Driver, now dispatcher ask away

Fact is I was a driver for 7 Years and now a Dispatcher for 6 months, Yeah I know thats not a long time, and the truth of the matter is I dont know everything or anything for that matter. I work for a company that has 100 trucks, 87 OTR and 13 Day cabs. we are small, but we do have all the same problems that any trucking companys. I'm just here to fill in some of the blanks,.

 

Just think about every problem you guys have as a driver and times it by 100 and then you will understand. YES i know we are not out there on the road alone, but we do feel the pressures as you do. Or I should say atleast I do.

 

1: Well there is a few things we have to look at. where are you landing, what are your hours, and can you make a on time delivery safely....

2: Well there is no giving a driver a bad load if he goes over my head. I understand what drivers go through day to day myself being a driver ( I do still drive on my days off from the office ) if they need to complaine and go over my head as you put it, we work with the driver and find what his/her needs are, then we try to fill thoughs needs.

3: I don't, Yes we have hot loads and cold ( I guess thats what you would call them. ) I only tell the driver we need to get the load there and make it on time. first of all be safe if you have a problem on the road i.e late, HOS, repair call in let us know we can work around that and get things taken care of.

 

A lot of companys do differant things, most are by the load. The dispatcher books and Assigns the loads and when completed they get a % of the load, some even give bonuse if early or on time.


Here, where I work we have two systems. hourly rate and salary. Most of everyone is on a flat rated salary, if you were a driver they have to put you on as hourly rate because if you drive at all you have to be paid for the load. Its a odd system to work with but we deal.
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In many words yes and no, we work as a team, if we let ours drivers know what expected of that driver and he doesnt follow through then the fault is on the driver. But there are a lot of things that can go wrong in that, does the driver actully have the hours, can the truck make it, repair issues, traffic, road work. These things may or may not reflect poorly on driver or dispatch. Theres is always something we will take the heat for. Most of the loads we do day to day are customer based and if the customer sets a time we have to follow it. If we have to move the driver 200, 300, 400 miles to make it work we do it, but that can reflect on both.

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YES. When a driver quits we are asked why and what happened, we have to refer the driver to the safety department when quiting, they take care of most everything, yet there is always something that comes back to dispatch in regards to the driver.

does it bother me as a dispatch if a driver quits well YES, but it also depends on the driver too, are they a good driver; bad driver, where are they coming from whats the reason behind them quiting.

 

I'll tell you something, The running thing is used by most Dispatch/Drivers and a motivation tool.

I myself dont like using that, if I ran the same run a driver is making, I'll tell him/her hey I been there look out about this or that. Hey there's great food over there watch your diet LOL.


Thing is you have to know who you are talking to, Drivers are not tools, many dispatchers ( even ones here ) use them as tools. Thats not what they are, Drivers are people and Managers, the trucks they use are Tools thats what makes the freight move and money flow. One with out the other does not work.