Your views on Dispatchers

Good to at least be called a name instead of a number# right? Of the 12 dispatchers I went through there were only 2 who actually used my name. One of them just heard my voice & knew it was me didn't even have to say who I was!

 

Thanks for the post....I've never heard of the customer telling you how you had to get there.

 

I've run the gauntlet of dispatchers in my time from bad to worse.

But my current dispatcher, let me tell you boy howdy....

IS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS!!

Ok, allow me to 'splain. I've been driving for a bit. Got a decent idea of how things work out here. And I liked my current dispatcher from the get go cause she treated me like a real person and a professional. But then...I got some time in the office getting a taste of what she goes through every. Single. Day! All I can say is that my dispatcher is massively underpaid! I don't know how she does it and remain so upbeat all the time! Heck, I couldn't go a week without wanting to seriously damage a fellow driver! And she deals with these clowns every day!

Heck, I even get along with my load planners! Most days, anyway. At least, most days they don't send my happy tailfeathers to New England (grrrr!)

And yes, I'm a company clown. But I ain't naming my dispatcher. Partly due to company policy about social media, but mostly so none of y'all try to steal her away from me. Cause then I'd have to hunt ya down and sacrifice ya on the darkest alter I could find. And I have contacts, you betcha! I bet I could find the alter that holds Justin Bieber's deal with the devil!

 

When I drove OTR I had 3 different dispatchers or driver managers...the first one was mostly for new driver's and was also responsible for evaluating driver performance during the first few months. He seemed like a ####y ####### when I first met him, but I after he saw I was a reliable and hard working driver we got along well. I once had a brokered load get dropped in TX and sat the weekend with no load...as soon as he found out, he gave me a $300 layover and had me a backhaul home, so I wasn't to upset. I also had one who was a former driver and ex-military but was a straight shooter and would even give me layover pay for a half day or if I was out of hours on my 70. All 3 we're decent and appreciative of hard work so I never had trouble...lucky I guess.

 

Those are the best kind of dispatchers! Thanks!

 

i dont really have a dispatcher and although i drive a co . truck i call the buyer and tell him what i want my appts made for .

 

Cool! almost as cool as ice!

 

Me also, heavy haul I take whatever time i need for securement then I call the customer and tell them when I will be there and I'm never late if I say I'm going to be there then it's been trip planned and I get there , when I'm in route I let my planner know and he has my next load ready and in the computer.

 

I've been on both sides of the fence, currently I'm driving a desk on account of a head on colision.

Honestly most dispatchers are folks that can't get any other job that pays as well otherwise they wouldn't be there. That said with everything you have to deal with as a dispatcher when old stinky come walking in the door and starts complaining about somthing stupid it makes you care even less.

Some guys you just can't deal with but if your dispatcher is even marginal, if you don't complain all the time, and do an excellent job it will get you a long ways.

I meen you all sit in the drivers longe now and then... imagine if you had to deal with 40 of those guys every day? That's why your dispatcher doesn't care.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you get better soon!

Good advice

So you think it's dealing with people and not the company's pressures that turn dispatchers into
people with a lack of realistic goals? Many employees work with lots of people everyday & don't become manipulative, belittling, rude people with a lack of empathy for what drivers go through? Think public transit drivers, taxi drivers, waitresses etc. Just asking, I've worked in many places over the years & had never encountered so many psychopaths till I got into Werner. It just wasn't many of the dispatchers but 70% of the office workers too. Maybe it's the difference between big mega corps & smaller companies, you think?