User Guide
Getting started with fleet setup, backhaul requests, and estimate requests
Section 1
Getting Started: Registration & Setup

Before using Haul Monitor, your organization needs one person to register and set up your account. This first user becomes the Organization Owner and can invite colleagues once setup is complete. You'll also connect your load board API key once as part of this process — every user in your organization will share that connection automatically.

1
Go to the Registration Page

Navigate to haulmonitor.cloud/app and click Sign Up on the login screen.

Haul Monitor login screen with Sign Up link
2
Register with Your Company Email

Enter your full name and your company email address. Your email address becomes your login username, so use the address you check regularly. Choose a strong password — at least 8 characters.

Registration form with name, email, and password fields
💡 Use your company email. Haul Monitor uses your email domain to group your organization. When colleagues register with the same email domain (e.g., @yourcompany.com), they'll be linked to your organization automatically and share your load board connection.
3
Verify Your Email

After submitting the form, check your inbox for a verification email from Haul Monitor. Click the confirmation link to activate your account. The link expires after 24 hours.

Check your email confirmation screen
⚠️ If you don't see the email within a few minutes, check your spam or junk folder. The sender address is no-reply@haulmonitor.cloud.
4
Sign In and Access Your Dashboard

Once your email is verified, sign in at haulmonitor.cloud/app with your email and password. You'll land on your Dashboard, which is your home base for all activity.

Haul Monitor dashboard after first login
5
Connect Your Load Board

From the navigation menu go to Settings → Integrations. Click Connect next to the Truckstop load board and enter your credentials in the dialog that appears.

Connect to Truckstop dialog showing username and password fields
Username
Your load board login username or email address.
Password
Your load board login password.
💡 Organization-wide connection. These credentials are stored at the organization level. Colleagues you invite will automatically have access to the same load data — no additional configuration needed on their end.
6
Invite Your Team

To add colleagues, go to Settings and select Organization. You'll see your organization name, your email domain, and the current member list. Click + Invite Member to send an invitation. Each invited user will receive an email with a link to create their account and will be joined to your organization automatically.

Settings — Organization panel showing org name, members list, and Invite Member button
⚠️ Invited colleagues should use the link in their invitation email to register — not the standard Create Account flow. The invite link ties their account to your organization.
Section 2
Setting Up Your Fleet

Your fleet profile is the foundation of Haul Monitor. It stores your equipment details, home base location, and the rate structure used to calculate net revenue on every backhaul opportunity. Complete your fleet profile before creating any requests.

1
Navigate to Fleet Setup

From the navigation menu select Fleets. On the Fleets page, click New Fleet to open the setup form.

Fleets page showing existing fleets and Add Fleet button
2
Enter Fleet Information

Fill in your fleet's basic contact and identification details. Fields marked * are required.

Fleet Name *
Your company or fleet name (e.g., Carolina Transport Fleet)
MC Number
Your FMCSA Motor Carrier number (e.g., MC-123456)
DOT Number
Your USDOT number (e.g., DOT-123456)
Phone *
Used for text notifications when opportunities change
Email *
Used for email notifications
Fleet profile form showing Fleet Info fields including Fleet Name, MC Number, DOT Number, Phone, and Email
3
Set Your Home Base Location

Enter your fleet's home base address — this is where your trucks return to after deliveries. Haul Monitor uses this to calculate out-of-route miles for each backhaul opportunity.

Home Base Address *
City and state or full street address (e.g., Davidson, NC or 123 Fleet Dr, Davidson, NC 28036)
💡 After entering the address, click the Verify button. Haul Monitor confirms the location via PC*MILER and shows a ✓ Verified badge with the exact coordinates.
4
Configure Rate Structure

The Rate Configuration section drives all financial calculations in your backhaul and estimate reports. Scroll down past the fleet information to find it.

Revenue Split
How gross load revenue is divided between your fleet (carrier) and the shipper (customer).
Carrier Revenue Split
Percentage of load revenue paid to your fleet. The Customer % is auto-calculated as the complement (e.g., Carrier 20% → Customer 80%).
Mileage & Stop Rates
Rates charged for out-of-route miles and extra stops created by taking the backhaul.
Mileage Rate ($/mile)
Your cost per out-of-route mile, loaded and empty (e.g., 2.00)
Stop Rate ($/stop)
Cost per additional stop on the backhaul route (e.g., 50.00)
Other Charges Optional
Up to two additional per-load charges (e.g., detention fees, lumper fees).
Charge Name
Short label shown on reports (e.g., Detention fee)
Description
Brief explanation, max 25 characters (e.g., 2+ hr wait time)
Amount ($)
Fixed cost applied per load
Rate Configuration showing Revenue Split, Mileage & Stop Rates, and Other Charges
Fuel Surcharge (FSC)
Haul Monitor calculates FSC automatically using live DOE diesel prices, or you can enter a rate manually.
Fuel Peg ($/gal)
Your baseline fuel cost per gallon already included in your mileage rate (e.g., 1.200)
Fuel Economy (MPG)
Average fuel economy of your fleet — typically 6–8 mpg (default: 6.0)
DOE PADD Region
Select your region for live DOE diesel price feeds. The current price auto-fills from EIA.gov.
DOE PADD Rate ($/gal)
Current diesel price. Auto-populated when a DOE PADD Region is selected, or enter manually.
💡 FSC per mile = (DOE PADD Rate − PEG) ÷ MPG. For example: ($3.736 − $1.200) ÷ 6.0 = $0.423/mile.
5
Save the Fleet Profile

Click Save Profile at the bottom of the form. You can edit your fleet profile at any time — changes take effect on the next request run.

Section 3
Creating a Backhaul Request

A Backhaul Request tells Haul Monitor where your truck currently is (the datum point) and when the equipment needs to be back home. The system searches live load data, scores every opportunity by out-of-route efficiency and net revenue, and presents the best matches in a ranked list with a route map.

1
Open the Request Form

From the navigation menu select Search and click New.

2
Fill in the Request Details
Request Name *
A descriptive name for this request (e.g., Backhaul Request 12/30/2025)
Datum Point (Return Location) *
Where your truck currently is or will be at the start of its return home. Enter city/state or ZIP (e.g., Charlotte, NC or 28036).
Fleet *
Choose which fleet this request is for. The fleet's home base and rate config are used for all calculations.
Equipment Available Date *
The earliest date the truck is available to pick up a backhaul load
Equipment Needed By *
The date the equipment must be returned home by
3
Set Options — Relay, Auto-Refresh, Notifications
Relay mode Optional
Toggle Relay mode — driver picks up en route home if the load will be handled by a relay driver rather than your outbound truck running the full route home. Mileage is calculated as the relay driver's complete loop.
Auto-refresh results Optional
Toggle Auto-refresh results and Haul Monitor will automatically re-run the search on a schedule so your results stay current without manual intervention. Choose from 30 min to 24 hr intervals.
Notify me when top loads change Optional
Toggle Notify me when top loads change to get alerted by email, text, or both when auto-refresh detects a change in the top result. Sent to the phone and email on your fleet profile.
Backhaul request form showing all fields with Relay mode, Auto-refresh results, and Notify me toggles, and Save Request button
4
Submit the Request

Click Save Request. Haul Monitor geocodes the datum point, builds the route corridor from your location to fleet home, and scores all matching loads. This typically takes 5–15 seconds.

5
Review Results

Your request appears in Search. Click a request to open the full results view, and Run Search to execute the search.

Open Backhaul Requests page showing active request cards

The Route Map shows the top 10 opportunities plotted along your corridor home. The red A marker is your datum point; the green B is fleet home. Numbered circles show pickup locations.

Route Home Map showing datum point, fleet home, and opportunity markers along the corridor

Below the map, opportunities are ranked by Customer Net Credit (highest first) with a full financial breakdown per load.

Backhaul results ranked list showing financial breakdown with Customer Share, Mileage Exp, Stop Exp, Fuel Surcharge, and Net
Customer Net Credit
Bottom-line benefit per load: carrier revenue share minus all OOR costs
Gross / $/mi
Total gross revenue from the load and revenue per mile
OOR Miles
Out-of-route miles added versus driving straight home
To Pickup
Miles from your datum point to the load's pickup location
⚠️ Results are estimates only. Always validate mileage figures with your own routing engine before committing to a load.
💡 Use Run Search in the header bar at any time to re-run the search against current load data. If auto-refresh is enabled, it will also run automatically on your chosen schedule.
Section 4
Creating an Estimate Request

An Estimate Request is a planning and proposal tool. Instead of searching for a specific live load, it projects the annual financial value of backhaul opportunities along a given route — useful for customer proposals, pricing negotiations, and fleet planning. The output is a formatted report you can print or save as a PDF.

1
Open the Estimate Request Form

From the navigation menu select Estimates and click New.

2
Fill in the Request Details
Request Name *
A descriptive label for this estimate (e.g., Estimate Request 03/05/2026)
Datum Point *
The starting location for the return route. Enter city/state or ZIP (e.g., Charlotte, NC or 28036).
Fleet *
The fleet whose rate config will be used for all financial calculations
Equipment Available Date *
Start of the date window to search for available loads
Equipment Needed By *
End of the date window — equipment must be home by this date
Est. Loads Per Year
Expected loads per year. Used to project annual revenue totals on the report (e.g., 52 for weekly, 120 for roughly weekly with some weeks doubled).
Min Net Credit Per Load $
Only opportunities at or above this net credit per load are included in the report averages. Prevents low-value or negative loads from skewing results (e.g., $50 or $100).
Estimate form showing Request Name, Datum Point, Fleet, date fields, Est. Loads Per Year, Min Net Credit Per Load, and Save Estimate button
3
Relay Mode (Optional)

Enable Relay mode if the backhaul will be run by a relay driver. In relay mode, mileage is calculated as the relay driver's full round trip (home → pickup → delivery → home minus the deadhead), giving a more accurate cost picture for relay operations.

4
Submit and View the Report

Click Save Estimate. Haul Monitor finds matching opportunities and generates the report. It's saved in your Estimates list under Active — click any card to open it.

Estimates list showing Active estimate cards with datum point, dates, loads per year, and min net credit
5
Reading the Estimate Report

The report shows three columns — Highest Net, Average (All), and Top 5 Average — across four metric groups. Only opportunities meeting your Minimum Net Credit threshold are included.

Estimate Report top half showing header metadata, opportunity count with exclusion note, and Customer Credit / Route Activity rows
Customer Credit
Net Credit per Load
Bottom-line credit per load: carrier revenue share minus all OOR costs (miles, stops, FSC). Highlighted green on the best opportunity.
Annual Credit
Net Credit × Annual Volume — total projected yearly benefit to the customer
Route Activity
Carrier Miles (per load)
Out-of-route miles added per load versus driving straight home
Total Annual Mileage Add
Total additional miles driven across the full annual volume
Stops Added (per load)
Extra stops added per load — typically 2 (one pickup, one delivery)
Carrier Annual Revenue Components
Backhaul % Split
Annual revenue from your carrier percentage of gross load revenue
OOR Miles
Annual cost of out-of-route miles (miles × mileage rate × volume)
OOR Stops
Annual cost of additional stops (stops × stop rate × volume)
OOR Fuel Surcharge
Annual FSC on out-of-route miles (FSC rate × OOR miles × volume)
Total Carrier Revenue
Sum of all annual revenue components — the total financial impact of this backhaul lane
💡 Click Print / Save PDF to export the report. Use Edit to adjust dates, annual volume, or minimum net credit and regenerate at any time.
Haul Monitor — User Guide Estimates only. Validate with your mileage engine before committing to any load.