Your views on Dispatchers

I have a great dispatcher. We chat almost daily but rarely about work. He sends me my next load before I'm empty, I make sure the load gets where it's supposed to be when it's supposed to be there, I don't bother with those macro forms, he knows when I'm at the customer because he knows what time my appointment is. I make his job easy, he makes mine easy and gives me the best runs he has. Be the one that gets them out of a bind a few times without asking for anything and they will forever give you whatever you want. I want to run like a scalded dog and go home and they're happy to oblige.

 

The majority have been okay to great.
One thought that if you were an owner-op you should run 24/7/365.
I know I wouldn't want their job.
They get customers calling saying where the heck is my load. The drivers saying I ain't going to that place. And the boss saying how come you aren't getting anything done.

 

Let's see ? Route eenie , meenie mynee or moe ? Pay is based on meenie = shortest miles but I'll give em moe = longest miles. Alternate routes are against the rules..

Isnt Google everybody's friend ?

 

That may be a difference maker, I fuel where I want, I route how I want etc. If I worked where they told me how to route I would give them very specific instructions as to where they could put that route.

 

If a dispatcher ever tries to bully me, I either try to set them straight, or I demand a new dispatcher. I'm a grown man and I don't let anyone push me around, especially over the phone.

I always try to develop a sarcastic, joke-around type relationship with my dispatcher. I try to keep a good balance of work talk & social talk whenever we speak on the phone. We are a team, and we have to work together to make the company profitable... Therefore, why not try to get acquainted with said teammate? That's what I did with my dispatcher at my old employer, and I got plenty of miles.

 

Well lets see I arrived at a shipper around midnight and sleep was ok for morning deliv. There wasn't a truck stop near by but a few 30-45 out. We had a drop yard 20 min out and I had 15 min of drive time left. All of the consignee's spaces were taken. After cruising the consignee's lot for 10 min. and no luck. So I requested a safe haven move to the dropyard 20 min. out. Well my idiot dispatcher thought I could catch a space at a truck stop. Well I explained there would be no spots to go to the dropyard. I spent the next hour and a half going to the three truckstops and guess what they were full. So two hours later I made it to the drop yard and started my 10. I was late for the delivery and it cost me miles so I let my fleet manager gladly handle that on. Also on a side note when I was a Trooper I had a lot of idiot dispatchers also. I think to dispatch on any job one needs to know the job first.

 

I don't ask.. I do

 

But I needed the move cleared or risk DOT esp. if I was involved in some incident. Now my Fleet Manager is awesome and wouldn't change for any other.

 

The Key to Success is to Hold the Key...........

 

Agreed, I have tried to hire college grads to dispatch for me, neither one made it past noon. I told them they needed to get a CDL and learn what it was like in the field first.

When I was a company driver I only had one dispatcher that I did not get along with, he called me a lier, my dad and I fired him when we got to Indianapolis with Celedon. The lady they gave us to replace him used to run truck with her husband and she was awesome to work with.

Our dispatcher at Swift was a college grad that was willing to learn from me and my dad, he was great to work with. If either of those wanted to work with me at my company I would hire them in a heartbeat.

I have seen others have bad experiences with total aholes that did not care at all about them as drivers. Even the one bad one we had was actually a good guy by and large, we just did not have the chemistry with each other, it was better to just fire him, and he got another team in return. Everybody ended up happy in the end.