What do you want in a Dispatch service?

[JustResearching]

Hello everyone, my name is Sean. My cousin owns a trucking company (I won't say which one so this thread cannot be misconstrued as advertising).... anyway, he currently has a few company trucks, but has recently decided to move away from that side of the business and just do dispatching and financial services for Owner/Operators... and he wants me to help out with it.

I was going to head out to the local flying-J and offer to buy any Owner/Operators there dinner for the priviledge of picking their brains on this subject... and I will probably still do that, but it should be interesting to see what kind of feedback I can get from a board like this as well.

So my question is this: Since we are just starting this up, we are not very set in our ways yet, and everything is pliable/negotiable. Do you use a dispatching service, and if so what do you like/dislike about it? What services would you like to see a company such as this offer, and what experiences have you had in the past?

Also, what do you think is a fair price to pay for such services? He is thinking about charging a $499 weekly flat fee instead of a dollar amount per mile or a percentage based system.... but he would not be offering things like insurance or lumpers pay, etc... basically just dispatching and handling the financial stuff.

Please give me your thoughts.

[sweetdanielle]

fast response is a plus.
keeping up with notes on contact with driver is another plus. nothing more agrivating that a dispatcher not reading the notes on the qual com

[DETrob]

Hi.

I have not dealt with your type of service in a few years as I worked for a small trucking outfit in Pittsburgh, and we would use this type of service quite a bit.

The biggest problem is being told to get to a specific shipper at a specific time (LOAD IS READY). Then sitting there for over 8 hours because the load is not ready and getting no compinsation for that. This has happened so much that I Talked our co out of using that Service. We did it on our own.

I would talk directly to the shipping dept and have them call us direct when the load was ready we could have them a truck in 30 minutes. Mind you the loads paid $2.45 a mile back then. This was a good account and the service paid us on time.

Thats the next hurddle you must jump is paying the O/O on time. I have sat on may loads waiting for a check that would never come and tied up my equipment because of it.


Fuel surcharges are another problem, no one wants to pay it anymore or tells you that the fuel surcharge is in the rate. How do I know what your rate is without going behind your back and talking directly to the shipper. I know you need to make a profit but they tell me 1 number and when I ask the broker the tell me a different story.

What I am getting at is you need to be honest and fair to the O/O's Thats what gets you respect and thats what will make you or Close you down in a heart beat.


There are too many brokers out here that do this job. What do you offer that they arent? What makes you better then them, Thas the question you need to answer first before you go out and talk to the O/O's. They will all tell you the same.


If you want Private message me I will give you my friends private # he owns three trucks right now and he will talk to you in private about what you want to find out.

Also there is a Radio program on XM that helps People out and this guy is very good at what he does, His Name Is Kevin R. I will give you his link. CDL of it Take a listen to him if you can He has great advise and has helped thousands of O/O's Save money and helped Persons as yourself get going in this tough buisness.

Let me know.

Thanks, Rob.