Who Makes More Money? Dispatch or Drivers?

This is actually NOT a simple question. Let's remember to keep the terms correct. In today's trucking world, a dispatcher and a driver manager are NOT the same people. Not all carriers do this. There are some carriers that combine these jobs. Speaking of ONLY people that load plan in some situations they do get a percentage of the linehaul. With most of the larger carriers, you could be delivered in New Jersey and be on a load planners board totally different than say delivering in Georgia. When I was active I always when in the home terminal tried to make contact with the load planners and just be nice to them. If you ever get on their craplist you had better hope you never get in a no or little freight situation in that area, because I guarantee you WILL SIT! I have sat and watched a load planner screaming at a fleet manager because his driver (redacted)ed him on a high-value account. Understand a load planner is NOT a broker. Load planners work for the carrier and are under the director of operations just as the driver managers are. When a load manager is screaming at a driver manager it means that the driver has cost them money most of the time. A lot of load planners' compensation packages are a salary + a percentage + a bonus. I know of one now-retired guy that told me he averaged almost $150,000 a year. So, YES 99.9% of the time a driver makes more than the folks in operations do. Just know that in some situations this is not true.

 

When a driver moves into the dispatch office, he will either be the best or the worst dispatcher in that office. And he will take a major pay cut as well.

 

Meh, the worst day of truck driving is better than the best day in an office or a factory...

 

Most people won't talk about their pay. It's just not done that much. I do know that in almost every carrier the driver/fleet manager is the VERY low person on the totem pole. I have heard figures anywhere from $18,000 to $30,000 a year for the average one. Then you get to the other side of operations you will start to see the load planners. Some carriers divide the load planners by fleets and some by geographic locations in the US. These are the top earners in Operations. Depending on factors like time with the company, the number of accounts they might manage, etc, some WILL make more than the average driver. Most make less than the average driver. Then we have to look at what the drivers are making. There are some drivers making a lot of money. Then you have some drivers that simply for whatever reason don't! The average load planner in my opinion will fall between these extremes.

 

After my dispatcher left the company a few years ago, I asked about moving from driving to dispatching and was told “we’ll consider you for the next opening, but you’ll make more money behind the wheel.”

 

Dispatcher is the terminal manager and outbound supervisor at my place.