Dispatch favoritism, line cutting, etc.

Relatively new driver here. I work for a great company with good pay, was trained well and always have a load to pick up somewhere. Some of the issues going on with some of my fellow drivers and dispatch have show themselves in recent weeks and are starting to bother me a little bit. I don't want to name names or companies because I know some of them read here. I realize that this is the sort of problem that people have to deal with in this industry at one point or another or, in some cases, constantly.

People are playing dispatch like a deck of cards. Some people seem to get better loads because they're "favorites" of the dispatchers, in spite of differences in experience with other drivers. And some simply lie and cheat their way to the front of the line (i.e. by saying they're unloaded and need info for the next load when they're just pulling up and 5th in line, thus getting a better load than the guy who's busted his rear to get there early and is first and doesn't call in til he actually is unloaded). Between the favoritism and the cheating, it leaves little room for honest drivers to get good loads.

So what do you guys do about this sort of thing? Do I just have to suck it up and start cheating, myself? I really don't want to do that since, if I do it, I'll just become the people I dislike. I've told dispatch that "so and so is be hind me, so and so is behind him" and heard that tell-tale pause as they realize that someone who he just gave pickup info to isn't even unloaded yet. But it never changes.

What's the solution? Practically no other company will hire me because of my previous job history and with a job history like mine, trying to jump to another company would look terrible on me right now, anyways. The higher-ups are apathetic toward the cheating and favoritism. No matter how many times dispatch "realizes" someone just cheated them, they're always happy to give the same people loads without question further down the line.

In the end, I know I'm probably screwed while I put in a year or two to make my employment history look better. But perhaps a bit of reassurance that everyone deals with this at some point would make it a bit easier to push through the pile of BS and still come out clean on the other side. I won't give up on an entire career because of this, but it's an annoyance to say the least.

 

You know, that's another problem I've noticed. Even on legitimate safety issues, people are too reluctant to step up and say something because there's always someone like this standing in a corner with knuckle gloves on going "Baw haw yer whining, son." This isn't a problem I have with trucking, specifically, but people in general. That cynical, apathetic, "screw everyone who isn't me" attitude doesn't belong anywhere, let alone behind the wheel of 30 tons of steel and toilet paper. But that's a whole different thread.

Thanks, mgfg, at least you made a reasonable attempt to be helpful - i can deal with it in the longrun because the money is still there. I just have to wait a little longer and look the other way when I draw my lines to make up for people lying and cheating. It's not convenience that I give up, but safety.

 

That last line is definitely true; but there are just some guys who wind up getting ahead somehow every time and like I said originally, I know that tone of voice and that brief pause dispatchers make when they realize they've just given a load to a guy who isn't going to be unloaded for another hour or two. It's a relatively small company and people develop reputations very quickly.

I will grant you that most of the worst stuff I saw was when I was with my trainer and that I realize now that it's because he was a total yes-man. "You want me to take that crappy load out of X going to the Mud Pit at X that nobody else will touch? YES SIR! THANK YOU SIR!" Then he'd get off the phone and complain about getting a crappy load. But I have to be a yes-man for a while to get my leg in it before I can start telling these guys no way. I don't want to be a 10 year driver who's never said no to a load because I've witnessed first-hand that they'll walk all over your sorry behind if you do that.

As for calling dispatch as I'm getting unloaded, yeah, I've considered cutting a few corners on that front - but a lot of the places I deliver to don't allow cellphones, even in the truck, and I don't wanna get banned from anywhere yet.

Oh, no, no, no. I don't think you understand. That would only happen to me the first and only time I do it!

But in all seriousness, it has happened to these guys from time to time. Guess who's calling dispatch with mysterious traffic problems, a sudden realization that they're "out of hours" or their truck is making a funny sound? If they're willing to lie and cheat to get a load first, they're going to lie and cheat to weasel their way out of a problem like this. But maybe someday, they'll wind up in one of those situations where they can't lie out of it. I just hope I'm there to see it!

Well, let me expand upon that. I always have a load eventually. I have waited hours and a few times had to sit overnight because of someone doing that sort of thing.

I agree with you completely on the time management. I was going to type something up, but reconsidered because it was too ranty, about a particular case. A fellow driver got loaded 4 hours before me, screwed off at truckstops and at home (because he passed through on his way) and I showed up 6 hours before him and he still got the better load by playing dispatch. But you're right, the problem isn't that these guys get good loads before I do, it's that they show up late and get good loads before I do. I wouldn't care if they busted their rears, got there before me and got a better load for it.