My dispatcher actually said this

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Mega Express, Feb 26, 2026.

  1. Mega Express

    Mega Express Light Load Member

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    Jan 10, 2026
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    ....5 minutes into in-person conversation
    Me - yeah both addresses from yesterday were wrong
    Dispatcher b - I can fix that, just need the driver's to let me know
    Me- yep both of the addresses from yesterday were wrong
    Dispatcher b - yep I know I can't do anything unless the drivers tell me about it
    Me - the 2 addresses I had yesterday were wrong
    Dispatcher b - yeah that will happen

    I'm running food and they just cut overtime in the warehouse. The dispatchers don't do "real" dispatching, and I'm getting the short end of what ever stick this is

    I showed up the first day and the dispatcher wanted me to jump in some other guy's sleeper truck, who's on vacation this week, and sleep in his bed which was still made with his blankets and pillows. Supposedly the dispatcher was trying to get a truck for me but it wasn't ready. So his solution was to sleep in some other dude's bed. I told him that's not happening.

    Mind you I've only ever ran day cabs for this company, and I asked this guy 3 times before I arrived on what to expect. I finish the 1st run, just made it a turn, no bed needed, and got back with 3 minutes on my 14.

    So immediately the next day my load was delayed 10 hours and I'm getting ready to go sleep when I get a call to come in. Now I don't know if they're just ####in with me, if they're dumb, or if it was just my luck, so I go and finish my day at 430 am, and they're texting me by 9 am that the next loads ready.

    So needless to say it's a #### show. I had just finished emailing my manager lettthim know they're letting me sit and not working me. I get the call oh hey this has been ready for an hour you need to go run this.

    Yeah yeah yeah these dispatchers are definitely lazy, but I don't know if they're also malicious, I can only assume that yes, of course they are.

    This is why I always stay job searching.
     
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  3. Espressolane

    Espressolane Road Train Member

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    Never attribute malicious intent to stupidity.
     
  4. The_vett

    The_vett Medium Load Member

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    This is true , however BOTH can come from the same person. Unfortunately I know this.
     
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  5. Lonesome

    Lonesome Mr. Sarcasm

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    I think most everyone has worked at a similar place.
     
  6. Mega Express

    Mega Express Light Load Member

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    It's electric pallet jacks, driver unload and load. which I've never used the EPJ for more than a pallet or two before this. And that load that got delayed last night was actually 2 loads to the same place about 40 minutes down de road. And boy let me be the first to say that was a lot more work than I thought it was going to be. Those EPJ are not the most user friendly tools and they jerk you around like a dam Tesla thats been taken over by malicious AI. It took me way longer than. I thought it would, 2 full unloads and 1 full reload. I was thinking about 2 or 3 hours but it was closer to 6. And it kicked my ###. Didn't help that the all the pallets of chips were stacked too high to take off the trailer, hand unload the top row of about 10 pallets. And then I had a weird one. About 3 pallets into the second trailer, I had a pallet get stuck on the EPJ, and I couldn't get that sucker off no matter what I tried. Not that I really no what I'm doing but it got the better of me. So I had to do about 19 pallets with the manual jack and that was no fun.
     
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  7. Mega Express

    Mega Express Light Load Member

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    Yeah I'm thinking it's mostly stupidity too. He never fixed the addresses, I don't think he realized what the words I were saying meant.
     
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  8. tscottme

    tscottme Road Train Member

    Dispatchers have 3,000 conversations a day. You might have 4 conversations a day. Telling a dispatcher something is like spitting into the ocean. You made a difference, but not enough of a difference for anyone but you to notice. If you want a dispatcher to know something and do something put the what to know and what to do on paper, text, or an email. The chances of the new information arriving at the dispatcher at the same time as she has time to enact the change are zero. But if she has the paper or email with the details, not just an address in this case, but a note saying change the address for ABC Warehouse from 126 Elm St to 206 Maple St, you may have better results then the change can be done later when she has time. Both of you repeating the same simple sentence back and forth 3 times isn't fixing anything or creating more time. Have direct communication and not depend on saying a fact to convey the meaning it has for you. Say the meaning and the fact and offer a solution. It's easy for the driver to stay in his own head and the dispatcher to stay in her own head and communication not be improved. NOBODY got madder at dispatchers for giving the wrong address than I did, so I understand your issue. Solutions are 100 times more valuable than just identifying a problem and hoping someone understand you want it to get fixed.
     
  9. Toomanybikes

    Toomanybikes Road Train Member

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    All this crap is typical at most trucking companies. While I would like to attribute these failures to dispatch having too much to do, the fact is most of what they do, is their own fault. This is the whole purpose of the truck driver shortage. Office staff does not have to be competent, as long as they can blame their results, their mistakes, on a driver and churn through drivers.
     
  10. lual

    lual Road Train Member

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    Suggestion: Make/keep a list of stupid/incompetent stuff like this...that your employer does to you....which occur without any apologies, &/or compensation.

    Usually -- said list will finally & likely have at least one "deal breaker"...or incredibly stand-out stupid mistake....on the employer's part.

    When the list gets to a certain length (& that specific length is to be determined solely by you) -- LEAVE!!! Move on to another pre- determined employer.

    How you leave is up to you. I gave the obligatory written 2-week notices. You do what you think is best for the situation at hand.

    In each case -- it turned out that my next employer....was a better one.

    -- L
     
  11. Mega Express

    Mega Express Light Load Member

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    So now they just sent me 4 hours away with the wrong trailer. And they're blaming me. Even tho I have the paper work right here that has the same trailer number as the one I'm pulling. This place is a circus. I've never seen anything this disorganized.
     
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