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6. Outsource a trip (web)

Give a trip to a transporter directly or through offers in the Mile web app

A transporter (partner) is an outside trucking company that runs trips for you. You outsource trips in the Mile web app. The transporter then answers and assigns its own driver through the transporter API.

Need to create trips, optimize them or assign them to transporters through the API? Contact Mile support and we will enable it for your account.

Outsourcing must be enabled for your company. Ask Mile to turn it on. Your transporters are set up under Partners in the web app.

A trip can be outsourced or offered only while it has no driver and has not started.

Pick a transporter

In the trip, the Outsource to Partner list shows your active transporters. The web app can also suggest transporters for the trip. It ranks them best first: transporters with a rate for every leg of the trip, then those with a free truck, then by score.

FactorScores higher whenDefault points
Lowest rateThe transporter’s total zone rate for the trip is lower. No price when a leg has no rate35
RatingThe transporter’s rating is higher25
Nearest truckIts nearest free truck is closer to the first pickup25
Fewer recent tripsIt got fewer of your trips in the last 30 days10
Covers the trip zonesIt has rates for more of the trip’s zone legs5

A free truck is one whose driver is not busy during the trip. A transporter that already rejected the trip, or let its offer expire, is marked as ruled out.

Outsource directly

1

Pick the transporter

In the trip, pick the transporter in Outsource to Partner and outsource the trip without asking them.

2

The transporter is notified

The trip is outsourced at once. The transporter gets a notification and sees the trip in its trip list.

3

The transporter assigns a driver

The trip status stays null until the transporter assigns its driver. Then it becomes 4 Dispatch.

Rules:

  • The trip must not have a driver, yours or the transporter’s.
  • You cannot outsource a trip directly to a transporter who rejected the offer for that trip. Pick another transporter.
  • To move the trip to another transporter, pick the other one. The previous transporter is told the trip is no longer theirs.
  • If the trip has a waiting offer, stop the offer before you outsource it directly.

Take a trip back

Pick Not outsourced (own drivers) in Outsource to Partner. The trip is yours again, and you can add stops or assign your own driver. This works only until the transporter assigns a driver.

While a trip is outsourced

You canYou cannot
Read the trip, and see partner on it through the APIAdd stops (409)
Remove a stop that has not startedAssign a driver through the API (409)
Optimize the trip in the web appAssign one of your own drivers in the web app

Outsource through offers

An offer asks a transporter to accept a trip before a deadline. You list transporters in order. Mile offers the trip to the first one. If they reject it or the time runs out, Mile offers it to the next one.

Accepts (API) Rejects (API) or time runs out Accepts (API) Nobody left Send offers (web) Offer to 1st transporter Trip outsourced Offer to next transporter Not accepted: trip stays with you

Send offers

Select one or more trips in the web app, outsource them to partners, and choose:

SettingRule
TransportersIn the order they get the offer
Time to acceptHow long each transporter has to answer. 5 minutes to 7 days. Default 2 hours
Acceptance requiredOn (default): offer and wait for an answer. Off: assign each trip to its first transporter at once, without asking

Each transporter gets an email and a notification when it receives an offer. It sees the trip in its open offers without customer names and phones until it accepts.

A trip cannot be offered when it:

  • has a driver,
  • has started (status 5 or later),
  • already has a waiting offer, or
  • is already outsourced to the first transporter in the list.

The other trips are still offered.

The first transporter always gets the offer. A later transporter is skipped if it has no free truck during the trip, or no rate for one of the trip’s zones. Each transporter gets one offer per trip in a send.

When nobody is left, the trip is Not accepted. It stays with you without a transporter, and you get a notification. Assign it yourself, or offer it again.

With acceptance required, the trip is taken back from its current transporter before the offer goes out. Without acceptance, it moves straight to the first transporter in the list.

A new send can offer the trip to a transporter who rejected it before. Outsourcing it to them directly is not allowed.

Track offers

The Trip Offers page shows each send and where each trip stands, with its history, for example “Rejected by Desert Line Transport at 14:46” then “Offered to Harbor Haulage → accepted at 14:52”.

StateMeaning
WaitingA transporter has the offer until its deadline
AcceptedA transporter accepted, or the trip was assigned without acceptance. The trip is outsourced to them
Not acceptedEvery transporter rejected or let the time run out. The trip stays with you
WithdrawnYou stopped the offers, or the trip got a driver

A send is running while any offer waits, then finished. Expired offers move to the next transporter on their own.

Through the API, get a trip shows the latest offer in offer: its status (offered, accepted, assigned, rejected, expired, withdrawn or not_accepted), the transporter name in partner, and expires_at. Once accepted, the transporter is in the trip’s partner. List trips with partner_id shows every trip outsourced to one transporter.

Stop offers

On the Trip Offers page, stop a send to withdraw every waiting offer in it. Trips already accepted stay with their transporter. Withdrawn trips stay with you, and the transporter is told the offer was withdrawn.

Next: the transporter side.