What Do You Look For From Your Dispatcher

Experienced drivers know all the hoopla's of the business and learns to deal with them.
To me a good dispatcher is honest and doesn't beat around the bush with broad answers to get rid of you. I can't stand a liar.
My best dispatcher had a cool demeanor also. Problems are short lived. No matter how mad I got over a situation, she would calm me down with her calm voice and logic. There, we got through it the easiest way possible. A dispatcher that gets hot just adds fuel to the fire.

I hated my current company until I got that great dispatcher and she made a difference between me quitting or staying. Now that the company moved out of state and she got left behind, I got one that lies all the time and all problems are your fault. She never does anything wrong. Now I'm back to hating the company and changes are in process.

The worst one I had told me he was going to whoop my arse when I was a thousand miles away. I said, I'm on my way, lol. The owner called me and convinced me to pick up a load first. I got back and that dispatcher took a week vacation before I got there. He also got reprimanded for bringing a gun to work.

You sound like a good dispatcher. Attitude means everything.

 

I'm no longer driving - I may return someday. I've also done ops as well. It sounds like you already have a great attitude, and you're here asking how to ramp up the game. Cool.

1. Drivers don't want anything unreasonable asked of them. Don't look at those PC miler miles and equate it to real run time, in real traffic conditions.

2. Always remember that they are people, not robots with never ending battery life. People get sick, need sleep, have circadian rhythms they fight when driving all night.

3. Honesty. Accurate appointment times. Nothing frustrates a driver more than arriving to see that his/her appointment isn't for 3 more hours, and you just wanted to buffer it to make sure it's on time. Drivers keep score of stuff like that.

4. Follow through on your end of everything. If he/she needs a permit, a ComChek, any of those annoying little details that easily get brushed aside when you're stomping out a fire, prioritize them. Once again, a driver pacing the floor at a truck stop isn't a happy driver.

5. If he/she needs to get home for something important, and you promised it, no matter how "hot" that next load is, honor your promise. Because if you don't, you are going to have one very bitter disgruntled driver on your hands that will do nothing but obsess on how to "get even" because he/she feels you shafted them.

 

Also remember that if an incident occurs always ask the driver if they are ok.
Make sure they hear you also.

Case in point......I was driving down I24 in Illinois...my truck had just come out of the shop they had to fix the jakes.....yet they didn't fix the head gasket leak which I had been telling them about for months.....the mechanics had nicked a wire...it broke and crossed onto the trani housing creating sparks which ignited the oil and diesel mixture causing a fire.........they never asked me if I was ok only the condition of the truck...which I managed to get out with the help of another driver that stopped

I was extremely freaked out by it....they never asked if I was ok until later that day...needless to say I was very angry and stressed out.

 

To be treated with respect and not talked to like a little kid.
To be straight up and honest.

Now to expand:
Treated with respect - Respect is given and if the other person isn't a jerk it's usually returned. You're respectful to me, I'll be respectful to you. If I'm being respectful to you and you're not being respectful to me, I won't be as respectful next time I have to call.

Not talked to like a little kid - #1 pet peeve. Don't talk to me like I don't know what I'm doing.

To be straight up and honest - Don't beat around the bush. Don't tell me there's freight if there isn't. Don't tell me a load is hot when it isn't. If I empty out and show I'm available, don't just leave me hanging if nothing is available.

..that's pretty much it.

Oh and one other thing...let's have some small talk while on the phone! While waiting for that slow computer to finish loading, why not ask how my day is going or how I've been?

 

Former drivers (with at least a few years experience) tend to make better dispatchers, as they understand what it's like being on the road.

When I was with Swift, the best dispatcher I had was the guy named Ray Pederson out of Phoenix terminal flatbed division. He had been a Swifty flatbedder himself for 10+years. He understood HOS, load securement, etc and was always upfront with me. He made sure to send me home every 3~4 weeks unless I told him not to. He sure made my time at Swift a better-than-average experience.


Now I'm an O/O leased to a medium size carrier, and I have sort-of-a dispatch guy. His roles are different from dispatchers for company drivers. All he does is find/book the loads I want and put money on my fuel card. The rest is my responsibility, and I don't want him to assume any more responsibility though I have a choice to let him.

I just tell him the general direction/area I want to go. He knows the minimum $/mile I'd accept, and doesn't waste my time calling me to offer buck-a-mile loads. He's also good with putting together LTLs, which takes a good knowledge of geography. Those qualities make him a great dispatcher (for O/Os), despite his lack of driving experience.

 

do what you say your gonna do... that was a problem when i was at swift... if you know your gonna be gone let us know who is watching over your fleet so we know who to go to... thats about it other than that ill let you know if i have a problem and work hard.. just my .02

 

When a driver tells you something (dental/doc appts, etc) have you a notebook and write it down.... and make sure your relief dispatcher knows about it too.

Our dispatcher teams (day/night) work 4 days on/4 off and nobody passes on driver info. Very annoying.