dispatching services

In a loose market the time wasted going back and forth with a dispatcher is going to cause you to miss a good load. Most of these dispatch services are lazily just looking at posted rates and trying to convince you to take the best one they saw.

In the broker reddit groups lots of brokers will not even book a truck via a "dispatch service" because they are normally a communications nightmare and more often than not end up being a fall off or lied to about availability. Your dispatch service won't tell you all the times they get rejected because of that. Believe it or not a lot of brokers actually like and prefer to be dealing directly with the driver.

If you dive in and figure out some decent brokers to work with on the lanes you prefer you'll realize what everyone saying they're just a useless drain on your resources (dispatch services) is, right. It's not that difficult to drive and manage one truck. To start out post it up and take phone calls thru that Bluetooth while you're driving. If you really believe the myth that you're missing anything. If you can yap on the phone all day with friends and family you can talk business too.

 

Why bother? It adds another layer. The less links in communication the better. Everything’s done through email now. Piece of cake. Used to be via fax,

 

Having 5 trucks and driving one yourself is quite different. In your case, I agree with having assistance. A friend of mine has 9 trucks, and he has his wife doing all the dispatching and related paperwork full time. But not everyone with multiple trucks has a significant other that knows what they are doing and can handle it.
But in my opinion, if someone has one or two trucks, they are throwing money away using a dispatch service.

 

They handle everything... All you have to do is drive. Lol

 

I actually have a friend who is retired from trucking with well over 40 years driving. Actually thinking of setting him up to dispatch only problem is do to his situation he can't earn that much but he only be helping me out.
But honestly I just want to try self dispatch. one thing I've haven't been able to do yet

 

It is just not a difficult thing to do… I’m sure there are great dispatchers out there but I’ve yet to talk to one that I feel can communicate with anyone about what I need better than myself. Point blank.

After some of the phone calls I’ve had with “dispatchers” there is absolutely zero chance I want them being the voice for my business.

You will find that brokers love speaking with people who don’t beat around the bush, do what they say they are going to do and just do it.

How do you think you will possibly land a direct customer if a shipper is always dealing with a broker and then possibly a dispatcher vs yourself.

Think ahead man, Take control of your own business. It is literally one of the easiest things to do related to trucking in my opinion.

 

This is the same reaction I had with the few dispatchers I called. But like so many drivers some good, some not so good, I'm sure there are at least a few (or more) that are good at dispatching. You/we don't here from them because they are working at capacity and don't need more customers.

Maybe the shipper thinks just the opposite. How will I ever get a driver directly, if I use a broker all the time? HaHa.

Like all expenses, mechanic, bookkeeping, factoring, and dispatching. We as OO's decide which to pay for or do ourselves. Each service has its merits and cost. Time or money.

 

This really depends what you are trying to do with your business. If you are content being a one man show and have no interest in growing your business beyond one truck, absolutely I agree. If you are a small fleet of 3-5 trucks looking to grow, having an independent freight dispatcher or in house dispatcher is essential. It's hard to grow your business when you are busy dispatching trucks.

 

I agree 100%. This is especially true if you have more than one truck, imagine driving and dispatching two or more trucks? A good dispatcher makes you more money in the long run. You just have to find the right one.

 

The question should not be are dispatching services good or bad? There are some good and some bad like everything. The question should be, are you looking to grow your business? If you are, help is essential, you can't do it all on your own. Having a good dispatch service frees your time to be able to grow your business.