What is a spot rate?
What is a spot rate? It is a one-time price for a specific load on a specific day, quoted against what the market looks like that week rather than a rate agreed months ago.
What is a spot rate reacting to
Where the truck is now and where it wants to go next. A load heading into a market with plenty of outbound freight prices better than one heading somewhere a driver will struggle to reload. That is why the same lane costs different amounts in each direction.
Fuel, season, weather and how much capacity is sitting idle all move the number too. Produce season out of a growing region tightens trucks for everyone shipping anything else in that region.
Spot or contract
Spot suits one-off loads, new lanes and anything unpredictable. Contract pricing suits volume that repeats on a schedule, where both sides benefit from knowing the number in advance.
The honest trade is this: contract rates are steadier and spot rates are sharper in a soft market and painful in a tight one. If a lane runs every week, it is worth pricing both ways.
Related terms
Quick answers
Why did the same lane cost more this week?
Spot pricing follows available capacity. A lane can move by a wide margin week to week without anything about your freight changing.
Can I lock a spot rate in?
A quoted spot rate holds for the load it was quoted for. Repeating lanes are better handled as agreed pricing rather than requoted every time.
Need a number today?
Tell us the lane, the equipment and the date, and what is a spot rate on your load comes back in writing.