Trying To Deal With My Driver Manager

Hello i have been working with my dm for few weeks and its been rather difficult when i ask a simple question he yells at me trying to find a way to grow with the company but its like he has it against me i been here two months shy from a year and really wanna stay with company but he is making it difficult what can i do

Silver, is this a new DM for you?

I'm not sure what you mean with this statement...

when i ask a simple question he yells at me trying to find a way to grow with the company

Who is trying to "grow" with the company, and what do you mean by that? What kind of questions are you asking? It doesn't make sense that they are yelling at you for no reason. Maybe they're crazy - I don't know. Can you provide some details so we can help you through this?

Most DM's are willing to be helpful as long as you are being productive. Do you feel as though you have improved this year and are being productive? Are you always on time? Are you regularly reliable and willing to do whatever it takes to get things accomplished? How many miles per week are you averaging?

We just need some better information if we're going to help you with this.

i been here two months shy from a year and really wanna stay with company but he is making it difficult what can i do

Silver, if I contacted your DM I am almost certain he might tell me that you are difficult. Hear me out, please - this might help you.

Your DM is a very busy person. They are generally overworked with too many drivers to deal with, and they are stressed by having a constant influx of new drivers who need constant attention. You've been working for this company almost a year now. You've already quit another company over rookie misunderstandings about how things work.

Would it surprise you if I told you I might go for weeks without even talking to my DM? You have been at this long enough to know what to do and how to do it. Your DM needs you to communicate with them through your quallcomm or whatever system you are using. It's way more efficient for them than having you wait on the phone forever to ask a question.

They can zip through those quallcom messages and respond to drivers much more efficiently. They realize that their new drivers are not confident and need someone to hold their hand daily. They know they will be tied up on the phone with the newbies. They can respond to your Quallcomm questions while on the phone with a rookie driver.

Personally I think your DM is frustrated with your lack of development. At this point you should realize how things work and you really shouldn't have a lot of questions that you can't just send over the Quallcomm. That's why he's yelling - he's frustrated with you. I honestly think you are the one making this relationship difficult because you have not developed yourself as a driver. Please, read this article and try to think about how you can improve yourself as a driver who doesn't need so much assistance from their DM.

What It Takes To Be A Top Tier Driver

Holy smokes Old School, people think I’m crazy when I tell them I haven’t spoken to my fleet manager in months. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks daily conversations are not necessary.

Holy smokes Old School, people think I’m crazy when I tell them I haven’t spoken to my fleet manager in months. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks daily conversations are not necessary.

I used to go months at a time without talking to my dispatchers also. In fact, most of the dispatchers I had in my career I had never met, or only met once for about five minutes. If there was a complex situation or we wanted to say something we didn't want in writing we would talk quick on the phone. Otherwise, if things were going as planned and we didn't have any specific reason to get on the phone we just did everything over the Qualcomm.

I met my FM once in March of '17 for like 2 mins. That's the first and last time I saw him face to face. With 80-100 driver on his board he doesn't need any more distractions than necessary.

Like Brett said, I only call with something complex or if I don't want it in writing. In most situations I'll try to solve the problem myself long before getting him involved.

Would it surprise you if I told you I might go for weeks without even talking to my DM? You have been at this long enough to know what to do and how to do it. Your DM needs you to communicate with them through your quallcomm or whatever system you are using. It's way more efficient for them than having you wait on the phone forever to ask a question.

That is very good advice, I usually go a few weeks at a time without talking to my DBL aka dispatcher. I can usually figure everything out on my own and really only have to call if I need an answer right away or I'll send a message in if I can wait for the answer.

Every now and then my DBL might call me up to check in on me to see how I'm doing and has mentioned a few times how I'm doing a great job.

Although Schneider doesn't always connect you to your DBL even when you so call, sometimes you might talk to another person but everyone is able to help you unless it's a specific question for your DBL. Now I'm just rambling on!

I’m brand new, and the only phone calls with my dm have been when he called me. Twice in 3 weeks. One was yesterday, to tell me to turn around and go home instead of making a delivery 3 days early, because they had no Load to get me back. So I have an extra day of home time.

Now, we do text back and forth over the QC

First, the thought of going months without speaking to my FM makes me even more committed to pursue trucking.

Second, how does a FM or DM determine early which drivers have top tier driver capability? Do they "test" the rookie drivers to see how they handle tough loads? On another thread, someone's first load was 620 miles in 24 hours. The driver did a great job managing time, but pushed his 14 hour clock to the limit. Did this DM want to see how the rookie could handle it?

Also, Old School had commented in another thread that your DM will begin to see HOS patterns in drivers. I understand this to mean that a DM will only give a driver load he thinks he or she can handle. So is the key to perform well early with the "tests" so that they DM gives you plenty of miles?

Considering the above, I assume that Silver's DM has made him a low priority because of past performance. Given that the DMs are very busy and assuming that Silver wants to improve his performance, how does he show that he is improving his performance if his DM has neither the time or motivation to get him more miles? In other words, how does Silver get the chance to show his top tier driver capabilities if he only gets "easy" loads?

Great questions Rob.

I don't know that a dispatcher will "test" a driver per se. Its more likely that they just happen to have a particular load with x miles, and you're the closest driver to pick it up. The real test comes after the fact, when they see how well you did.

I guess the best answer for the rest of your questions would be "consistent performance". Getting it done day in day out. But you can't just stop there. You have to make yourself stand out sometimes. This can be accomplished simply by throwing a message to the dispatcher now and then.

"Hey pal fyi I can get that load there wed instead of thurs."

Or

"Whew that was tight, but I got it done. Keep em coming!"

Even...

" that was a great run, I really appreciate it. Keep setting em up and I'll keep knocking em down!"

In other words, show them appreciation with a gentle reminder that you were willing to do what it takes to maximize your productivity. Do it consistently in the miles will follow.