Drivers Should Spend Time In The Office

I'm sitting here at HQ in Phoenix and just got done listening to a rat go on and on about how our DMs don't care and it's everyone else's fault he isn't making money.

Most of the people on this site know that his comments are b.s. but the few greenhorns that were hanging on to every word this fool said did not. When I chimed in that he was wrong I was told I was naive and didn't know what I was talking about.

Yup I'm the idiot. 100 percent on time record, no accidents, no ce's, platinum status every week except for two, but I don't know what I'm talking about.

As the title says, maybe drivers should spend some time in operations once they are done training. It may not be feasible in reality, but in my dream world it is. Lol.

It would give new drivers to see what is actually going on as well as creating a connection between them and the office staff. We hear a lot of drivers claim the office should spend time in a truck, but what about the reverse?

Totally agree, it gives drivers a bit of perspective as to what your office folks deal with day in and day out. I will say though, you'll find that the best dispatchers are former drivers.

I too agree with this. Although not always possible, I believe an understanding of a DM and planners job can actually help overall driver performance.

I agree I actually spent 2 weeks in my terminal right after I upgraded to solo. I had a procedure in the hospital that I couldn't drive right after. My DM pulled some strings and I got to shadow for those two weeks. What an eye opener. Got to see and hear the differences between the good producing drivers and the not so good. It really helped me to understand early in my career what needed to be done and what to avoid doing.

I also think dispatchers should live on a truck for 2 weeks as part of their training. best way for both to understand rhe other.

At least where I work, all but one of the planners and all of the DMs and terminal manager are drivers, several still run Walmart loads during peak demand (like now).

I operated a local transit company for many years. We had 100 vehicles and a workforce of 220 (some part time drivers included).

We made it an ongoing practice to have all operations center staff go out and ride in a vehicle for a day or two, unless they had been a driver previously. As for dispatchers, we only hired them from the driver pool.

As for drivers, we would have all trainees spend a short time in dispatch. Once a driver had been on the road for a few weeks, we would have them come spend some time in dispatch....if they were independent contractor drivers, we'd invite them to spend some time in dispatch.

We found these practices very beneficial.

I spent 4 hrs in the Syracuse Terminal , just listening, and observing the DL's. All of them, it was obvious that they cared about their drivers, and doing what they could, within their power. It made me appreciate the amount of work that they juggle. At my DC, everyone in the office is excellent, and are always available. There are a few rats here, that got put in their place, when overheard by a DL. Unfortunately it went in one ear and out the other. They continued the conversation outside. The DL looked at me and said "avoid those ones, you are doing great so far."

I’m really thankful that Werner has “special” fleet managers for newbies. These fleet managers have a lower (30 +-) driver load so they can coach the newbies through their first 2-3 months. This allows the FM to share what’s going on between planning, fleet management and driver. These guys and gals are doing a tough job, and they want the best for all of us....but if you are not willing to work with them, you deserve the crappy treatment that’s going to come your way.