What Makes a Good Dispatcher?

A strong dispatcher does much more than manage the phone.

The dispatcher's job is to schedule drivers to pick up and deliver loads to customers or vendors. Great dispatchers demonstrate excellent communication, organizational, problem solving, multi-tasking, patience and people skills.

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What Does a Dispatcher Do?

The trucking industry relies on safe drivers to complete deliveries. Often referred to as the backbone of American industry, truck drivers are typically thought of as the foundation of the system. However, they are not the only employees responsible for its success. A dispatcher is as essential to a trucking operation as any driver. Your goal, as a dispatcher, is to make your customer happy and keep your driver safe.

 

Dispatchers are also responsible for keeping records, monitoring driver daily logs for errors or violations and monitoring drivers' working hours and equipment availability.  Another part of the job is knowing the weather of all your drivers' locations in order to flag potential issues. There are numerous computer programs to aid dispatchers in their job, but much of the work requires good intuition and knowledge of the industry.

An essential part of your job will be to coordinate and manage the most efficient loads to remain cost-effective as a company; this means you'll try to combine shipments based on their routes and timeline to minimize how many trucks and drivers are out, rather than sending each order out individually.

 

You will need to determine the best delivery methods and negotiate rates directly with vendors and customers. It's your responsibility to identify these considerations and help drivers get the necessary documents they need. Always be calm and speak professionally, never get into a verbal altercation with a driver while he is dispatched on your load as you don’t need to take risk of getting into a situation that could

potentially turn bad. It's also important to realize you to be focused on the job from start to finish; there is rarely any downtime and you'll be taking calls and managing routes all day. For this reason, you must be highly organized and able to handle high amounts of stress.