The 5–20 truck reality
Every RFQ answered after hours is answered by the owner or not at all. Every customs packet is minutes of retyping. The desk's lane knowledge lives in one or two heads — pricing stops when they are on holiday.
This is the band where AI leverage per person is highest: the same three people handle everything, so removing the first pass from quoting and documents returns hours per day, not per month.
What matters at this size
- No new systems: connect IMAP/SMTP, Gmail, or Microsoft 365 — the agent works inside your existing mail flow.
- Drafts priced from your own history, so a two-person desk quotes like the owner even when the owner is driving.
- Deal Watcher catches the request nobody quoted — at this size, one lost regular client hurts.
- Credit billing scales down: you pay per AI action, not per seat bundle sized for a company ten times larger.
Getting started
- Connect a mailbox — the wizard detects your provider and tests IMAP and SMTP before saving.
- Review the first drafts against what you would have sent.
- Link the workspace Telegram bot for approvals and alerts.
- Add 4logist TMS credentials when you want lane-history pricing and auto-filing.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need an IT person to set this up?
No. Setup is a guided mailbox connection with a live test, plus an optional Telegram link. Most desks connect in one sitting.
Is it worth it below 10 trucks?
The economics are per-action, so a low-volume desk pays little. The time saved on after-hours RFQs and document retyping is usually decisive well below 10 trucks.