DRIVERS!! Please have a candid discussion w/ a dispatcher who cares!

Was it cold in your office chair or a constant 70deg?..oh wait probably more like 72 because we don't want your feet to get cold sitting in your office chair?..no wait,they gave you a little footsy space heater under your desk?

 

actually, neither. In fact, most of the time I was in our shop helping the mechanic, in between phone calls. Our shop is in the middle of nowhere, and everything is done by cell phone. The phones have no service inside the shop, so you're outside with you're notepad, freezing your tail off, or sitting in a pickup. And the phone never leaves you're side. Even at home.

Funny thing, I could never figure out my boss, he gets in his pickup, the phone rings, and you'll see him driving around the parking lot very slowly in circles, talking on the phone. Now, I know why. It's the only way the phone works. He stays at home most times, where his phone works, I didn't have that luxury

And I guess your heater don't work in your truck?

 

Do you get to meet them face to face? If so, sit down over a coffee. If not, just get on the phone with them once and a while to say hello, and ask how things are going. Just shooting the "bull" with most drivers can go a long way in earning a little trust. You get to hear what they go through , and they get a sense of what you do over time. Dispatchers and drivers should operate as a team. I was lucky enough to have a great dispatcher my last few years on the road. I would often stop at the Charlotte terminal just to mess with him while he was running his board. If he hadn't seen me in a while, he would call just to say hello.......or to see if I wanted a run out to the left coast......or any number of things. We had issues every now and then, BUT we never hung up the phone being mad at each other

 

Doh! I do now.

 

when I drove OTR my dispatcher at the company I worked for was a thirty year flatbed veteran. He never had a problem getting what work he needed from me. I respected him for the fact that, in the years I drove for him, he taught me more about flatbed securement over the phone than I learned in four weeks of hands on training. He didn't try to feed me any BS, if I stayed out a little longer with no home time he made it worth my while, The drivers he could rely on got great runs and made some serious money. If you want your drivers respect, Show them your worth it.