When a load is created it gets one permanent address. That address holds the whole shipment: terms, parties, tracking, settlement. It is not a file on our servers that we hand out; it is a record each party reads under their own key, and each key opens only that party's slice.
Addresses are a tree: the business, then its authority, then its loads. A load tendered by a broker sits under that broker's authority. Every party on it has its own address too, seeded from an identifier they already hold.
| Address | What it is | Seeded from |
|---|---|---|
| usdot:1593734C | A carrier with property authority | USDOT number + C; MC kept as a reference |
| usdot:2020202B | A broker (Unbroker) | USDOT number + B; $75k bond checked live |
| ein:41-0215170 | A shipper with no FMCSA authority | EIN, kept in its own namespace |
| usdot:2020202B/load/000001 | One load, tendered under the broker's authority | The broker's address plus a load number |
FMCSA is moving to USDOT as the single identifier, with authority shown as a letter suffix. Seeding on USDOT now means nothing to re-issue later.
Every transition is checked against a policy that denies by default: only the named party can move the load to the next state. A denied transition is never written. An allowed one is appended to the record, never overwritten.
Figures are the example load used throughout this site: a $2,500 carrier rate and a $350 broker margin on a $2,850 shipper cost.
A carrier's key opens the carrier's slice: rate, equipment, driver. A shipper's key opens cost and status. A broker administering the load sees both sides plus its own margin. A receiver sees its dock window. Nobody administers permissions after the fact; the entitlements are part of the record.
| Reading as | Shipper slice | Carrier slice | Broker slice | Receiver slice | Deed history & settlement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shipper | yes | — | — | — | yes |
| Carrier | — | yes | — | — | yes |
| Broker | yes | yes | yes | — | yes |
| Receiver | — | — | — | yes | yes |
Today nobody gets paid until four documents reconcile, and each party holds its own version. On Load Guardrails each of them is an entry on the load's address, written by the party that owns that step and read by everyone entitled to it.
createdpicked_up entry, written by the carrierdelivered entry, written by the receiverA manufacturer ships 200 units to a Chicago distribution center. Tuesday 8 AM pickup, Wednesday 6 PM delivery, $1,800 rate.
created.funded. Carriers can now be tendered.accepted.picked_up.delivered.settled.No new account number. Your address is seeded from the identifier you already have and nobody else shares.
Your USDOT number with a carrier suffix. Your MC is kept as a reference. Authority must be active, not just present.
Your USDOT plus your authority. Since January 16, 2026, FMCSA suspends broker authority when the $75,000 bond or trust drops below the line and isn't cured in seven days, so we check the bond, not just that one once existed.
No FMCSA authority needed. Your EIN, in its own namespace, since it's tax-confidential rather than a public registry.
No. Load Guardrails is infrastructure. Any shipper, carrier, or broker can use it directly, and any platform can write a load's address into its own software. It's not a walled garden.
The shipper funds the full load into escrow before pickup. Verified pickup releases 30%, verified delivery releases the remaining 70%. The money is already there and moves the moment a milestone is confirmed. No 30–90 day wait, no factoring cut.
A load is bound to a specific carrier, truck, and driver at acceptance. Presenting a different truck or identity is a transition the policy denies, so it never gets written. Separately, a carrier whose only authority is broker authority fails the vetting gate before any tender.
Only the parties entitled to. A carrier sees its rate; a shipper sees its cost; a broker administering the load sees both sides. Everyone else, including us, cannot.
A short, permanent handle seeded from your real identifier. It locates where your data rests; your key turns it back into something readable. The same address works on any machine.
Yes. Any broker, 3PL, or platform that has integrated Load Guardrails can administer your loads. Unbroker is the first. And if you and a carrier later want to go direct, that switch is a recorded, consented operation on the load rather than a fight over a non-solicitation clause.
Loads are written as keyed records, and the goal of the design is that we cannot read what we hold without your key. We're building toward per-party keys before launch; until then, loads run on a shared field we operate. We'd rather say that plainly than claim more than the software does today.
Everything above is ordinary, buildable technology used well: a shared record, keyed access, an append-only log, and prepaid escrow. No magic, no claims a system can't keep. Freight doesn't need magic; it needs one honest record everyone can trust.
Get on the interest list and we'll walk through the lifecycle with your lanes, your carriers, and your numbers.
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