I am just starting my company, I am going to be working with a dispatcher with over 15 years of experience. I wanted to know what are things that I should know about hiring drivers and find out ways so my hired drivers can't fool me.

Thanks

 

Don't let a driver tell you his fifth wheel is flat so he can't take a load. :shock: :lol: :lol:
Good luck!

 

Read every post on this forum and a few others and you will learn about drivers and how some of them work. Good luck.

 

If you get me a truck thats a fully automatic and give me all the miles I can handle (3-4k a week) and pay decent with no loading/unloading,I'd be more than happy to work for you I need an honest dispatcher and one who cares....

 

One way to keep from getting "fooled" is to drive a truck truck for a while yourself. Just keep close tabs on the money. Match odometer readings with gallons purchased and compare miles driven. A thief is basically stupid. It won't take too long to catch one. If you find one stealing from you I recommend prosecuting him. If you hold back a week, you stand a better chance of getting some of your money back.

 

Hiring drivers: Get thorough info on driver, and keep good files, also know where your truck will be parked. Keep track of every penny and mile. The numbers dont lie and some drivers will try to get you.

Dispatcher 15 years experience: Watch him like a hawk, learn from him also. He can make or break you, is he a people person or a jack ash? A bad dispatcher will run off your drivers and customers.

You need to be a businessman, salesman, recruiter, foreman, custodian, dispatcher, safety director, cheerleader, receptionist, bookkeeper, banker, investigator, BS Detector, humanitarian, hardass, etc. You need every driver/person that can help your business succeed and remember you cant do it all. Unless you want to look like my avatar. Good Luck

 

When you look for drivers, you want someone who is personable. A driver with a bad attitude and outlook on life will run off customers. One thing I use to keep tabs on drivers is my fuel card. I can check on them 24/7. If something doesn't look right, then I start checking. The people at Qualcomm have recently come out with a device which provides real time GPS information on your trucks. It appears to be hand held and your driver can communicate with you from anywhere. The unit runs about $1,600 each plus a monthly fee. One nice feature of their service is that they do your fuel taxes for you as part of the fee. From what I understand, it will compute your mpg, etc., It is another way to keep tabs on the equipment. I believe they told me that it would cost me about $45/month for 2 trucks including the fuel tax feature. At that price, it is much less expensive than Qualcomm. I was told that it would take about 1 hour to install the equipment.

One other way to check drivers is to buy a small computer to connect to the truck CPU. You can easily check the miles driven, speed, etc., I know someone who did this after every trip home. His drivers were aware that he checked his trucks after every trip. He was really on top of his truck and what was going on. It is unfortunate that a few bad apples can make things more difficult for everyone else.

 

Gman, Who did you talk to about the mini qual comm unit. I'm interested in this.

 

I have the info at home, Load it. I am on the road right now. I will find it and let you know when I get back. I should be back by next weekend.

 

Where you headed?