O/O relations with independent dispatchers

I don't know how any one gets trained as a dispatcher, I did the work before in several industries.

BUT that said, Kat, there is one important rule, the driver is in control of that truck, no one else.

You need to understand by law the CDL makes him the decision maker and if he said he can't do something because of some safety issue or other issue that puts him in a bad situation, you have to deal with it.

 

Don't worry about it. It is impossible to make truck drivers happy.

 

Just dispatch an what planning gave you to dispatch.
Some will be vocal right away.
Some will give us a few weeks b4 being vocal. Some never will. The never will's are you problem child. There either happy, don't no better or dont care. Some will surprise you one day by quitting, or getting off your board.

But just be yourself. In a few weeks you will no what each will or wont do. You will look at called id, and hate picking up for some. Others you will be happy to hear from.

It's a marriage, I just got my last dispatcher trained the way I like them. She got promoted and now I'm training another. Just is still out of him.

 

If you schedule multiple stops and aren't sure of the order, call the driver. There is nothing worse than having a few stops and having to backtrack because the order was laid out wrong.

If the driver is being dispatched to a place he is unfamiliar with, make absolutely sure that they can accommodate a 53 ft trailer on a sleeper truck if that's what he is driving. My last job booked me into a few places I couldn't fit, and then they acted like it was my fault. Sometimes small shippers think everything is fine when they have day cabs with 48 foot trailers in their location, but a 53 with a sleeper is an entirely different animal.

Plan on being available 24/7 if a driver has a problem on an off hours pick up or delivery so you can help him get the job done.

Don't schedule an appointment time at a shipper or delivery unless you are POSITIVE the driver has the hours available to make it. You also must take rush hour traffic into account which few dispatchers do.

 

If you dispatch a truck between point A and point B, and the route goes through a major metropolitan area between the hours of 7AM and 9AM, or 3PM and 7PM, expect significant delays. Some areas like NYC or LA you can expect delays practically 24/7. Some areas are much worse than others. I live in the San Francisco bay area, and traffic is a nightmare between the hours I listed above on just about every freeway in the entire area.

So if you're dispatching on a tight schedule, take that into account.