Owner-operators on a national network
The business runs truck and trailer units for a national freight company, as an owner-operator based in Waikato and Bay of Plenty. The work is a mix of bulk metro runs and linehaul. The drivers, the trucks and the road user charges are all the business’s own to pay.
The freight company pays for a month’s work after the month has ended. Until recently that payment landed on the 20th of the month after. Then the date moved to the last day of the month after.
Work done early in a month now waits until the end of the next one to be paid. The wages and the fuel for it don’t.
“...the way we get paid is the last day of the month...”
From a call with the FundTap team, May 2026
The new run’s wages come first
Then the freight company asked them to expand into a new area, taking over a run from another owner-operator: metro work and linehaul. The drivers who came with the run were already on the payroll.
When they signed up in November 2024, the owner explained to the FundTap team that the new run’s wages, road user charges and running costs would all be paid out before the freight company’s first payment for that area came in.
That first payment was the best part of two months off. And the later date applied to the existing runs too, so the whole business was waiting longer to be paid, right as it took on more drivers.
Funding the freight invoices
They signed up in November 2024 and connected Xero. In December 2024 they funded their first invoices, four of them, with the freight company’s payment for that work not due until the end of the following month.
They choose which invoices to fund and see the fee before they commit. The freight company pays the business on its usual date, and nothing about that changed.
Running the new area without the wait
With the invoices funded, the new run’s wages, road user charges and fuel were covered while the freight company’s first payment for the area was still to come. The business could take the run on, drivers paid and trucks fuelled, and let the freight company pay on its own timetable.
The later payment date mattered less as well. By the time the month-end money landed, the wages for that work were already paid.
Their funding limit was raised three times in 2025. May 2025 was their busiest month, with 10 invoices funded, and across 2025 they funded 76.
The invoices they pick now
They funded 45 invoices in 2026 to September, six of them in September 2026, and 125 in all since December 2024. Their funding limit went up again in August 2026. They pay only on the invoices they fund, and there’s no lock-in.
The timeline
- November 2024 Signed up and connected Xero, with a new run to carry before the freight company’s first payment for it.
- December 2024 Funded their first invoices, four that month.
- March 2025 Funding limit raised for the first time.
- May 2025 Their busiest month so far, with 10 invoices funded.
- August 2026 Funding limit raised again, the fourth increase.
- September 2026 Six invoices funded, the most recent in the records.
In numbers
- Month end of the month after: when the freight company now pays
- 125 invoices funded since December 2024
- 4 funding limit increases since March 2025, the latest in August 2026
- 76 invoices funded in 2025, their biggest year so far
Sound like your business?
The freight company pays on the last day of the month after, and the drivers can’t wait that long. Fund the invoice that’s holding the run up, and keep the trucks moving.
You did the work. Don’t wait until the 30th to get paid.
Invoice finance for transport and logistics • All case studies
