# How to post loads to DAT and Truckstop without retyping them > Once loads are clean records on one board, posting stops being data entry. SmartLoads posts new loads to Truckstop automatically through the Truckstop API during the agency's board hours and removes them when they leave the board. For DAT, whose API access is still pending, it generates a DAT-ready upload file that takes under a minute to export and upload, and "Export New" includes only loads not already sent. Loads with an unresolved city or a margin below the agency's threshold are held until a person reviews them. At one agency that's 17,769 Truckstop postings through the API since July 23, 2026. Source: https://smartloads.io/blog/post-loads-dat-truckstop-automatically ยท Updated 2026-09-26 Posting loads should take seconds. For most broker desks it takes hours, because the loads arrive as shipper emails, spreadsheets and PDFs, and somebody has to turn them into rows the load boards accept. At SmartLoads' first agency customer, the TMS had no export at all. Brokers keyed each load into the TMS and then again into the load boards, or rebuilt the day's list into one upload spreadsheet at the end of the day. The fix isn't a faster typist. It's making the load board the single source for every posting, so posting becomes a push instead of a rebuild. ## Step one: one clean record per load A load board will only accept what it understands: a real city and state, its own equipment code, a date, a weight and a rate. So posting automation starts upstream: - Every shipper format is read into the same load record ([how that works](/blog/shipper-load-emails-to-load-board)). - City names are normalized, with a geocoder fallback for messy ones. - Equipment is mapped to the codes DAT and Truckstop use. - Mileage is filled from a cache before calling Google. - Duplicates are removed by fingerprint, so a re-sent sheet doesn't post a load twice ([the technical details](/blog/fingerprint-deduplication-recurring-load-sheets)). After that, both load boards read from the same records. ## Truckstop: automatic, through the API SmartLoads posts to Truckstop through the Truckstop API. There's no file and nobody clicking a button: - **New loads post automatically** when they land on the board, if the agency has auto-post switched on. - **Posting follows the agency's hours.** Nothing posts before the board opens in the morning, and an agency can close its board manually. - **Loads come down automatically** when they're booked, archived or dropped from the shipper's sheet, so carriers don't call about freight that's gone. - **The posting note is consistent:** commodity, weight, the customer's routing phone number and any special instructions. Carriers who call that number reach the AI agent for that customer's freight when the brokers are busy. Since API logging began on July 23, 2026, SmartLoads has sent 17,769 distinct load postings to Truckstop for one agency, 11,434 of them in the last 30 days. ## DAT: one file, under a minute DAT API access is still pending, so SmartLoads does the next best thing: it builds a DAT-ready upload file from the board. Exporting it and uploading it to DAT takes under a minute. 537 DAT files have been generated since June 3, 2026, 139 of them in the last 30 days. The part that matters is which loads go into the file: - **Export New** includes only loads that haven't been sent to DAT yet. It works like an inbox: exporting clears it, and new loads fill it again. - **Export All** re-sends everything on the board, for a morning refresh. - **Excluded customers** whose freight never goes to DAT are left out of both, so they don't sit in the "new" count forever. - The stamp is agency-wide. When one broker exports, the loads show as sent for everyone, so two brokers don't upload the same loads. When DAT API access opens, the same records will post to DAT the way they post to Truckstop. ## What should hold a load back Posting everything automatically is only safe if the wrong loads are stopped first. SmartLoads holds a load off both boards when: - **The location can't be resolved.** A city that doesn't geocode, or that a load board rejects, goes to a location review queue instead of being posted with a guess. - **The margin is too thin.** Each agency sets a margin threshold. A load whose rate leaves less than that margin waits for an admin to approve it before it's posted or exported. - **The board is closed.** Outside the agency's hours, nothing posts. These checks run before posting, not after, because pulling a bad posting down is slower than never posting it. ## Why it matters on the phones Posting and calls are one system. Every posting makes carriers call, and at peak broker desks miss about half of those calls ([the numbers](/blog/missed-carrier-calls-ai-voice-agents)). Because SmartLoads posts each customer's loads with a routing number, a carrier calling about a posted load reaches an AI agent that knows those loads when the brokers can't pick up. ## Checklist: automating load posting - Do posts come from one clean board, or from separate lists per load board? - Does a re-sent shipper sheet update postings instead of duplicating them? - Are loads removed from the load boards when they're booked or withdrawn? - Can you hold loads with bad cities or thin margins before they post? - Does posting respect your working hours? - Does each posting carry a phone number that gets answered? ## Frequently asked questions ### Does SmartLoads post to DAT automatically? Not yet. DAT API access is pending. Today SmartLoads builds a DAT-ready upload file that takes under a minute to export and upload, and "Export New" includes only loads DAT hasn't seen. Truckstop posting is fully automatic through its API. ### What happens to a Truckstop posting when the load is booked? It comes down. When a load is booked, archived or removed from the shipper's sheet, SmartLoads removes the Truckstop posting so carriers stop calling about it. ### Can we stop some loads from posting? Yes. Loads with unresolved locations or margins below your threshold are held for review, whole customers can be excluded from DAT, and auto-posting to Truckstop can be switched off for the agency. ### Will two brokers upload the same loads to DAT? No. The DAT export stamp is shared across the agency, so once one broker exports a load it no longer shows as new for anyone else.