dispatching looks like:

• Week design: You’re not just booking freight—you’re engineering the week.

• Rate defense: We negotiate, and we decline nonsense fast.

• Facility memory: We track where you get burned and where you get treated right.

• Paperwork control: Rate con clarity, detention language, accessorial documentation.

• Proactive communication: Driver knows what’s coming before it becomes a problem.

• No forced dispatch: Driver approves every load. Always.

If you want the short truth

Drivers don’t pay dispatch because they can’t click “book.”They pay dispatch because they want:

• more money without more chaos

• fewer wasted hours

• less stress and less risk

• consistent weekly performance

If you’re a dry van owner-operator who wants a planned week (not random freight), we can help. American Trust Logistics builds your schedule, negotiates your rates, and manages the details so you can drive and get paid, with your safety and revenue first.

🇺🇸📌 If you're serious about maximizing your earnings, American Trust Logistics gives you the edge.

Apply today and run with a team that brings military precision and profit-first strategy to every mile.