I'm dispatched a week at a time. I get text with an over view Wed then Thursday I get emailed specifics. But its not official until the dispatch comes onto my QC with a fuel route. Its pretty straight forward. I copy the route with appt times and addresses into a separate notebook. Its easier for me to see. Sometimes I'll check google maps for distance/routes and scribble anything I might need to remember like a long distance from last stop on Tuesday to first stop on Wednesday. That way we know one of us is looking at night driving and we should try to sleep during the day before. Stuff like that. Old fashioned pen and paper saves a lot of time in this case.
There is an every present voice of evil that will summon you to drive. They be call dispatchers. AKA Satan's little helpers
my particular situation is that since i am dedicated, i know what i am supposed to do. my boss actually lives one state over from me. only if there is a safety meeting, or i have to go for a random, or work is cancelled due to severe weather, THEN, he calls me on the phone, but also sends out emails to all of us, as a back up to the calls. at other jobs i had, i'd either have to call the dispatchers office, or if at the terminal go to the office, or if we had satellite (Qualcomm), that's how i got my dispatch. so several ways it can be done.
Depends on the company. Many of them don't micromanage. Besides, what do you know about "today's" trucking? You haven't driven a CMV in either 18 or 10 years, depending upon which one of the dates you've given in previous posts is actually correct.
I usually get a call from dispatch almost asking "can you do this run?" When I say yes they send a message to my truck's computer with all of the numbers & details. My first company did dispatch by phone & Qualcomm, told you the route, and dictated where to fuel. Those details were requirements not suggestions. My second company dispatched by phone and gave us a book of allowable fuel stops. They expected us to pick the route and fuel stops. All three companies paid so many miles for the trip, so it never paid to pick a long route to get more money. My long-term company paid per hour and allowed drivers to choose the schedule/trips in a bid process.once per year based on seniority. Seniority is awesome. I never had a GPS until 2017 and I bought it. Qualcomm has a GPS in it but it's pretty awful compared to a Garmin or Rand McNally.
In one company I was 227 on hire out of 227. In 6 months I was in the top 30. The top 20 of which are the core senior drivers who will either die or retire decades later. The rest was turnover from firing for hitting bridges, being late etc. A month after that I was about 24 out of 240 and fired. less than a year later that company no longer existed.