Co drivers, what’s your relationship like with your dispatcher?

Fishing buddy for 15 years, a friend replaced him for the last 5 years

 

Don't have a dedicated dispatcher I work with all of them.. different ones handle different areas.. makes it better in my opinion... i will say the last people I will ever make mad is a dispatcher, but some drivers don't understand its like telling the cook you boinked his mom right before u order food.

 

It's a whole different thing at Swift.
We do not have dispatchers.

We have planners and driver leaders and computers.
Any of the three can dispatch loads, but what you are talking about does not exist at Swift.
That was one of the main things I liked about Swift.

Usually the driver is sent the next load assignment from a planner, and sometimes the computer will do it.
If the load is accepted, when the empty call goes in the driver is automatically dispatched by the computer on the next load.
Sometimes not, and the driver will call their DL to get dispatched.

There is seldom anything personal going on in the process between the driver and the 'powers that be' that plan and dispatch loads.
A group of planners for a given area looks at which drivers will be available, and they send out the next load assignments. We are all just truck numbers with ETA's and PTA's and HOS to consider.

There is a relationship between the driver and Driver Leader, however.
Sometimes good, often times not so good if one or the other is a difficult person to work with.
A book could be written about those relationships.

There are also sometimes relationships between drivers and planners, because sometimes the two do interact directly.

Personally, I have a favorite and least favorite planner. And, it is the same person.
When he sent me loads out of Edwardsville, KS I usually didn't like them. It was like he had it in for me and gave me the bad ones.
Maybe I turned down too many for his liking, even though I wasn't always in his planning area?

But there were times that he called me directly, or I called a planner directly and got him (or I called him directly), to ask about whatever. He might want me to do a load that was bad but he would back it up with something better, or I would call and ask for something specific.
He was always the nicest guy. Telling stories and chatting and just doing everything in his power to accommodate me.

 

Remember when running empty, you were hauling "dispatcher brains"? Dispatchers were a necessary evil of trucking. Some were cute divorced gals that usually ended up having a kid with one of the drivers, but for the most part, generally old ladies, or the bosses cousin in between jobs, oh yeah, I passed many drivers going to load where I just came from, and I was loading where they came from. I had good relationships with most of my dispatchers, a special favor ( for free) usually paid off later, or some donuts or a lunch did wonders too. With electronics today, I'd have to think a dispatcher isn't needed, everything online. Now, if we just could do away with compliance,,,

 

Well can’t let walk all over you either. Literally it’s the drivers life. Dispatch and office could give a #### less.

 

That is true . If I ever have a problem with some I always go to their superior.. luckily the office team with my company are very good at what they do .

 

Yeah I’ve done and thing just go back the way they were.

 

Our dispatchers are all former drivers. It seems to work out pretty good.

 

100% business. “Familiarity Breeds Contempt.” I don’t talk to people I work with (especially drivers), because if you’re going to get stabbed in the back, it will be by someone you work with. Shippers, receivers, absolutely…build that relationship, but keep your business YOUR business.

So, how does one insure that his travel agent doesn’t starve him out or mistreat him?

Simple…
1. Be better than average.
What does the AVERAGE driver look like at your company? At my old specialized/heavyhaul company, the average driver looked like Friar Tuck in a Robin Hood movie. Don’t forget about the Bluetooth headset. And the 44oz cup of Mountain Dew. So, you had a room full of office jocks, with all the usual office politics, having some extremely obese and loud unkempt, guy trying to impress the room. This is usually done by the driver playing the ‘Smartest Person in the Room’ card. So, if you wanted to be better than the average driver in that atmosphere, even if you are fat, keep yourself neat, hair combed. No sweatpants and flip flops in the office. Leave the headset in the truck. Keep your voice down. Listen instead of talking. Real simple, right?

2. Law 30 of the 48 Laws of Power: Make it seem effortless.
If you’ve ever been in the trucking company office, you will notice that the majority of the desk jockey’s time is spent handholding a 350lb, 40 year old toddler’s hand. They cry about everything, complain about everything, call in about everything. Like reality TV…everything’s career ending, life or death, and oh so dramatic. “Got a flat tire, OMG, what am I going to do? Oh Elizabeth, this is the big one!!!”
Call your buddies and rant. Hide all the drama from your travel agent. That way, when you actually do need help, they will know that you’re not actually a drama queen.

3. Law 40: Despise the Free Lunch
In our world, this would the hats and tees, hi vis vests with company logo…etc. if you aren’t required to wear a company uniform like BusterBrown and FedEx…etc, don’t wear the “free” company swag. Remember all the back stabbing and dime dropping from fellow workers? That’s how they identify you. My previous company would give a $50 gift card for per dime drop. Everyone from fellow drivers to pilot cars would stand around and wait for you to make a mistake. Or go to the pub. Or walk out of the Asian massage parlor. Or the strip club (do you, hand…just keep it to yourself)That POS will be right there with you, same act, same deal, but going to dime drop your dumb arse because you’re wearing company swag.

So the desk jockey, whose day is full of crying, backstabbing adult children, sees that you’re maintenance free, and extremely consistent. If you run consistently, and can stay under Safety’s radar, compared to average, you’re a machine.

“But Six, what about respect?”

Usually, the guys that get dissed by dispatch are the ones that try to win popularity contests. Plus, this is business, remember?

Six back quiet.