Have any of you guys been a dispatcher for drivers out there ?

I have always wondered .... what goes on in a dispatchers mind when a driver

(who himself wants to run legal) tells them he is low on hours or cannot accept

a particular load because it is too long for the hours he or she has remaining.

Is the driver looked down upon ? .... is their job security now on the thin ice ?

Is that driver over looked next time around in favor of those 'miracle drivers' that just never seem

to need to stop rolling ?

 

To many times, it is yes, to all of the above.

Cold&Frosty will be along later to support me!!


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

that is up to each driver. I am a o/o and at times my dispatcher will ask me to take a load he really needs moved. I usually ask.. do you really need me to take it? if we have a good relationship i'll do my best to pick up & deliver load. most dispatchers will not like if you cannot or will not help them. one thing I consider is where is load going. also if I can work my log book. for example.. if I just unloaded at a place that usually takes 1 hour in & out, but due to a crane being down it took 4 hours to get unloaded.. well i dont have to show 4 hours on duty. I will show 30- min or so & that will give me more time. if no scales on trip, & only 2-3 hundred miles, i am more likely to take it. if i'm going thru a lot of snow, or if there is a lot of wrecks, or trucks in the ditch all over, i will not even consider knowing i have a good chance of being in a ditch or fender bender & will have to expain my logs in detail & will be scrutinized.

In fact like a lot of o/o's it is me at times who will ask for a certain load & if it is available, like one of my favorites, I'll take it & worry about how to get it to the destination after I get loaded. although on all my loads there is no appoint, jut get it there within 24 hours, so I can do it leagal if I want. this is always a personal decision. I dont knock those who do.. I dont knock those who dont.

 

one more thing the dispatcher will consider... if you have been given loads that you asked for specifically cause you like them, and the dispatcher has known from your previous runs that when you want to, you run over hours when its conveinant for you.. then you cannot use the reason you dont like going over on your hours. so if you lie on logs & go over on your hours for yourself, you'll be expected to do it for your dispatcher. if you ever been a couple hours from home & are out of hours & make it home anyway... he'll remind you of going over when it concerns yourself & you dont seem worried when you decide to run over..

 

There are some dispatchers who will attempt to push drivers beyond their legal capability. I won't ask any of my drivers to do anything that cannot be done legally. In fact, if I have a question as to whether a driver can legally make a run I will ask. If there is a possibility that he cannot legally do the load then I either reschedule or find him a different load. I have also had a driver who would constantly prod me to find him a team load that he could do by himself. I would never get him a team load. It is foolish for a driver or dispatcher to do anything that is patently illegal. Although I think we should get rid of the log books, we must abide by the law. And the law says that we must only work a certain number of yours. We either abide by the laws or work to change them. The civil and criminal consequences of blatantly violating the hours of service regulations are not worth the extra money you may make by running illegally.

 

Yep...i know what you mean,

Where i used to work they would find your hometime run right at the last moment

after you've been driving all day...then once they see you cuttin a trail for

home they got ya .....they begin expect the same in return...they sort of corner you in a way.

 

Hey....If "Public Citizen" ever gets their way, we will be able to get rid of the log books. That's because there won't be any truck drivers on the road.

 

I envision if they finally end up going to the black box...the industry may loose a lot of drivers

and the tide will turn again...the demand for drivers will go up...but the pay will not.

But that is just a guess.

 

This happens at "bottom-feeder" companies :thumbsdown:.....but not at good companies. :thumbsup:

 

I think what you're asking about here is the relationship between an individual driver and a particular dipatcher.

Like all relationships, it can get complicated. There are good relationships & bad ones. It sounds like HeavyhaulerSS has a good relationship with his dispatcher.

A good dispatcher will understand that different drivers like to run different ways & will try to accomodate them, at least within reason.

But I don't care what company it is- a driver that runs hard- and clean, will get more love from their dispatcher than one that whines all the time.

We had a driver quit last week. He parked the truck at the yard & left the keys in an envelope with a note that said; "I can't run like this."

It was Monday afternoon. He should have had a 34 hr reset over the weekend, been at the receivers first thing Monday AM with 10 hrs. on line 2, and been ready to burn it straight to wherever he got sent next. Instead he threw a hissy fit about going to L.A., claimed he was having problems with the truck & brought it back to the shop- 150 miles out-of-route, and made the delivery a day late.

We had one pissed off cajun mechanic when he couldn't find anything wrong with the truck.

And 14 other drivers, more than happy to pick up the slack.