Recently, when my dispatcher was trying to get one of our drivers authorized for a wage raise, I overheard a phone exchange between my dispatcher and someone in top-level management. Seeing my dispatcher make his argument for the driver struck me as fascinating. I’ll list his arguments supporting his belief that the driver should get a pay boost before briefly expanding on each one. He gave the reasons for his opinion that the driver deserved a wage raise.
- Always on time, he
- He never complains.
- He’s prepared to accept loads that nobody else wants.
- He is adept at using his clock.
- He is just simple to deal with.
We often educate people on these topics at Trucking Truth. Therefore I found it surprising that my dispatcher would state the same justifications almost word by word. I intended to demonstrate it to you from the dispatcher’s viewpoint. That could make things a little bit easier to process for some of you. Let’s begin with his opening assertion.
Always be punctual
This driver is always punctual. Being on time benefits a driver much. That positions him as the ideal corporate spokesman. It offers the consumer top-notch customer service. It protects the dispatcher from having to answer awkward questions from top-level management about why he can’t keep his drivers on task.
A dispatcher will see a driver as a problem kid who has to be continuously watched over or held accountable if they have a great record for arriving on time. No dispatcher likes to have to keep an eye on a driver. A driver who requires regular coaching and supervision is a big drain on his energies since he already has more on his plate than he can handle. All rookie drivers are expected to need some assistance, but a motorist eventually has to establish motivation and trustworthiness.
Another major advantage of always being on time is the ability to be counted among a select group of reliable drivers for whom load planners may go ahead and pre-plan assignments. When a driver doesn’t disrupt their plans, the planners keep up with him to keep him occupied, thereby ensuring that he is earning money for the firm and himself. Remember that everyone in this management chain is evaluated on their performance. While a driver may be at the bottom of the chain of command, the others must be able to depend on him since he is just as important to the team as anybody else.
Never complain
His second piece of advice for this motorist was to never voice complaints.
If you’ve spent time with other truck drivers, you’ll realize that this feature alone sets him apart from many of his contemporaries. With our whining, we drivers are nearly obsessed. I can never spend more than five minutes in the driver’s lounge at a commercial airport without encountering a disgruntled driver. You’ll quickly see that the other drivers seated nearby have started to adopt the same attitude as at least one or more complaining drivers. In the winter, complaining spreads more quickly than the flu.
Although many drivers complain to their dispatcher, others vent their frustrations. Most dispatchers know how challenging this work may be, and they make every effort to support their drivers. Their drivers grumbling about every duty they give them is the last thing they want to hear. Take your tasks and complete them. If the task isn’t your liking, simply do it and go on to the next one.
We transport freight because we are drivers. We cannot anticipate comfort and ease with every load assignment. Our dispatchers get to know us and like providing us with loads that we like, but they are more likely to provide those who don’t complain about every load they get desired cargoes.
Taking On The Burdens, No One Else Wants
Lastly, the dispatcher extols the virtues of this driver by noting that he is eager to accept loads that nobody else wants.
This exact praise was made to me. A dispatcher highly values stuff like this. He has a lot of work that needs to be done. He needs to distribute loads to the drivers he has. On my dedicated account, a specific load travels around 1,500 miles each week. We do this load thrice weekly, and the driver is given a back-haul load that returns us close to the factory. If you can be assigned to such a load, you will earn an average weekly salary of more than 3,000 miles. What’s this? In the cold, nobody wants to carry such a burden. It extends from Louisiana to the Northeast, especially Connecticut or beyond. Just three of the fifteen drivers work this load every week.
In any given week, we sometimes travel an average of close to 3,400 miles. The other drivers began complaining during the warmer months about those three drivers receiving all the gravy runs. The dispatcher replies as follows:
Dispatchers have excellent recall. Don’t be the driver people recall not wanting to put in the effort. There will be some gravy runs, and the drivers who put in the work and proved themselves on the challenging terrain will undoubtedly participate in the really enjoyable activities.
Understand Time Management Techniques
He knows how to work his clock, the dispatcher adds.
This is an important quality in a driver. It implies that he is resourceful in finding ways to ensure that he has time available when needed and has a solid working grasp of the laws and regulations. We all know what running out of hours is like, but top-tier drivers tend to think so far ahead that they manage their time three and four days in advance. This same dispatcher once said, “I can’t stand it when I’ve got a great load to give a driver, and then he tells me I don’t have the hours to do it. Sometimes, it is one thing to inform the dispatcher that you are out of the office, but avoid making this a habit.
A driver who just can’t manage his time out here will quickly find himself lounging in the truck stop driver’s lounge, binge-watching old episodes of CSI. That is not how you can succeed in this line of work. If you keep complaining that you are out of hours, your dispatcher may ensure you do unnecessary 34-hour resets. Each driver working after hours has to have a solid week in his past, demonstrating his utility and productivity.
Be Easy To Deal With
The dispatcher’s favorite thing about this driver is how easygoing he is to deal with.
Among managers of transportation companies, this is akin to code language. They all are aware of and complain about difficult-to-work-with drivers. They are thrilled to discover someone simple to deal with. We need to perform a lot of effort as drivers in this region. Some of us have convinced ourselves that because these trucking corporations couldn’t function without us, we can behave like tiny trucking autocrats and get away with it. Don’t fall into this current line of reasoning.
I’m a calm, discreet driver who concentrates on the task. Another driver in our fleet and I had a brief conversation one day, during which he told me I was doing all the difficult work since I didn’t stick up for myself. He continued by telling me why I was constantly required to make those trips to Connecticut. Remember that fantastic run I mentioned earlier? He was referring to that specific one. This man entered my life unexpectedly one night at the factory while we were picking up our loads, and I didn’t even know him. Knowing his identity, I committed to speak with my dispatcher about him at the next opportunity.
This driver continued to tell me that our dispatcher could not terminate him because he had family members who worked in management at the SAPA factory. When I had the opportunity to get down with my dispatcher two weeks later, I questioned him about that specific driver. The dispatcher pretended he had no idea who I was referring to. After giving him a more thorough description and stating his name, the dispatcher said,
There you have it, then. You’ll hopefully have a better grasp of what it takes to break out in this industry by viewing how a dispatcher evaluates the drivers on his team who he considers the Top Tier Drivers. Believe me; getting to the top of the food chain out here is not difficult. The majority of your rivals will make things simple for you. Maintaining your position at the top is when things start to become difficult. As you get traction, a few deserving rivals will constantly strive for your position. You need to maintain your dominance to play the game well and earn a decent living here.
