One platform. Each facility runs its way.

Incoming requests collect in a single queue so nothing gets lost in a text thread or a voicemail.

Every request is acknowledged by a named employee at scheduling, and completion is attributed the same way — so it's always clear who owns a load and who closed it out.

All inbound and outbound appointments in one place, with the load details your team needs at the door.

Bulk-load bookings, customers, and carriers from a spreadsheet instead of entering them one at a time.

Optional per facility and switched on by the facility manager. Load expected purchase orders one at a time or by CSV. Every booking — manual, CSV, email or text intake, or API — is checked for a missing, unlisted, or duplicate PO, the wrong date, or a different pallet count. Warn-only by default; you can choose a gate hold until a manager releases it.

Docking Buddy recommends the right door by matching trailer type, temperature requirements, hazmat, and weight against how each dock is configured.

Doors and appointments move through arrival stages in real time, with exceptions surfaced instead of buried.

Every staging spot laid out visually and color-coded — empty, assigned, or occupied — so dispatch and gate staff know where a truck is at a glance instead of opening individual bookings.

Check drivers in, verify who arrived, attach photos, and record exceptions with a clear audit trail.

A dedicated role for gate staff: record arrival, verify the driver, truck, and trailer, complete the safety check if enabled, then route to staging or straight to a dock. A truck can go to staging before a dock is assigned.

Photograph BOLs or paperwork during check-in and get an instant Verified / Needs review flag that matches the expected order.

Optional per facility and switched on by the facility manager. Set a short checklist for PPE, speed limits, and site rules. At gate check-in, the gatekeeper confirms each required item with the driver, or the driver acknowledges it on their phone from their appointment link. Problems can be flagged and hold the truck; missed or flagged checks appear in the attention list.

Give customers and carriers their own view for requests and status, so fewer answers have to come over the phone.

Drivers get a link by text or email to confirm their appointment, report they're running late, update their ETA, or request a reschedule — no app and no login required.

Surface what needs attention — new requests, exceptions, and changes — to the right people.

Volume, exceptions, and dock utilization trends so decisions come from numbers, not memory.

A ranked carrier view showing on-time arrival %, no-show rate, average turnaround, and problem-load count, so best and worst performers are clear at a glance.

Track average turnaround from arrival to departure across today, 7-day, and 30-day views, with breakdowns by dock and carrier and flags for loads that ran well over their estimate.

An emailed rollup of what was booked, arrived, shipped, and slipped by day's end.

Six roles — admin, facility manager, dispatcher, dock worker, gatekeeper, and viewer — with role-based permissions, facility access approvals, and audit trails at a single site or across multiple sites.

Docking Buddy has flat monthly pricing: Starter $179/month, Growth $349/month, and Enterprise custom. No per-truck or per-pallet fees.

From one door to a multi-site network, each facility chooses how it runs. Dock workers can assign docks by default; gatekeeper dock assignment is optional. The facility manager chooses whether gate safety checks, PO validation, and the public API and webhooks are on.

A first-time walkthrough gets new users productive, and release notes keep your team current as the product ships.

The public API and signed webhooks are optional per facility and switched on by the facility manager. You choose read-only or read/write API keys to read bookings and docks or submit booking requests from your own systems. Submitted requests still land in Booking Requests for a person to review.

SMS notifications, transactional email, EDI 204/990/214/210, TMS/WMS, and accounting sync.