My favourite lie from a former dispatcher, "I won't lie to you, I may not tell you the truth, but I wont lie to you". That statement in itself is a lie.
A piece of advice about chaining up I learned from an old hand back in 1989. "Chain up to get out of a situation, never chain up to get into a situation." Better yet, find a safe spot and take a nap after you let dispatch know that is unsafe to roll.
There is a very famous video they show you in school of a driver dispatched on a 24 hour load who hit a school bus a mile from the drop, and killed a little girl and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. There is audio and interviews with the dispatcher coercing and pressuring this driver to take this load to supposedly save the contract by taking this load after he already had driven his 10 hours. The dispatchers are coaching and urging him on all night. No one in the company except the driver was charged after the accident. The driver was very remorseful as he described waking up just before impact and seeing this little girl in the back of the bus.
Imagine you are a rookie, telling dispatch what u r and not gonna do. Yeah, safety and your driving record is at risk, but ya gotta learn how to talk with diplomacy! You gotta balance being safe with getting things done. You DO NOT want to be labeled a hard to deal with employee. Be diplomatic. I got twenty years under my belt.
If you ever think dispatch is telling you to drive illegally, tell them to send those instructions via satellite. If they refuse, and they will, don't do what they're telling you. If they do, still don't do it, but by all means, stop at the first scale and make sure you show DOT.
When I just started my first dispatcher told me to pick up a hot load in downtown Chicago. I told him I only had 2 hours on my clock and I'd run out of hours. He said it's okay because they have overnight parking. Got there and found out the load wasn't even supposed to load for 16 hours. They did load me but guess what.. no overnight parking. And my company didn't give me the ability to use personal conveyance either until 30 days after my start day. So I ran over my clock by 3 hours.
@@DrivenTrucking yep. Drove to my sister's in Niles, Michigan on no hours. It was my third load solo. I was so scared and didn't know what to do. I stopped in every truck stop on the way and they were all stuffed full. Knew of a place by my sister's that always had parking so I said fuck it and drove it.
That load scheduling deserves a gut punch to the lying dispatcher. Only a punch do they understand but make sure you go in with a buddy to keep the other dispatchers from helping him
Bro, So true! A driver should remember the 3 L's: 1. Never do anything that will jeopardize your LIFE. 2. Never do anything that will jeopardize your LICENSE. 3. Never do anything that will jeopardize your LIVLYHOOD. Truck drivers move America and the demand is high for qualified drivers. Always remember the 3 L's. Safety first! Dispatchers need us more then we need them. Great video and awesome advice. You keep posting and I'll stay driven. ☮️ from Cali.
So thankful that some dispatchers made $8.50 an hour more than me, cozy office, tv, phone, computer, bathroom, got to make babies in their pick em up trucks while I was beating myself to death in junk equipment going to gold mines.
I've had a few "HOT" loads where the crane was waiting to jerk a coil off of my truck or the assembly line was shut down waiting for the load but normally?!, they don't even know I'm coming.
Great points on dealing with dispatch always remember they care more about the load than driver or equipment. ALWAYS get everything in writing you gotta cover your arse
Drivers only chain-up to get out of trouble never to get into trouble. As far as confirming directions what you want to do is ALWAYS talk to someone in shipping or receiving. They deal with this all the time, they will give you the right directions.
Ugh tue horrible dispatchers again 😂 So as a dispatcher, I have never and will never lie to a driver. I have been doing this for over 15 years and yes, my job is to get loads covered and make money. But it is also my job to make my drivers lives as easy as possible. To take loads that they can get good miles but still have enough time to drive it legally. And you’re right some appointments can be rescheduled but many will give us an appt 3 to 5 days later. Not just Walmart. I also refuse to route drivers. It is always shortest, safest practical miles. The driver is a professional and can route himself. If they want help, I am happy to help. Also fuel at any location we get a discount. I would never work for a company who made me tell drivers when to stop for fuel. I will also never tell a driver to chain up. Shut it down. Let’s all stay safe. I would also never dispatch a truck that I believe is going to derate. Too expensive to end up with a tow. You must work for Mega carriers and if this is how they operate, they sound awful! So the advice you are giving is great. But my advice is to get away from the Mega carriers and work for a small trucking company where we work as a team. I love your advice to call your shippers and receivers on your load. Brokers give us wrong times constantly. But you are on one load and I might be working on 20 loads. So that is super helpful and your dispatcher will love you! I bet you also avoid a bunch of possible mistakes that way. Brokers are afraid everyone will be late so they often tell us appt times are way earlier and they don’t care if it makes you start your clock too early and screw up your reload.
Reminds me of when a shipper loaded me a few thousand pounds heavy on the rear. Scaled it, went back, unsecured so they could rearrange. That was a long day.
Just remember this, dispatcher ain't your fucking boss, they don't sign your paycheque. It's good to have a friendly relationship with them, but they try forcing you to do something, you have every right to tell them to piss off.
Haha! "It's a hot load!" They do that to find out how much hustle you have as a driver. My rule was: "Make your pickups and deliveries on time (early) if you want to be a superstar! Following this rule, I got very good loads and good miles. Within 2 months of starting, I was routinely doing 2,800 miles per week as a new driver! You're awesome man! Keep the truck wheels and camera reels rollin' !!
I just got onto a reefer company. Was pulling bull rack before it. My dispatcher realized quickly the miles I put down in a day, finally got a load with big miles and reload back to Utah. Started 3 weeks ago. Still run like I’m running cattle but this reefer shit sucks
If a dispatcher ever tells you or has anything in writing that you’re company is forced dispatch. Run don’t walk to an attorney. Forced dispatch is illegal period.
Worked for Roehl Transportation and not a week went by that they was not trying to get me to use PC to pick up or drop off a load when i was down to my last hour. I refused several times as if i only have an hour left on my clock and they wanted to schedule me to pick up I know i would be over my 14 and would have to go off route"no payed miles" to find parking. Many of them times it was also later at night and in a larger city so finding parking was going to be very hard also. Any how i ended up getting fired after i refused a load that after doing my trip planning would have had me at a 15 hour day. This company needs a class action lawsuit from all the new drivers they exploit or fire. When they train and bring in so many new drivers each week they have to do something to make sure they have trucks for them and think they make it a living hell for the current new driver that is in the truck so to replace them.
Hey man. I just wanted to say thanks for the videos. I'll be starting my first gig two Mondays from today, and I've spent a lot of time in the last month "studying" from your channel. They've been a great help.
(Snow tire) Chains are there to get you out of a bad situation you happen to be in. NOT to get you further into a bad situation. What happens if you decide to chain up to get further and conditions get so bad that even chains are no use? You get in a wreck or (best case) land in a ditch. The company you drive for (and dispatcher) will not stand behind you in a case like that. They will try their best and distance themselves from you to limit their exposure to any kind of potential lawsuit and/or fines.
Fuel stop is new to me... never herd of it..lol..that would get me a lil upset...like u said I'm the captain of the ship..just like the driver face cameras they have now a days..that's total b.s....if I wanted my boss to stare at me I'd work in a damn factory...smh...ain't no wonder what there's a driver shortage
While you are sitting at the table in the truck stop with four other drivers, your dispatcher tells you you have to take the load because you are the only truck in the area.
As a NYC cabbie I've admired how skilled trukers can be when maneuvering the city streets, Big up ! sounds a bit like our industry. Take care and be safe out there.
I've also had dispatch tell me that my truck wouldn't derate and to keep moving. I was new to driving and only by myself for less than a month, the truck shut down going up a steep ass hill. That sucked lol
I have a broker that always says every load is hot, they say the load needs to pick up by 6pm(the broker closes at that time) but this small shipper always tells us don't worry you can always pick up before 9pm. and the drops are usually 300 - 400 miles next day 10am - 1pm. Lame... Also, I have only ever used PC to drive home unloaded.
The fuel stop is usually at the cheapest place, and there's a reason why the fuel is cheaper at that truck stop than any other. If it tells you to fuel in the hood on I-20 in Dallas at 9pm to 6am, I ain't gonna do that.
My load planner & DM likes to give me loads that's already 3 days late from the original pickup appointment, then I get to the place and find my company hasn't rescheduled a new appointment, so I have to wait all day long. Then when I start calling asking for layover pay and detention, they all the sudden stop answering the phone or responding to my messages, emails, and text to them asking to get paid. Then I spend about a week going over their heads, up the ladder, until I find someone that will pay me for my work & time.
I have the DM's supervisor and detention department saved in my phone. They're counting on you to give up so they can screw you. That's why money management is so important. If I don't get what I want, I refuse to move the truck. Gets their undivided attention every time.
No2. My first company i drove for I got to where i would reschedule my own shipper/reciever appointments and never said a word to my dispatcher unless a) i couldn't reach them or b) appointments got moved to the next day. Otherwise i handled it all on my own.
edit: i had the same dispatcher for the entire two years i was with that company. He was cool to work with. most drivers there switch dispatchers every few months.
Hot load? I got loaded, come to receiver and they say - we need this load next month. Appointment? I always reschedule myself, and then dispatcher calls me in few hours saying that my appointment was rescheduled. Right - avoid PC. Chains? Just shut down and wait. Breakdown? Know your equipment!!! Dispatch do not give shit about your truck!!! Weather? Do not be a stupid hero. One overweight ticket might kill you as a pro driver. Confirming appointment is ALWAYS better with shipper and receiver.
You show up early to appointment and you have to wait to get a door assigned, I mean why have an appointment at all? Then you wait at the door for hours before you start getting unloaded. Then the dock hands help themselves to your cellular data via a hacking application. Hours later you are unloaded and now they get a lumper fee for wasting hours of your time. They get paid regardless while the driver gets to have a long 14 hour day instead of a 12 hour day the driver would have had if unloaded as scheduled!
Yeah I was an over the road driver for over 20 years and I never met a dispatcher that didn't lie to me at one point or onather, don't trust them.get your rest do what you feel is right,you can always, always get another job for a different company.
I’ve had tarp orders before for stuff that couldn’t even be tarped, still got paid for it. Like a tall load of chain link fencing, picked up in Texas, and was bright orange with rust by the time I reached Ohio. The whole time I’m hoping the receiver takes this rusty fence. They did, and threw it onto a stack of equally rusty fence!
@@mr.butterworth as a fencer, I can tell you that galvanized chain link fence, doesn’t rust like that. It takes years for the galvanized coating to wear off.
I signed on with a private trucking school. There were different options in my area, and maybe some of them might have been better. The only wrong answer is not signing up to something.
There was one company that I drove for that told us never to call shippers or receivers, we had to go through dispatch, and dispatch was regularly wrong. I also work in a shipping office and we had drivers all the time be like “dispatch said this or that” about loads or appointments and they were usually wrong. We told drivers next time you come here call us first. We had a lot of drivers that had us on speed dial. I drove for a few years then worked in a shipping office and drove again and it gave me a lot if appreciation and respect for drivers and shipping office workers.
Newer owner op here. I getting audited by DOT. Not too familiar with PC. I guess i abused PC 17 times in April. Now i fighting fines with dot. Now i dont use PC unless absolute emergency 😎👍💪🔨⬇️
Call ahead if you have the info, shipper and/or receiver. Too many times, receivers were not expecting me. I’ve spent an hour as they moved shit around to make room for the shit I brought. Too many times I’ve arrived at the scheduled P/U time and they just (or haven’t yet) started to load the trailer.
ihave a great dispatcher now, but I started with a guy with a rep. He wasn't an awful guy, just bad about telling you whatever it was he thought you wanted to hear then forgetting what he said.
Previous driver>dispatcher Fueling- our mega carrier place redid the fueling system and I used to be able to get my drivers fuel where they wanted as long as they were close by and now I cant. It drives me insane. Also for chainup- I always tell my guys if they have to chain up they need to chain up to get off the road and park it because its too bad. (though some of them are comfortable with chains its up to them) Also its very true about the weather, if you dont feel safe and u want to sit no skin off my bones. (but because I have a dedicated acct i will probably ask for a picture once you are parked so I can send it to the customer and the late isnt on the driver, because weather lates are not our fault.) But all and all I think Im the only dispatcher that really does not care if the load is late (pls dont fire me large mega company, do not perceive my post) We actually do have jit freight cus its grocceries, but if something happens, something happens. Ill do my best to repower loads as long as my guys and gals let me know as soon as they can, thats all I ask. Dedicated isn't really the same as OTR though and im glad I dont dispatch OTR things. Our OTR dispatchers are TERRIBLE
and here is the problem with doing all he says.u will be considered a bad employee if u dont do what the company wants u to do and u will be looking for a new job.and forget turning the company in for doing these kinda things because the law will not back u.not even d.o.t.they make theyre money off fines from u getting coaght by them.
I completed my bachelor's degree while living in my car, I spent the better part of 5 years traveling around Latin America, and I became fluent in Spanish at 25 years of age. I am currently enrolled in an alternative teaching program to teach Spanish, but as I will be waiting a year to get into the classroom, I've decided to get my CDL. A company will be paying for my training and I will be creating videos during the process and sharing as much as I can for everyone else out there interested in driving! I begin on the 31st, so feel free to connect with me regarding anything! Take care.
Yes dispatcher don't really care if it's safe to drive. They push just keep going. I shot down in Wyoming many times because of bad weather. But dispatcher was keep calling.
Two things that were really popular for me oh the snow is not that bad you’ll be fine you need to get it there today. The other thing is it’s not that far it won’t take you that long I don’t know why it’s taking you that long well it’s taking me that long because you’re looking at miles on the map you’re not looking at miles on the route you’re not looking at traffic you’re not looking at stop signs traffic lights accidents. Some of these people are idiots like my Last dispatcher for instance 22 years old straight Outta college never been in a truck never been around a truck actually first time at the terminal was the first time she’s even seen one up close seen the inside had no idea what she was saying
I have a question. Honestly what is the best decision. Is it better to go through a truck driving school to get a CDL or to go through a company that trains you to get your CDL?
companies where you start with another job and they train you like ups and walmart are the best first trucking job if you have that option, you'll have way higher pay and seniority. Other than that school if you can afford it and if not that then one of the trucking companies like tmc if you dont have any other options
Trying to put the blame on the dispatcher is not a good idea... the shippers and receivers are out of sync with the carriers load schedules... because warehousing is not being regulated!
It’s dead for freight dispatchers . Everybody and they mama becoming dispatcher now that some are sensationalizing the industry to sell their courses . The dispatching side of the industry is too saturated , but no one who’s selling a course will tell u that hard truth . I initially wanted to become a broker and I regret it everyday
All good points simply love your channel always learning something new or finding out I'm not alone in what's going on cause other fellow truckers been their and they've done it thanks again, P S just waiting on the app can't wait to have a product made by truckers for truckers God bless brother
There this small company that I work for. They don't let me fuel up at love's or flying j and other trucking fuel stations. They just want me to fuel up at ryders truck rental center. They say they save $.30 cents a gallon. I'm on empty fuel gauge now. Still have to drive and sixty miles away. Because ryders truck rental are always out of fuels or always closed. No fuel.
I work as dispatcher mostly with own operators 1st Hot load - I try to find best load for my driver and offer him- he wants it I book it, he doesn't want tell me why I will look for different load 2nd Reschedule appointments- safety first you have product, they need product of course we will reschedule. Just don't tell driver you will take care of and don't and he gets stuck there 3rd Fuel stops - top up tanks where you want, Mondays I send them AAA gas price report, want me to help to look for closest gas station or one what you like - sure, info for me is about 5 clicks away 4th PC I avoid using it. only option when I am OK if driver have not started his H and is less than 5 miles away from shipper but it is 100% driver choice 5th Chaining up Company driver or not dispatcher and driver have to work as team - dispatcher are not in truck 6th Call breakdown Well I ask them to call me first so I can prepare for situation- technical part? men I don't know anything about trucks I can find help or transfer to our shop. I am not qualified to give driver technical advice 7th Bad weather I am checking weather news before we plan our trips, weather can change and then you need to react. driving on ice, heavy rain or tornado is mad just reschedule - it is easy 8th Call to confirm such a waste of time I mean it takes so long time most of times 9th Overweight - go back and reorganize load if that helps if not don't break truck because shipper or costumer is cheeky and wants to put more product in your truck, also broker have to pay for time wasted and miles wasted Every one of these lies can put you on bigger problems Small technical issues leads to big breakdowns Bad weather can led to crash Weight ticket can cost you weeks profit Not confirming (should be dispatchers job ) can lead to many hours wasted at shipper or receiver Dispatchers job is not that hard but all messed up things are not just on dispatcher we been lied to as well and a lot Work as team! Dispatcher is not drivers boss you should work as colleges as team I like to support my drivers and make their life easier. Mess is stress I don't need stress + if you are good with your drivers they will not change dispatchers and this work is so much easier when you know your drivers style All I am asking from driver let me know ETA shipper, send me paperwork as soon as you have it let me know what time are you planning to be at receiver and let me know when empty and send paperwork straight away Also just let me know when you have been at shipper or receiver for 90 minutes so I can start to be annoying to broker and ask for money Great video so I just wanted to share my thoughts on it TEAM WORK
Where do I start? Yeah man you can load/unload until insert time here knowing the shipper/ receiver left 30 min before your eta if you’re running behind Oh you wanna be home Friday means Saturday afternoon
Recently switched companies. I'm now a local flat bedder and I miss OTR like you wouldn't believe because of my dispatcher. I work Monday through Friday I'm home by 5:00 p.m. every night The benefits are great and the pay is great but my dispatcher is awful and it's the one thing that can make or break a trucking job. After 9 years in this industry and having it been the only thing I've done my entire adult career life I'm seriously debating getting out now because of this or going back out on the road and sacrificing family time.
I think comes down the the dispatcher rather than the company. First DM: 50-50. Always gave all needed info for a load. But you never knew what was next till you finished what you’re on now. Made planning diff. New (small) company: DM is cool, but short of info. Loads say “Go here, take it there.” P/U number? Contact info, load info? Seldom do I get that. Makes me look like an idiot at the shipper.
@@aircooledhead oh yeah I feel that. It's definitely the dispatcher is what I'm saying. I am incredibly blessed and fortunate to be where I am today. However the dispatcher has a horrific attitude with everyone he interacts with. I deliver lumber and it's mainly only one or two stops in the morning and then one or two in the afternoon. However even though these loads have been booked out months in advance he can never tell us drivers what our general day to day will be. God forbid you have a question too because the man will go off on everyone at any time. I personally think he needs a nice long vacation lol
@@samr5075 Sounds like your dispatcher is taking his personal problems out at work. He may soon be out of work. He also seems to be unable to manage his workload.