FOR CTE DIRECTORS · GRANTS & FINANCE OFFICES

Program & Funding Overview

LOCK IN · trailer-load.com · maintained by F-Keys · last reviewed July 2026

FOR YOUR REQUISITION

A $1,950/year web license that gives your program a warehouse-loading trainer students will actually use — and per-student competency evidence you can export for reporting. No install, no lab equipment, no per-device cost. This overview assists your own funding-allowability determination; it is not legal or grant-compliance advice.

What the license buys

A one-year institutional site license to a web-delivered training simulator plus an instructor program dashboard. On day one your instructor receives a facility code and a dashboard login. There is no box and no install — the deliverable is browser access and a roster view.

Unlimited students, one campus. No per-seat charge on the site license.
The instructor dashboard: a roster of opted-in students with attention-to-detail (load integrity), throughput (pace), follow-through, and safety-incident metrics — sortable, exportable to CSV.
The game itself is free for students forever. The license is the instructor's visibility and reporting layer.

The problem it solves

A CTE or logistics program has three needs this addresses directly:

Evidence for reporting. The dashboard produces per-student competency data you can put in front of administration and use in program review.
No lab, no risk. Real trailers, docks, and forklifts are scarce or unavailable in a classroom. LOCK IN teaches load rules, hazmat placement, weight balance, and pace with zero equipment cost and zero physical risk.
Engagement. It plays like a game, so students actually do it — and every action is scored against 38 named load-theory rules and logged.

The Daily Challenge presents identical freight to every player on a given date, so every student in a section attempts the same problem under the same constraints — their results are directly comparable. This is a comparability property for formative practice, not a validated assessment; LOCK IN has no psychometric validation, reliability, or cut scores and should not be used as a graded assessment of record.

Pricing

Option	Price	For
Site license	$1,950/yr	Unlimited students, one campus, dashboard + reporting
Multi-campus	$1,450/campus	Three or more campuses
Founding Program	$1,450/yr	Early programs — free through the first fall semester, then this rate held while you renew without a lapse
Student course fee	$29/student/sem	Small college sections; runs through your course-fee system, no procurement
Employer bay	$490/yr	Per location — warehouse and dock hiring/onboarding
Custom Edition	$4,999	School colors, custom freight mixes, your facility's own procedures

The $1,950 line is a single-unit software purchase under $2,000 — deliberately set beneath common single-signature and micro-purchase thresholds. Confirm your own procurement thresholds and applicable purchasing standards locally.

Purchasing routes

Purchase order. We complete your vendor registration, provide a W-9, and invoice against the PO, net-30. Our invoice references your PO number and matches it line for line.
Perkins-funded requisition. See the allowability notes below.
Student course fee. The $29/student/semester option is collected through your course-fee or bookstore billing and needs no purchasing office involvement.

A Certificate of Insurance is available at award on request. The Order Form, Quote, and W-9, the Institutional License Agreement, and the Student Data Privacy Agreement are provided on request at [email protected].

Perkins V allowability notes

These notes are provided to assist your local allowability analysis under the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V, 20 U.S.C. ch. 44). Final allowability determinations belong to your state CTE agency and your business office. LOCK IN itself is not a recognized postsecondary credential.

LOCK IN maps most directly to the required local uses of funds under Sec. 135(b):

Sec. 135(b)(5)(D) — appropriate equipment, technology, and instructional materials, "including … hardware and software, and other new and emerging instructional materials." This is the cleanest hook for a software license.
Sec. 135(b)(5)(E) — a continuum of work-based learning opportunities, "including simulated work environments." LOCK IN is a simulated work environment; it is not a placement, internship, or apprenticeship and should not be reported as one.
Sec. 135(b)(1) — career exploration and development activities, including comprehensive understanding of all aspects of an industry.
Sec. 135(b)(4) — integration of academic skills: loading is applied geometry and arithmetic (volume, center of gravity, ratio, density, pace).

Whether transportation/distribution/logistics qualifies as high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand for your program is a determination your comprehensive local needs assessment and regional labor-market data must make; we do not assert it for you.

Training supplement — not a certification. LOCK IN builds intuition and tracks readiness. It is not a certification, credential, or license, and is not a substitute for employer safety training, OSHA training, powered-industrial-truck or equipment certification, or HAZMAT / 49 CFR training. Do not rely on it for real-world loading, safety, or hazmat decisions.

Next step

A 15-minute look at the dashboard is the fastest way to evaluate it. Email [email protected], or try a wall yourself right now at trailer-load.com. Current pilot programs get free access through their first fall semester.