I'm a dispatcher looking for O/O's to give me advice on dispatching

Work for a company that has its own trucks whether they be company owned and some owner operators or only owner operators operating under that company's authority. If you are looking for independents with our own authority you should go out and be a broker and find your own freight to move. Personally, I wouldn't want anyone calling customers or brokers as a representative of my company, thinking they will get the best rate for a given load or committing to loads. I can find my own work just as well as I can pay my own expenses or else I shouldn't be running my own authority. About the last thing I'd ever do is look for a dispatcher between me and the customer that's exactly why I'm doing it the way I'm doing it.

 

Having a dispatcher to begin with is a deal breaker, you want to dispatch trucks buy your own

 

You need to figure out where you can add value and who your target customers are. What kind of "dispatcher" do you want to be? If you work for a company with already established accounts and trucks operating under its authority, your role will basicly be answer the phone, coordinate pickup and drops and make appointments, answer check calls for location tracing, perhaps some calling on loads from brokers. Now, if you are more interested in calling customers/brokers who have freight to move and negotiate on freight rates - if you don't have your own trucks, you are basicly a double broker, and I would ask you please explain how that would better a carrier (trucking company) large or small.

Also take into account why people get into truck ownership.
1. Make more money per unit worked. (is the goal)
2. Have more (or complete) say on where, when, and how they run.
3. Perhaps hire drivers/expand the business.

For me, there are times when I run, and when I don't run. I have lanes for customers that vary throughout the year. What exactly are the services you are looking to provide and how will you put more money in my pocket after I pay you? I suspect your answer will be something along the lines of, "glad to see you are doing well. I am looking for people like you (setup their own company and have a truck(s) and trailer(s)) but don't have any work." To which my reply would be "then you should start your own authority and sign trucks on under that authority. Perhaps even own some of your own trucks since the moment you try to dictate what one of your owner operators does under your authority to save the day because you promised a customer something, he just might be telling you to hand back the ownership and turning in the plates."

You can't just skim off the top without actually being IN the game.

 

Do you have a $75,000 brokers bond?

 

The first and most important thing is Don't lie to your drivers. Ever.
Next is don't lie to your customers and don't blame poor performance or lack of service on the drivers when the fault is yours.
There are others but they're all common sense if I have to explain them to you I doubt if you'll be much good at dispatching.

 

Quit cutting corners and get a brokers authority.. Dispatch services are the nothing but parasites cutting corners around the regulations... Put some skin in the game or gtfo