Days When Your Dispatcher Isn't Working

I've noticed they everytime my dispatcher isn't working, I'm not moving.

My dispatcher gave me a wonderful load of 1300 miles with 5 stops all in Pheonix. That kept me busy through the 3 day weekend. But he also took an extra few days off. I finished my deliveries 4 hours earlier than I thought I would yesterday so I was available for a load yesterday. They couldn't find one that I can do yesterday so they gave me one that pickups today. So I sat for about a day.

Today the load should be ready and I can start driving. Except they took the load from me and had to give it to someone else because it would take him home. I made sure I would have gotten compensated for this, so they happily gave me a load with an additional 400 miles. I took it, just need the guy I'm getting it from to swap trailers for me since mine is loaded and I need an empty for the pickup. His eta isn't anytime soon so ill be late for the pickup.

So now they want to take this load and give me a different one. So here I sit waiting for yet another load.

I would beg to have my dispatcher in the office today.

To the people just starting out, prepare yourselves. Because some days in trucking can be like this. Thanks for the read :)

Daniel, I understand this completely and sympathize with you. There have been a few times when my dispatcher was out and I didn't realize it. I try to only communicate with my qualcomm , because it really is understandably irritating to the dispatchers for 3,000 drivers to be calling in all day with non emergency type issues. But sometimes if my dispatcher is out they will just send me messages or loads without me even realizing that my dispatcher is out. One of them tried to send me a little short 150 mile load and then signed my dispatchers name at the end of the message. Now I don't refuse loads, but I've never had my dispatcher give me that type of load before, and he's never signed his name either, so I knew something wasn't quite right. So to the phone I went, and luckily the one who sent me the message answered the phone. I told him the same thing that my dispatcher told me about short runs, which was that he had plenty of slackers on his board to take those type of runs but he was using me to get the good stuff accomplished. In about three minutes I had a seventeen hundred mile pre-plan on my qualcomm, and an apology from the guy for trying to trick me into thinking he was my regular dispatcher by signing his name on that message.

Hope they keep you running!

Daniel, I understand this completely and sympathize with you. There have been a few times when my dispatcher was out and I didn't realize it. I try to only communicate with my qualcomm , because it really is understandably irritating to the dispatchers for 3,000 drivers to be calling in all day with non emergency type issues. But sometimes if my dispatcher is out they will just send me messages or loads without me even realizing that my dispatcher is out. One of them tried to send me a little short 150 mile load and then signed my dispatchers name at the end of the message. Now I don't refuse loads, but I've never had my dispatcher give me that type of load before, and he's never signed his name either, so I knew something wasn't quite right. So to the phone I went, and luckily the one who sent me the message answered the phone. I told him the same thing that my dispatcher told me about short runs, which was that he had plenty of slackers on his board to take those type of runs but he was using me to get the good stuff accomplished. In about three minutes I had a seventeen hundred mile pre-plan on my qualcomm, and an apology from the guy for trying to trick me into thinking he was my regular dispatcher by signing his name on that message.

Hope they keep you running!

Haha man that is funny! Kind of clever by that guy to be honest though.

So after the entire hot morning of this. They took both loads away from me. And the guy apologized for all the back and forth and thanked me for remaining calm.. So he just sent me a 2350 mile load to Atlanta.

It's hilarious how you get rewarded for just being nice. This dispatcher wasn't anyone I know, I don't recognize his voice. But I did him a favor by giving away a load to get one of his drivers home on time and I go through some back and forth and remain calm and get rewarded 2350 mile load for all of it.

Yes, I was frustrated a little. But no good comes out if you express that frustration. When you answer that phone you talk to the man like he's your best friend. I'm just glad to be getting out of this 108 degree Arizona heat.

I was thinking: maybe those are good times for 34-hour restarts? especially if you're running low on your 70-hour clock? Just a thought...

You did good Daniel, and yes I agree with you, that is the way to handle it. I've given up a few loads like that, but the other day a dispatcher contacted me to give up this load that took me home this weekend, and I just let him know that I was headed for some home time on this load after eight straight weeks on the road, and unless he could have some one chase me down and stop me he wasn't going to get this one - He laughed and said yeah, I understand, enjoy your home time!

I dislike days when my dispatcher is off. Its rare it happens plus she runs weekend dispatch too but no one is as efficient as she is!

I dislike days when my dispatcher is off. Its rare it happens plus she runs weekend dispatch too but no one is as efficient as she is!

Agree!

I was thinking: maybe those are good times for 34-hour restarts? especially if you're running low on your 70-hour clock? Just a thought...

I hate 34 hour resets. Not making any money while sitting. My idle % was at maximum and it was 108 degrees there so if I idle I pay. So I have to sit in the truck stop all day. If you balance your hours well you rarely need a reset. The hours I have coming back are 8,9,9,10,8 so no need for a reset. Like I said I hate taking a reset unless I'm at home. If you have too much time on your load and can fit a reset in then tell them to reschedule the delivery that way you won't have to sit.

When I'm at home i rest or babysit my Lancer. When I go out on the road I act like its a gold rush, make as much money in as short amount of time as possible. I work work work because that's why I'm here. I hate sitting, unless waiting for a pickup/delivery, can't do anything about that.

It's hilarious how you get rewarded for just being nice

That's so true in trucking. See, I've spoken with you guys about how hard it is to win people over on my approach to trucking where attitude is at the very top of the list of things that will affect the level of happiness and success you experience in trucking.

Naturally most people think the most important factor is choosing the right company. But a driver with the wrong attitude or a poor work ethic is going to be miserable no matter where they work. A driver with a great attitude and a strong work ethic will be treated much better no matter where they work.

And because soooo many truck drivers have terrible attitudes and people skills, just being kind and respectful to everyone you deal with will put you in the good graces of most people - dock workers, dispatchers, waitresses, DOT officers - everyone that's used to dealing with crabby, offensive truckers.

Even if you're the hardest working, safest, most reliable driver around nobody will want to help you succeed if you're a disrespectful, miserable jerk. They'll talk about you like, "Yeah, he does a great job but what a jerk! I'd love to see someone knock his teeth out." People may respect the job you do, but if they don't like and respect you as a person they're certainly not going to go out of their way to help you out when you need it.

As a rookie, this is huge because you won't have the savvy and raw experience that the veterans have but you can still stand out by showing you care deeply about being a great driver and treating everyone with kindness and respect. People will want to see you succeed. They'll want to help you out. And that's a very big deal in trucking where you have very little control of things around you. Dispatch and load planners assign your freight, waitresses and cooks prepare your meals, DOT officers inspect your truck and paperwork, and dock workers load and unload your truck. You're at the mercy of just about everyone as a trucker so the more people you can win over as friends or allies, the better the chances that you'll be taken care of as a driver. The more people you aggravate, the more opportunities people will have to make you miserable. And when you're the type that makes people miserable, they're always looking for an opportunity to do it back to you.

This phenomenon of being rewarded for acting like a true professional is very hard to quantify. It's hard to say how many more miles you'll get, how quickly you'll be loaded and unloaded, or how often you'll get home on time. But once you've taken an oath to treat everyone with kindness and respect the reward instantly begin rolling in the very first day and continue every day after that. You'll see a major improvement right across the board with all different aspects of your life, including the amount of money in your pocket and the level of enjoyment you get from your career.

So go ahead and spend months researching companies, pick the "perfect company", and then go out there and act like a jerk. See how "perfect" that company seems in about 3 months when you're broke and miserable. Or take the opposite approach - pick any company that seems to suit you ok and go out there with the best attitude on Earth. Watch how quickly that so-so company becomes an awesome place to work.