What do you Look for in a Dispatcher?

Brian991219, it makes sense of what you're telling me about trust and family dispatching you, after all, I dispatch my dad together with my mom. With time you get to know, like you said, how the O/o likes to run his loads and lanes. I appreciate the advise regarding targeting o/o's without spouses. Thanks!

 

Sliver, that's a great question, my dad paid me an allowance when I was in college living rent free but then he paid me by the hour so I never paid attention to the percentage. Now I've been seeing anywhere from 5% to 12% gross load revenue. But for me it really depends on how much the o/o wants to put into miles, b/c if the O/o wants to just haul and bank then I would be comfortable with the lower range of that, but if the o/o wants to stay local and be home every night then, it's still the same work but more frequent... To answer your question on the freight experience, my dad had a dry van and then bought two reefers but also hauled containers. We had a few bakeries and seafood shippers with dedicated lanes that needed the reefers but those were one way lanes so we had to get them back home (unless my dad pissed my mom off - that was another story... Lol). He did stay away from overweight/heavy machinery, but that was about it. From the time I worked for him, I never had to do a permit for an overweight load, not because I didn't want to but he chose not to. Hope this answer your question...

What do you think is fair to pay a personal dispatcher? I would love your thoughts.

 

Bigray, I think you should definitely negotiate. From what I've been researching and reading an independent dispatchers would do the whole nine yards for a lesser %, especially since they're working under your authority. Like I said, my dad dealt with driving, getting the BOLs signed and logging his hours, very little paperwork. We took care of the rest for him.

In my opinion, if we were to set a cap, I think it should depend on how much the o/o is willing to drive/bank and the type of equipment the o/o has. For someone with your rev I would say anywhere from 5% to 8%...but that's just from what I've been researching on what other independent freight dispatchers are charging and the services they're promising.

 

I want to thank all of you for your insight, the poll helped me a lot in understanding the trends in using/acquiring a personal dispatcher and helped my mom and I make an educated decision, among other research.

Thanks y'all and safe driving to all!