How much do you pay for your dispatching services???

Hi I would like to do my own dispatching , can you tell how to get started?
Thanks

 

Good point Winnifred. We have a safety net that prevents what you are speaking of. I do not allow my dispatchers to take $1.25 unless it is at the end of the day and driver has to roll out for an emergency to get home (or something similar). And when that type of situation does occur that dispatcher is going to call and run that by the driver.
Another thing I believe you failed to think about is dispatch services are not forcing dispatch (at least I hope none of them are). Surely no driver is going to take $1.25 lying down. They will make no money on that. No one at my company has taken that kind of rate in possibly 6 years or longer.

 

You claim that "professional" dispatchers are nothing more than junior brokers and you could not be further from the truth. First off, I am a dispatcher and I have brokers ask me all the time how I am so knowledgeable. I tell them first off I am intelligent and I learn fast. Plus I had to get smart to make it in this job (most of my drivers have asked how I have done this stressful job for this long). Brokers sometimes phrase it as "let me pick your brain." Before starting a dispatch service I did consider becoming a broker. I have funds for a bond and can get my authority. Also I can get financial backing. I decided against this because I learned really fast that most successful brokers are having to crush drivers. I know they are not meaning to and a lot of them do not even know they are doing so, but what would be my excuse. I know what it takes to run a truck, so I can not ask someone to book a load for $1 per mile. I am one of the few who cares about my drivers and my company is a great asset to those who have 3 or 4 trucks but cannot dispatch due to driving a truck OTR. They asked us to get them loads and 95% are aware that we get them more than enough money to drown out our fee and then some. And then they get to do what they love to do...drive! I know that some dispatch services are BAD. But then there is bad in everything. There are good and bad brokerages. And let us not forget good and bad drivers. The reason I had to consider going to a brokerage or a dispatch service in the first place was thanks to a ton of drivers that looked great on paper but enjoyed forgetting logbooks and enjoyed doing thousands of damage to my trucks. Dealing with drivers under my authority lying and manipulating is not for the weak. They would think we were getting rich and could afford to pay $2k fines when they were too lazy to drive 10 miles to a scale. My drivers did not realize or care that I started and owned the company but made less than each one of them. They did not realize that before they got that 2k fine I had taken countless loads that did not profit me one penny just to keep them rolling and happy. So when they got that 2k fine for lack of following protocol that was outlined and signed in writing by them, then the 2k comes out of their pockets. There are plenty of great drivers, but I have just not been graced by most of them. I have had a few and when I think of drivers I try to think of those few who did a great job. I try to think of how drivers get us freight so we can eat every day and how they are away from kids for long periods of time, and sleep in a truck sometimes without a good sleeper. I try to put myself in someone else's shoes and am pretty good at being sympathetic even when I haven't walked in their shoes. BUT no one is perfect and you are very wrong on this issue. You do not know that I started a dispatch service because I wanted to help the guys I was already loading stay loaded, but we had made an executive decision to stop owner operators because we did not make enough off of them to warrant the risks of them getting us shut down (as a small carrier you can be shut down from just a couple bad drivers). We had to think of the company because that is who the majority depended on. So I found a way to keep bread on the table for guys who did not know how to get authority or dispatch themselves. I researched and helped them get authority. I was happy at that time to walk away but me always wanting to be selfless even when I should not is kind of my thing. I do it over and over. I am not saying I do not enjoy what I do. But I am saying that I could be making a lot more money doing something else working half the hours. But once I started that I am now in debt to it with loans for building and other bills. Now I have a full office staff and a gazillion drivers depending on me. I would be successful if I lied and manipulated. I would not have aged 10 years in the last 5 as I have and I would be making more money than one of my company drivers. But I am trying to be fair.

And to the dispatcher who has claimed this $1.60 before on other post and could be a robot: I agree that $1.60 is low especially for this time of year in flatbed. I cannot vouch for reefer/van. But my smallest hot shot flatbeds get more money than that. I just wonder how your companies are profiting if they have to shave off your percentage, fuel, insurance, and heaven forbid a factoring company. My smaller 30 ft hot shots take $1.30 to run or so that seems to be the common number mentioned by independents. So at $1.60 they are making less than a company driver who has no overhead and 1/5 the stress??? Please elaborate if you are not a robot. Thanks!

 

"professional" dispatcher? If you provide a service for a fee then you are by definition a professional, but I'm guessing you're referring to the word professional to denote, or highlight, some skill level that you feel you possess which would by context be above average, or "amateur" status.. Well I'm glad that you consider yourself better than an amateur, but really, what is it that you do that one cannot do for themselves?

A broker is someone who acts as a go between, a middleman between parties, and collects a percentage for "brokering" the deal, if, as a "professional dispatcher" you are acting as an additional middleman and skimming a percentage off the top, then, in my opinion, you are acting as an additional broker.... Not any different from taking a load and re-posting it.... You have no influence on the shipper, other than through the original broker, and I laugh at this, this idea that you negotiate a superior rate....

Really, what use does the carrier, or trucker, have for you?

What you're doing amounts to double brokering, as you are not the carrier, nor are you the shippers agent...you're simply someone who is attempting to insert yourself into the chain of events, and looking to make money by siphoning off of revenue as the load passes through you....

Here, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Recently, I negotiated a rate of $3.90 a mile on a load going approximately 1,000 miles.... After I had the rate confirmation the broker called me back and asked if I could change the date of delivery, and that he would pay additionally for this delay in delivery. Sadly, I had to let it go and cancel the load, as the load was a bridge to a direct customer load with a hard pick up date... I had to catch and release a really nice one that would have bridged the gap between me and another load I already had, a direct customer load going 2,400 miles and paying really well also....An hour after I cancelled the brokered load I saw that same load re-posted by a different brokerage, two listings, one load.... out of curiosity I called on the load... the new broker didn't have any of the load details, I had them of course, I had the load previously.... I wasn't really interested in getting the load, and was in the process of ending the call when the double broker blurted out, "it's paying $3,200...", which I found really interesting, seeing as how I had it at 39......

Do you understand why I use the term "junior broker"???

In essence, what you're doing is the same as the double broker.

Lol.... knowledgeable??? How is this coming up during a rate negotiation??? How is a rate negotiation turning into a discussion of how smart you are??? And if this is happening, why are you feeling that you must bolster your self esteem?? Why are you discussing your level of intelligence, when the topic at hand is the load the broker is offering and how much it's paying??

I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it.

No, most successful brokers are not HAVING TO CRUSH drivers, sounds like a line you use on those who pay for your services

This is the internet age, the loadboard is just a click away.... in the time it took me to answer your post I could have secured a great paying load, or determined that there were no great paying loads out there at this point in time..... The only reason someone would use a "dispatch service" would be if they were simply incapable of negotiating.... and that may be the case, but nothing in your post has convinced me that you're anything other than someone who gets worked over by brokers posting general commodity truckload, loads....

And I'm not being mean. I'm being real. I deal with the free market capitalist system, I negotiate rates, and my intelligence is never the topic of discussion. I don't waste time on fruitless calls, I get right down to business, and if there isn't any revenue to be made I move on.... I have brokerages who know me, guys who like to call me at all hours..... this didn't happen overnight, there has been a learning curve, but if all I ever did was drive a truck then I'd have gone out of business, I'd have gone out of business while people who were busily trying to convince me that they had my best interest at heart rode me into the ground while on the way out... That's the nature of business, nothing personal.... I simply don't listen to bs, and I don't make excuses for failure, I either succeed, or I fail, it's really that simple....

If I could make more while doing less I'd be doing it, just my honest opinion.

 

My argument isn't as enthusiastic as trees is, but since Alf is fresh on this thread I'll restate what I put out there 7 months ago, and then some.

A dispatch service is another in a long line of hands in my pocket that have zero skin in the transaction. They line up to tell me how much I will earn, or possibly not lose, if I pay them for their service. I risk everything on every load I book. It could go well and I earn a nice profit when the crap comes out of my trailer. Or I could have a catastrophic breakdown or accident that puts me out of business. Or somewhere in the middle with a load claim, unpaid detention, or whatnot. I am incented by thousands of my own dollars tied up in the operation. I do the very best I can on each load, from negotiating to delivering the product. People that don't have anything more than a one time payment to risk really aren't that motivated to do the very best they can. Maybe Alf is the exception, but he or she gets paid no matter how the load works out for me. So I'd take even that with a grain of salt.

The other thing is that the path to securing better rates follows the same path as developing customer relationships. As a small carrier, I would view trusting someone else with that very critical task as as a huge risk and a major setback at the same time. Risk due to what's spelled out in the last paragraph, and a setback due to never developing your customers directly. Get rid of your dispatch and you're nearly right back where you started, with nothing.

IMO, if you have operating authority you are better off suspending it and leasing on to another carrier than turning over your livelihood to a fee or commission paid dispatcher.

 

I have to say, Red Foreman is right on the money.....

I'm leased to a carrier, but I have a completely free hand in how I conduct my business. The advantage I have is direct access to specialized freight, and the rates that come with this access, in turn I share a percentage of the gross with my provider. Additionally, as I have grown and become specialized, I've learned about lucrative areas where the level of service is the shipper's priority, and the cost of service is the secondary consideration. This inside track on what my services are worth results in an increased confidence when calling on random loads and negotiating rates, I also can relax with the comfort of knowing that a customer email can pop at any time, and this is a great pressure relief valve, and furthers my ability to apply leverage during load board negotiations...as I can walk away without the stress of "needing" a load bearing down on me...this confidence, this "tone", changes the whole feel of the conversation.

I've contemplated going the full monty, and getting my own authority, but at this point in time I feel that I am still better off with my support group, or crew....

Now, maybe some have gotten into this business and found out they're not very good at it. Maybe they found out the hard way that driving the truck was the least important aspect of making money, and in desperation turned over the reins to a "dispatch service"... But I find myself in strong agreement with Red Foreman, here...

It's great advice. If you've bitten off more than you can chew, then you need to slow down and take smaller bites.... find someone who can help you advance...buy yourself some time while acquiring your trucking education...

Knowing your operating costs is essential to knowing how cheaply you can haul something, but that's a really small part of all of this...knowing your value, your worth, and how to market yourself, that is what is essential to increasing your bottom line, your net profits...

That's basically the difference between surviving and thriving.

Nobody comes out of the gate a polished, accomplished trucking executive.

If you're growing and learning, if you're moving forward, then I believe you're on the right track as an owner operator...

If you're a company driver with his own truck and relying on the expertise of others instead of learning how to own and operate you're own business, imho, you're blowing it...

I see a "professional" dispatcher as being nothing but openly parasitic.

It's not my intention to hurt anyone's feelings, I just call it as I see it.

 

so let's look at it this way? if a dispatcher could bring you in 10% more then your making now, would you use them?

 

If a dispatcher can bring me $5 a mile rates, I'll discuss it with them....

 

in my opinion it's a good idea for new O/O to work Hand and glove with a seasoned veteran till they know what they are doing. .. that's how you learn with the least amount of mistakes, I never would have put one of my drivers in the seat without riding with them on several trips and teaching them the ropes.. I see it no differently.

 

But if a "professional" dispatch service thinks they've got really good rates at somewhere around a buck sixty, buck seventy, or buck seventy five something....

They're nothing but parasites....

I can get those rates all day long, those rates are not difficult to get.

Getting north of $2.50 on every load, that's a harder task.

Sometimes you'll sit.

A professional dispatch service is concerned with making themselves money, they have no skin in the game, and will take low rates while telling you.... "that's as good as it gets, but I'm moving your truck, you're wheels are turning, and if you're wheels are turning you're earning...." they'll say stuff like, "rates are down everywhere, we're lucky to be getting this load", and my favorite, "this load sucks but it gets you to a great area"

They parrot the crap brokers spout, they have no ability to consistently get great rates....cause if they could they'd be running their own trucking company instead of running someone else's right into the ground....

This is a ruthless business, and I've see and heard my share of "professional" dispatchers.

Is there a "need" for "professional" dispatchers?

I guess there must be, cause they are out there......