Box Truck Loads
Rate Shown Before You Call

The number the whole segment is built around

A commercial driver's licence becomes mandatory at 26,001 lb gross vehicle weight rating. That is why the box truck market is dominated by trucks rated at exactly 25,999 or 26,000 lb: manufacturers specify them there deliberately, so an operator can run a 26 ft body without a CDL. It is the reason the segment exists at the scale it does, and it is the first thing to check on any truck you are about to buy.

Two consequences follow. First, GVWR is a rating, not a measurement, a truck rated at 26,000 lb with an 16,000 lb curb weight gives you about 10,000 lb of payload, and no amount of empty floor changes that. Second, the truck is still a commercial motor vehicle: above 10,001 lb GVWR the federal safety regulations apply in full, so hours of service, a medical certificate, an annual inspection and a DOT number all come with the territory even though the licence does not.

What box truck freight actually looks like

The defining feature of this freight is the delivery end. Box truck loads go to places a tractor-trailer cannot serve or is not wanted: retail stores in town centres, restaurants, job sites, offices, residential addresses, trade show floors. That is why so many postings specify a liftgate and a pallet jack, there is no dock at the other end, and the driver is expected to put the freight on the ground.

• Retail and restaurant replenishment on a fixed delivery schedule.
• Furniture, appliances and fixtures into commercial premises, usually with an inside-delivery requirement.
• Building materials and equipment to job sites, where the truck has to get down a street a semi cannot turn into.
• Trade show and exhibition freight, in and out on hard deadlines.
• Partial truckload that a broker is moving direct rather than consolidating.

Box truck or straight truck?

The two terms overlap and are often used interchangeably. "Straight truck" describes the chassis, engine, cab and cargo area on one frame, no separate trailer, and covers box bodies, refrigerated bodies, flatbeds and curtain sides alike. "Box truck" describes the body. Every box truck is a straight truck; not every straight truck is a box truck. On this board both are selectable, so set whichever matches how brokers describe the freight you want.

What brokers will ask for

A USDOT number and interstate for-hire operating authority if you cross a state line for money. Public liability at the federal minimum of $750,000 for a vehicle over 10,001 lb hauling non-hazardous freight, most brokers ask for $1,000,000. Cargo cover, commonly $100,000. And, increasingly, a truck with a working liftgate, because half the freight in this segment has nowhere to unload without one.

If you are weighing a box truck against a trailer, the economics are laid out in flatbed vs dry van vs reefer: what actually pays best, the same reasoning applies one size down.

Every box truck load on this board shows its rate before you call, and posting is free for brokers and shippers, which is why the freight is here. See how it works for carriers.