Text Messaging for Truck Dispatch and Fleet Management
Ask a dispatcher at a small fleet how tomorrow's loads go out and you'll usually hear some version of the same thing: one driver at a time, by text, from a phone.
It works. Drivers read texts. They don't read email, they don't want another app with another login, and the phone number they've had saved for three years is the one they'll actually answer at 4:45 in the morning.
The problem isn't the channel. It's that every message is 90% identical and 10% different — same instructions, different origin, destination, appointment time, trailer. Thirty drivers means thirty threads typed by hand, and eventually somebody gets another driver's trailer number and burns a morning at the wrong dock.
The fix isn't dispatch software
The usual advice is to buy a TMS or a dispatch platform. Sometimes that's right. Often it's wildly out of proportion to the problem — you don't need a $400/month system with a driver app to send thirty people their load for tomorrow, and you definitely don't need to convince thirty drivers to install and check something new.
What you need is mail merge for text messages: write the message once with blanks in it, point it at your spreadsheet, and let every driver get their own version from the number they already know.
That's what Bulk Texter Pro does. It's a browser extension, $4.99/month flat, no per-message cost.
What dispatchers are actually texting from
Most of the small fleets we talk to aren't on a business phone system at all. They're using one of three things:
- Their own iPhone — iMessage. Drivers see the same number and the same blue-bubble thread they always have.
- Their own Android phone — Android, through Google Messages for web.
- A Google Voice number — Google Voice. Popular for keeping dispatch off a personal cell, and for letting more than one person cover the phone.
All three work with Bulk Texter Pro. If you're on a business phone platform — Dialpad, RingCentral, Zoom Phone, 8x8 — those work too.
One thing worth knowing if you're choosing: iMessage can't schedule sends, attach photos, or report delivery status, because Apple's Shortcuts app doesn't allow it. If you want tomorrow's loads to fire at 4am on their own, or you need to send a rate con or a gate-code screenshot, use Google Voice or Android instead.
What it looks like
Your load board export, a dispatch sheet, or something you keep by hand — anything that saves as a CSV:
| PhoneNumber | FirstName | Origin | Destination | ApptTime | Trailer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (555) 123-4567 | Ray | Joliet, IL | Columbus, OH | 06:00 | T-4417 |
| (555) 234-5678 | Dee | Gary, IN | Nashville, TN | 07:30 | T-2298 |
| (555) 345-6789 | Marco | Joliet, IL | St. Louis, MO | 05:15 | T-1130 |
Write the message once:
Every driver gets their own:
Then — and this is the part that matters most for dispatch — you see all thirty messages side by side before anything sends. A trailer number in the wrong row jumps out immediately. Typing them one at a time, it never does.
Other things dispatch uses it for
Load assignments are the obvious one, but the same pattern covers most of the recurring texts:
- Detention and layover updates — each driver's own hours and pay.
- Safety and compliance reminders — CDL expiration, medical card renewal, annual inspection dates, each with the driver's own date in it.
- Weather and route advisories — one message, sent to only the drivers running that lane.
- Settlement notices — "your settlement for week ending
{Date}is posted." - Recruiting follow-ups — to drivers who applied and gave you their number.
Replies still work like replies
This isn't a broadcast system. Messages go out from your real number into your real threads, so when Ray answers "10-4" it lands in your normal messages app. Each driver gets a private one-on-one thread — no group blast where twelve drivers see each other's numbers and start replying-all.
If you want a group thread — a driver and their trainer, say — you can create one deliberately.
A practical note on volume
Nobody caps you on our end, but your phone platform does. Roughly: Android users manage ~150 quality messages an hour, iMessage about ~120, and Google Voice accounts on paid Workspace typically 300–500 per day.
For most small fleets that's far more than enough. If you're texting thirty drivers twice a day, you're nowhere near any limit. See our best practices for pacing.
Try it on tomorrow's board
Try Bulk Texter Pro freeFree trial, and setup takes about five minutes if your number can already text. Questions: [email protected].