To be a dispatcher, you have to have a dark side.....

There are agents at Landstar that will try to slip one on you as well...Ask questions and don't be afraid to just hang up.

 

Not all, some work from stripper clubs.

Well, okay, some have real offices and staff. At least the one I worked with did.

 

I had one I called, he answered from the boat he was fishing on someplace in Arkansas.

 

LOL!!


Last Thanksgiving I had the best ever! EVER!!!!

Rolled in on a Thursday, Going from SC to El Paso. Load not ready till Friday, shipper/broker agree,.. after 2 hours they will commit to $50 hr detention. Woot!, I'm breaking out my Xbox, Netflix etc. Friday morning comes, load wont be ready till Monday. I had a load waiting in El PAso to get me back to Florida for ThanksGiving with my family. I'm ready to cancel this load. Broker says no no,.. we need you. They pay for hotel at Holiday Inn Express!, I get loaded Monday afternoon, I roll to Atlanta, park at Petro and pay for truck parking for a couple days. Broker pays for taxi and rental car for me to drive home to spend holiday with family. I then return back and continue with load. Oh,.. did I mention that plus detention, hotel and rental car, I was still paid $8k to take load from SC to El Paso.

Best ever! Evvvah!!!

Hurst

 

Others may be different but I don't have any long term commitments. That's the beauty & freedom of working spot freight all the time. If I had a commitment not fulfilling it would never enter my mind. I do tell our operations when I am "off duty". Because they send out several emails daily, an available capacity list of every truck/location in the comapny that tells the unit number, type of equipment, max weight that can be hauled, driver's cell, and expected availability. If it says my unit is "off duty" then most times I don't get any calls looking for a truck. I don't have to ask permission or let anyone know days ahead of time. It doesn't matter. No-one really needs a heads up like that. My commitments are day to day, load to load.

 

Why is that a bad thing? If the rate was good enough for you to take it in the first place, then doubling the rate while burning no additional fuel is just gravy on the potatoes.

 

To bring back the original topic of this thread... "they'll slip one in if you're not paying attention".. Consider this: A GOOD Dispatcher or "freight finder" is always looking out for the best interest of their driver. Sometimes that might include taking a garbage load for the greater good of an entire trip plan. Personally, I am always watching the market very carefully. Paying attention to even subtle daily fluctuations in the lanes my guys run. Recently, "I slipped one in" on one of my drivers. The reason was because there was an entire plan as to how this particular week was going to turn out for him. I am not ashamed to admit (maybe a little) that I took a load that paid this O/O who is leased to my company a 540 mile run that paid $1.01 PM TTT. He never asked me what that load paid when we took it. And I didn't tell...And it didn't matter when his $3000+ NET settlement was deposited in his bank account on Friday. (Dry Van... After Fuel, company's cut, insurance, trailer rental and so on)
Just food for thought.

 

I have a question what If you could create, a dispatcher like you want what would they look like? What is their pay was based on your pay the more they make your truck for the week the more they make? What if their job wasn't to move the freight but to move you and make you money? What if you set the rate in which they had to find for you? lets say for a dry van $2 a mile and higher they get paid 2% of your gross and if they don't average you $2 a mile for the week they only make 1% this would motivate them to get you the highest paying loads and miles. They wouldn't get a salary or bonus just these percentages. So if they earned you 3000 gross for the week they might make 60 dollars if they gross you 6000 they would make 120 dollars. The problem with companies is they pay them a salary plus a bonus some times. They come in and put in their time and go home. If you owned the truck and the dispatcher was working for you then was paid like I just explained then they would be motivated to take care of you.