Dispatching from home

Thank you TBonze. That information was well needed.

 

I want my cake, and eat it too. Can someone stop and buy me a cake? Can someone else ship it to me? Can someone else feed it to me? And by the way, I need this to be done at my house please.

It's a good dream...and can be done easy enough. But, you can't start at the finish line.
We ALL would love to work from home...especially those of us who have put in our time and started at the bottom.
I HATE being dispatched by someone that has never been in a truck.
How much experience do you have in the industry?

 

That's what every driver says and it's true!

I took 6 months off to dispatch for a guy that had 15 trucks. About two years ago he lost an account, and decided to put those trucks on the spot market. He paid me more than I made as an owner operator, which obviously I took the offer. Our deal was $5,000/week or otherwise I don't see a point.

Drivers loved me. Every driver had a different taste of driving. I made sure they all had at lest 3,000 miles a week. Sometimes it meant taking a cheaper rate over the weekend. Every load was confirmed with the driver if he can do it or not. Driver's home time was always 4-5 days on my alarm to make sure he comes home. I paid a driver $700 bonus out of my pay, because he did a great job and did me a favor when another driver got ill and couldn't take a load that I personally went and picked up for since he was on his home time. At 7 PM when drivers called me because they were bored I talked with them. When they felt tired and couldn't make it, I went out of my way to reschedule loads, and told them to pull over. After about 6 months guy hired some new dispatchers for $700/week, and told me he can't afford me, which I understand. Once I left drivers called me crying that they're stuck in places for two days. When they came through where I live bought me little gifts and would tell me all their wishes and wants of becoming owner operators. They all left that company, and still to this day we keep in touch and meet up on the road for a meal. One thing they always said was "you dispatched me really good because you know how the road is".

Why is that? Because even if I took a load on 200 miles, I charged accordingly to make sure driver gets at least a $100 on top of his mileage for the day. Why? Because I know nobody wants to sit all day for $70 dollars away from home.

Now suddenly so many dispatch services are popping up. Thinking they can go on a load board and find a load, put money in their pocket, No broker bond or broker authority, or customer. No trucking authority, insurance, or anything. Just a computer, a fax machine, and a phone. SMH

 

TBonze-
I agree that when asking for assistance with anything it is important to be humble and gracious. With that in mind I have a question for you. My husband, brother, and long time family friend are starting their own independent trucking company. They have asked me to dispatch for them. I have never done dispatching before and am earnestly trying to get more information on that side of the industry. I would appreciate any advise or pointers you or your fellow associates could provide me.
Thanks in advance-
Melissa

 

So I did. And ended up here: http://www.businessinsider.com/gross-ingredients-in-every-day-foods-2015-7#

TYVM!

 

I'm not 100% sure, but maybe find a live load board on the internet machine and go from there. Pick loads from different live boards and see what works best for you. Build a relationship and then things could either fall into place or at the very least, you now have your feet wet and can get a better grasp on where you wanna be. Like I said, I'm not a broker, but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night! Best of luck. Gonna take some intestinal fortitude, but nothing worth having ever comes easy.

 

Are there any boards that you would recommend over others or controversially any boards I should avoid

 

Best of luck to you.

 

Not really. My guess is, they are all a bit different in certain ways. Kinda like shoes. For instance, when I'm wearing my stilettos, I feel free, yet confident. My bowling shoes, on the other hand, very drab and not so pretty. Its like a pair of shoes, try each and see what fits best for you.