Why So Much Animosity For Dispatch Services?

I use a dispatch service I pay 7% then 4% for factoring. I do this because most loads are being posted while I drive. If I am off the road in the morning when loads for the day are usually posted I book them myself. On average the dispatch service I use gets me a higher rate with their direct customers than load boards. They act as my back office. On a typical $5000 week I only pay $350+-. I look at it this way I need a dispatcher on average they'll work 50 hrs a week doing invoicing booking loads running the back office.To hire someone with o/t Im looking at spending $860 on a employee. Now with that $350 or 7% the more trucks I add the cheaper the % gets. If I decide to add more trucks I need to hire more employee's. I don't like paying a 1099 it screws the person over but with paying w2 I have to pay employer takes on top of their wages then deal with benefits etc. So you see its more beneficial for me to deal with a dispatch service. Not to mention the one I use also does employment verification, PSP reports,MVR, drug testing etc. I get a lot for my 7%

 

No dispatcher will slave 50 hours minding a herd of drivers for less than 900 a week.

It's just not going to happen. You will have to raise your pay and get out of the mumbo jumbo talk and pay straight salary to that dispatcher and so forth. 50 hours at 1500 a week and done. Deduct taxes, cut a check and move on to the new work week. Have a good weekend.

 

I've never thought about being a dispatch service before. Anything under 10% wouldn't be worth it I don't feel. I guess it depends what all they are handling. Is it only booking loads or is it doing all of your billing as well?

A dispatch service should make you more money then what their cost is to you. So really it's irrelevant what is charged. Maybe I could charge 15% and still make you more money then on your own or with a lesser service that takes less money. A dispatch service could also act as a factor if there was enough cashflow there.

I'm all for booking your own loads, having your own authority, and doing your own billing. It's just not everyone is on the same level. So the need clearly is out there. Interesting.

Also, so much great info in this thread. Running less miles for the same money should be your goal. Maybe even less miles for more money. These trucks are expensive and I'm not trying to wear mine out!

Last thought... if thousands of trucks are running willy nilly all over the place, having no idea what their doing or worth, doesn't that just drive rates down? The thing we need the least?

 

Yeah in my experience too.

 

Because many times write offs only amount to spending a dollar to save a quarter.

 

Well Sure- Lots of animosity cause you take 3-7% for leading a truck to brokered freight and billing?? I Could see giving you a 5% margin on direct freight under contract-But a trained monkey can call a Broker.

And you take zero Risk- I Certainly have No use for you-Even when I was up to 5 trucks-I did all the planning-dispatching and had street time to boot..........

Your service is good for Lazy,Independents that have zero sales-negotiating skill of any level.

 

It's not about the miles Ever it's how much you get paid to rum'em .
By the way the rates your posting even that high avg your posting just goes to show your not worth whatever your clients are paying you
. No offense but, I wouldn't use you for free.

 

Really not trying to pick a fight here but I gotta say... if you were dispatching and booking loads for 5 trucks, and it was so easy, why don't you still have five or more trucks?

If you did something and it was so easy, why would you potentially fail at it? A trained monkey can call a broker? Are you kidding? Yes, he could and then fail miserably.

 

From the horses mouth

[In a flashback to Louie's days as a driver]

Louie De Palma: All dispatchers are scum.

 

It's obviously a subject that's all over the place, but I'll explain my take on dispatch services as well for those that understand there is a need for them for some of us that do a little more than just stare out the windshield and count miles.

My son and I worked like farm animals all this past week on a (yes... specialized,) unique deal that entailed us hauling several loads of dead equipment 170 miles from point A to Point B, I provided a loader that I had to haul 170 miles north to use to drag this stuff onto the trucks. We worked in the sweltering sun 10-11 hours each day Monday-Thursday strategically placing items on trucks to get as much weight on as we could to make it worth the trip. Full, labor-intensive days, short nights, repetitive process that took up all of my waking hours. It ended Thursday thank God, and now I am needing a load to get out of here to Hagerstown, Md. area so I can pick up 2 pieces to bring back north to a customer of mine.

Point is, I had NO time to coordinate or search or post anything working like we did throughout this past week. Saturday (yesterday) I worked ON THE TRUCKS from 11 am (after running for parts,) until 11 pm. Today I have to finish the trucks up, mow the grass, and oh, move an excavator for a friend down the road.

Normally load boards are all posted up Friday for the following week, nothing changes much over the weekend, and brokers don't hold the same hours as I do so we can't contact anyone anyways on Saturday and Sundays. Now I have to figure out a load to get me out of here hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday so I don't deadhead 500 miles to pick up my 2 pieces in Md. and Pa.

That's where the dispatch service comes in handy for me anyways...can't speak for the others and won't. I am obviously not afraid of work, nor lazy nor lacking ambition; I simply do NOT have the free time to sit here and search and call and deal and all that nonsense. I pay 5% for my dispatch service, it works fine. I factor brokered loads at 3% so I get paid in 24 hours time. That also works fine. As was just explained above, I don't employ a full time secretary or dispatcher, so that to me is a cheap date at 8% when I use this method. I am getting to the point where the phone is ringing more and more with people requesting our services, so eventually (and with a little luck,) we can drop the brokered loads and just maintain without the need to look for them one day.

If you're strictly working off of a loadboard and you have gaps in your revenue stream due to not being able to find the time to find your own loads in between driving, loading, unloading...that 8% to me is a no-brainer to use a personal dispatcher to maintain revenue flow. They're working at the same time you are to find you the next gig...that to me is a huge benefit when all I have to do is drive and stare out the windshield when time permits.

I use a good one and it's been very beneficial to me. I feel it's a very good relationship and it profits everyone involved. Nothing other than a load finder; they don't do my paperwork, billing, invoicing, anything other than search/post/call/negotiate/book loads for me.

Scenes from this week show that we are a bit too busy to do the dispatching ourselves...(pics below)

Every one of these pieces didn't run...we dragged every single piece on either with the rollback winch or the loader I rented. Time consuming, labor intensive, and maybe a little stupid even...but it's what we do.