I'm a Independant Dispatcher in Training Looking for Advice

Thanks Teal. It will be good to know. Like I said I am interested. I have been around the trucking business for 20 years and other than helping my husband, I did not think about helping other truckers. BTW, good luck.

 

Teal, I wish I could work again, but I am disabled and can no longer work. I have my federal disability hearing in a few weeks, to see if it goes through. I already get disability benefits through the state, and a mile long of medical documents to support everything. It's the fact of my age and education that is hurting me, but I do stand a pretty good chance of getting it.

If I do something like this it will only be when when my husband decides to go owner op, because this is a very stressful job and I cannot take any more stress on what so ever. I think the fact of me just being here is pretty amazing...so I will just continue taking my day by day approach for how I feel and what I can get done. It is more important for me to be here for my kids then it is to work right now. I feel better about myself when I can give advice.

Talking to drivers is only a small fraction of finding out information...it takes working with someone who has knowledge of this industry that can train you properly. I think the better scenario would be to have a joint business with other people who want to do what you are doing, but that has experience. This way if you run into a problem then you can call to get advice from the person that has experience. You could have one person working the Northeast Area, One person working the Southern to south eastern part, and one working in the Western part. This way you could find more accurate loads for all drivers within any region. The one thing that I have learned in this business is that if you have a force working for the driver then it is a better outcome then just one person working for them. If you have questions on things that you don't understand then you can always pm me, and I will be more then happy to help you.

P.S. I like your joke...about the grooming.

 

Thanks a brunch. That gives me something to think about. I ask lots of questions as I research so I will be taking you up on your offer.

 

If an Independent Dispatcher is not going beyond the load boards to find freight for the o/o's then they may not be your best choice, but if they can set the o/o up with direct manufacture freight cutting OUT the broker, then they will help the o/o increase their revenues and be a great asset to the o/o's business.

 

You are very optimistic and I applaud you for that. But being blindly optimistic does not equal a viable business plan.

How do you number work if it takes 5 hours to book the average load vs. the 1-hour the salesman told you it takes? What percentage of loads will you be able to book for a driver you are working for? What if you can't get to 50% of the drivers loads? How does your business plan hold up if you are booking 30%? You are mixing dispatch business models. Can you even recognize the difference between the two models?

In what seems to be the main model that you are using, people with vastly more knowledge than you have tried and failed at this. What are you doing differently? As someone else mentioned - option A or B. With you being be and the only difference is you having book knowledge. What else is going to set you appart.

Your other model of getting direct freight. That only works with a large volume of trucks. But you don't have that. How do you propose making that work?

The main value you can provide is that you can find better rates than the driver is getting because they are driving (or other reasons but those driver will be the nightmares you don't want as clients). But anyone that has done this for more than 5-mins knows that if the rate is that good and you haven't booked that ringing phone in the background is someone booking it. But you have to call and see if your driver wants it. Not being able to book it right now drives rates down. How do I know? Because I have sat face-2-face with the brokers and they tell me they give better money to the driver that is able to commit now.

Plain and simple the people that have been able to make this work have access to better paying freight that the driver does not have access to. In that, the models that do work typically have non-exclusive leases with carriers. But you can't do that.

Every way I run the numbers it is a lot of hours and little pay. You could literally work 2 minimum wage jobs and make better money.

3 drivers x 3 loads each @ $750 @ 5% @ 5-hours per load.

$6750 gross revenue
$338 to you
45-hours
$7.50/hr

And the 5 hours is based on working repeatedly with clients and not having to complete as many contracts.

 

This is something that interests me. I have one prospective business in mind that I know exactly what they ship and who brokers it out - several different ones rates all over the place depending on many variables. I've never hauled one of these loads before so there's no conflict or violation of non-compete clause with anyone we've done business with before - which is important. I just don't have a clue how to offer up our brokerage and transportation services... ...not a clue how to do that and would hate to make a fool of myself. Bill, this is a place I mentioned to you in an email some time ago but I know how busy things are none of us ever seem to have time for everything. I know this customer ships lots of one off freight every few months to existing customers we have worked with and others though not through any brokers we have ever worked with... and highly doubtful any of our trucks have hauled this freight..

 

It's nothing that can be taught I don't think although I could likely teach anyone who was riding along with me what exactly it is I am doing and why, not that I would ever do that, not interested in doing that. Just saying... And even then it would take many weeks to teach someone and they'd need to be a good study... These are things that come with experience from behind a wheel. As a company driver I learned where a lot of different kinds of freight was at. Instinctively always knew and heard that certain things paid better than other for example as a general rule beer, bricks, cola, lumber, bottled water or bulk commodities like that are typically heavy and cheap. The reciever's and shippers move so much of that stuff on regular schedules they really aren't worried if a load misses picking up or is late or whatever, the loads will get through, someone will always haul them for a low rate to move their truck back into their main lanes with better paying freight. Time sensitive freight commands a premium although there are those who drive rates down with that stuff to. Time of day, week, month or year could mean more money or less on any given load. In the afternoon's if a broker is in a pinch and needs to get a load covered to keep the receiver happy they're usually more than willing to pay above average rates.. Many, many little variables like that, things that only come to you by getting out here and doing it and learning how it works. You can look at a board and see pickup and delivery times. If it picks late afternoon or night andc delivers early straight through and is there late in the evening then it will likely pay a better rate. Now if there are 10 of those loads moving every day at noon then that will likely be somebodies cheap "backhaul" load not worth a wasted phone call.. Lots of little things like that one can only learn from doing it... And again, with zero knowledge of being behind the wheel of a truck there is a very steep learning curve.. And honestly from a driver's perspective the best dispatchers and managers I ever had as a driver were the few who had actually been truckers.. And it's not that's there's anything special about being a truck driver it's just that the knowledge learned over the years, well, you just can't teach that to someone who has never driven... Now a sharp person might could start at the bottom of a trucking company office and work their way up to being an A#1 dispatcher but it takes time...