Most freight does not need a dedicated vehicle, and All Freight Carrying moves the great majority of its customers’ consignments on scheduled overnight linehaul and set daily runs rather than on dedicated trips. A hot shot — one vehicle carrying your freight and nothing else — earns its keep only when the cost of waiting for the next scheduled run is greater than the cost of sending a vehicle on its own. This guide sets out the difference, and the questions that settle it before you book.
What the scheduled network actually is
Our scheduled service is a fixed, repeating pattern of movements that runs every business day whether or not your freight is on it. Consignments collected around Brisbane during the day travel north on our own overnight linehaul to our Yandina depot, are cross-docked through the night, and go out on a local delivery run the following morning. Freight collected on the Sunshine Coast, in Gympie or in northern Moreton Bay comes back to Yandina that afternoon and goes south on the night linehaul, or onto another local run.
Because the pattern repeats and the vehicle is already paid for, the cost of the trip is shared across everything on it. That is the whole point of a network: you buy a space rather than a truck. The coastal centres, Nambour, Gympie and Caboolture get a delivery every business day, while hinterland, rural and island areas run on set service days so that senders and receivers know which day the vehicle will be there. Our transit times page sets out the pattern lane by lane, and the service areas list shows how often each suburb is served.
The trade-off is that the network runs to its own timetable, not yours. Your consignment waits for the next linehaul, the next sort and the next run for that area.
What a hot shot is
A hot shot, sometimes called a hot shot courier or hot shot delivery, is a dedicated vehicle sent for one job. It collects your freight, drives to the delivery address and unloads it. There is no depot, no cross-dock, no sort and no other consignments on board. Because nothing else shares the vehicle, you pay for the whole trip, and the freight is dispatched as soon as a suitable vehicle is available during business hours.
The other advantage is handling. On a dedicated run the freight is loaded once and unloaded once by the same driver, which suits anything fragile, awkward or impossible to replace. Our urgent and hot shot freight page covers how the service is booked and which vehicles are available.
Four questions that settle it
- What actually happens if this lands on the next run instead? If the answer is “nothing much”, you have your answer. If it is a stopped production line, idle trades on a site, a closed shop front or a penalty at the other end, a dedicated vehicle is probably cheaper than the consequence.
- Is the freight ready now? A dedicated vehicle is only quick if it can load the moment it arrives. Freight still being picked, packed, wrapped or invoiced turns an urgent run into waiting time you are paying for.
- Can the receiver take it? There is no value in rushing a consignment to a site that is closed, has nobody to sign for it or has no way of getting it off the vehicle. Check the receiving arrangements first.
- Is this a one-off or a pattern? If you are booking urgent runs most weeks, you are paying a premium for something a standing pickup or a dedicated vehicle would do better. Our truck and driver hire page covers vehicles put on by the hour, the day or permanently.
When the scheduled network does the job
- Stock replenishment, resupply and anything ordered on a normal buying cycle.
- Pallets and cartons between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Gympie or Moreton Bay, where our own Brisbane to Sunshine Coast freight service already runs each night.
- Regular orders to the same receivers, especially if they can be grouped into one consignment instead of several.
- Freight with a deadline a few business days out, where the scheduled pattern has room to absorb a hold-up.
- Deliveries to hinterland, rural or island areas on their set service day, where a dedicated vehicle buys you very little.
- Anything priced tightly enough that a dedicated trip would wipe out the margin on the order.
When a dedicated vehicle is worth it
- Breakdown and repair parts. A machine, truck or plant item that is down is costing far more than the run.
- A missed linehaul or a missed sort. Freight that did not make the night movement and cannot wait for the next one.
- Site and project freight. Materials a crew cannot start without, or an item that has to be on site before a crane, a concrete pour or an inspection.
- Retail and hospitality stock. Shelves that are empty, or a function that cannot go ahead without the delivery.
- Time-critical documents and goods. Tenders, legal documents, medical and laboratory items, and anything that must not be transhipped.
- Freight that must stay together. A matched set, a kit or a consignment where a split delivery is worse than no delivery.
- Freight too awkward for a shared load. One long, tall or delicate item that would otherwise need protecting from everything around it.
What a hot shot needs from you
A dedicated run is quoted and planned on the details, so have them ready when you call:
- The full pickup and delivery addresses, with a contact name and mobile number at each end.
- What the freight is, how many items, and the dimensions and weight of each.
- Whether there is a forklift, a dock or neither at each end. If there is neither, you need a tailgate delivery.
- Any site requirements: inductions, gate codes, receiving hours, height limits or restricted access.
- When the freight will be ready to load, and any deadline at the delivery end so we can tell you honestly whether it is achievable.
Which vehicle goes
Dedicated work runs on the same fleet as everything else, from a parcel van for a single carton or a pallet of light cartons, through to a rigid truck with a tailgate for pallets going somewhere without a forklift, and larger vehicles for multiple pallets or long lengths. The vehicle is matched to the freight and to the access at both ends, which is why the dimensions and the site details matter more on an urgent job than on any other.
How each one is priced
Scheduled freight is priced per consignment on size, weight, the number of items and the delivery area, so it reflects the space you use on a vehicle that was going anyway. A dedicated run is priced per job, because the vehicle, the driver and the whole trip are yours. We quote every urgent job individually rather than publishing a flat figure, and we tell you the figure before the vehicle leaves. Ask for both prices if you are unsure — the comparison usually makes the decision obvious.
The middle option people forget
Between a space on tonight’s linehaul and a vehicle of your own there is a third choice: book the scheduled service earlier. A pickup arranged the day before, with accurate details and freight ready when the driver arrives, removes most of the reasons urgent runs get booked in the first place. For senders with regular volume, a standing daily pickup does the same thing permanently, and a dedicated vehicle on hire covers the businesses whose work genuinely needs one every day.
Talk it through before you book
If you are not sure which service your consignment needs, call us on 1300 882 117 between 8:00am and 4:00pm Monday to Friday, or email cs@allfreightcarrying.com.au with the pickup and delivery suburbs, the freight details and your deadline. We will tell you what the scheduled network can do and what a dedicated vehicle would cost, and we will say so if the scheduled run is the sensible answer. You can also request a quote online and note the deadline on the form.
Published by All Freight Carrying, Yandina, Sunshine Coast · 31 October 2026 · Last updated 31 October 2026
