Glossary
Freight Dispatcher Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential freight dispatcher terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key freight dispatcher vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in freight dispatcher training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Appointment
- Scheduled pickup or delivery time.
- Backhaul
- A return load.
- Broker
- A company that arranges freight between shippers and carriers.
- Deadhead
- Miles driven empty.
- Detention
- Waiting time at shippers or receivers beyond free time.
- Drop and hook
- Leaving a trailer and picking up another.
- ETA
- Estimated time of arrival.
- Hours of service
- Federal limits on driving time.
- Load board
- An online marketplace for freight loads.
- Lumper
- A worker hired to unload freight.
- Owner-operator
- A driver who owns their truck.
- POD
- Proof of delivery.
- Rate confirmation
- A document confirming a load’s rate and details.
- Reefer
- A refrigerated trailer.
- TMS
- Transportation management system.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Freight Dispatcher practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Freight Dispatcher training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.