Dealing with Dispatch (for newbies)

Trucking companies spend a lot of time and money training dispatchers on how to talk to drivers, but almost nothing is invested toward teaching drivers how to talk to dispatch. And there are several key points that are absolutely critical for drivers to understand when it comes to determining who is responsible for what. Case in point; I arrived in Memphis one evening after a long hard day on the road, delivered my load at 5pm and was just about to take a much needed nap. Then I get a message on the QualComm telling me to call dispatch. I call my dispatcher and he says, "I really need you to help me out here. We have a FedEx load that needs to go to Indy and the driver is refusing to take it because he doesn't have the hours. Can you please take this load up to Indy?".

So I tell the guy, I've driven 500 miles today and I'm tired. But he won't relent, won't take no for an answer. Finally I say, "I'll take the load but I'm telling you right now that it will not be delivered on time because I will be stopping on the way to take a nap". My dispatcher assures me that this is perfectly fine and says, "Just get it there as quick as you can". So, I take the load. About half way to Indy I stop and hit the sleeper for some much needed sleep. Not 30 minutes later my QualComm starts going nuts. I get mad and hang it out the passenger window, roll the window up and go back to sleep. After all, I told my dispatcher that it will be there when it gets there, with no commitment on my part about when I would arrive.

When the load was late and FedEx wanted to know why, my dispatcher threw me under the bus. There was no record of anything on the QC, other than my dispatcher telling me to call him. He denied telling me that delivering the load late was "perfectly fine". And the end result was that I was black balled by FedEX, meaning that I will never be permitted to ever hook to another FedEx load EVER again, not even if I change companies!

So what the heck happened here and what did I do wrong? Well my first mistake was calling dispatch when ALL loads were normally dispatched over the QC. That threw up a red flag right there, but I ignored it. My second mistake was agreeing to take a load that I knew I could not deliver on time. Even though my dispatcher was telling me it would be okay, I still should have insisted that the load info be sent to me on the QC with an updated delivery time that I could meet. That would have created a record of the event. But I didn't know, I trusted my dispatcher who said that delivering late was "perfectly fine". Third, I should have told dispatch to give me 15 minutes to look it over and then I'd call them back. I should never have said "yes" to the load without at least figuring out what time I would be able to deliver.

Okay, enough about that case, lesson learned and a lifetime of never being able to pull another FedEx load. A few years later I attended an orientation where the instructor giving the orientation was also a former dispatcher. This guy took the time to teach us new drivers what is actually happening when we're on the phone with dispatch. And I'll pass this along to you. When a dispatcher calls you with a load, the more pressure they put on you to take it, the higher the odds that there is something terribly wrong with it. Also, when a dispatcher calls you, 100% of the responsibility of getting the load delivered is on the dispatcher UNTIL they get you to accept the load. The moment you say "yes", at that precise second, 100% of the responsibility shifts from the dispatcher to you the driver! Doesn't matter if you can't legally do it, doesn't matter if the load cannot possibly be delivered on time, doesn't matter if the trailer you pick up has 2 flats on it. The ONLY thing that matters is you said "yes" to the load, period! And now its all on you to deliver on time.

So this orientation instructor taught us how to handle dispatchers. First, NEVER accept a load without taking 15 minutes to look it over. No matter what the dispatcher says, if he can't give you 15 minutes to look it over and plan your route and decide if you can deliver on time, then refuse the load then and there. If he has a problem with that then tell him to call Safety. I don't care how hot the load is, if they can't give me the 15 minutes I need then I'm not taking the load, period. They can get mad, threaten me, whatever. I'm still taking 15 minutes to decide if I can accept the load. Second, be very careful not to utter the word "yes", even if it isn't in relation to accepting or refusing the load. Because if you utter the word "yes" then the dispatcher can try to claim that you accepted the load. They are very crafty at trying to trick you into saying "yes" about anything and claiming you said yes to the load. Third, recording a conversation with dispatch isn't even legal unless you inform them that they are being recorded. They will often ask you if you are recording the call. If you say "no" and record it anyway, that's a felony! If you say "yes" then you are likely violating company policy and can be fired for it, AND you used the word "yes" which should be avoided at all cost unless and until you are actually accepting the load!

One final thing to consider. Load planners and dispatchers keep notes on drivers, they know which driver plays by the book and which drivers will take illegal loads, pull defective trailers, drive 16 hours strait, etc. If you have "trained" dispatch to believe that you will take any load and then all of the sudden you have a change of heart and "want to go strait" as it were, then you have an obligation to let dispatch know that you've gone over to the other side and will no longer be accepting illegal loads. Otherwise they will have a legit reason to put the blame on you for refusing a load that you normally accepted in the past. This is viewed by dispatch as a "setup" and they will find a way to punish you for it. Going strait is okay, as long as you let the company know you are going strait BEFORE they see a need to assign you to another illegal load.

 

The last company I worked for, they made it nearly impossible to have a face to face sit down with a dispatcher. Their dispatchers worked off site from the company's only terminal and you couldn't get a tractor to company HQ (where the dispatchers were). Sometimes you could take the company van from the terminal to HQ, but even then you could not actually meet with a dispatcher. I went there a few times to turn in paperwork or talk to payroll but was never allowed to talk to my dispatcher because "they were so busy". And no, I never knew my dispatcher supervisor's name because I never knew that such a person existed.

 

Every company is different in how they do things, who does what, how responsibilities are divided between dispatchers, load planners, drivers, fleet managers, etc. And this only adds to the confusion when a driver needs answers and/or quick action. Orientation should last 5 days instead of 3, just to give the new driver a thorough understanding of how things work at a particular company. My statement about 100% of the responsibility shifting from the dispatcher to the driver is simply what I was told by a former dispatcher at a particular company who was promoted to orientation instructor, and backed up by other employees of that same company. But go to another trucking company down the road and things likely are totally different. One thing that remains constant is that after a driver accepts a load, the driver catches the flack if its not delivered on time.