Dispatch, sorry to beat up on your post but I'm bored tonight and ... well bored ... and ... find this a bit amusing.
1. I do NOT work for god aweful Panther. I like Panther like I like getting into car accidents. For you Panther drivers, you need to realize that your company has its own load board... for other carriers to bid on. Guess what! We get the load for twice as much as they are paying you. Their dispatch is rude, abnoxious, and do not know what they are doing.
I think it is a matter of opinion.
I talked to panther a few times and I never got the impression that they were rude or didn't know what they were doing. Panther, like my company has their own load board (which is NLM by the way), but it doesn't matter because what does is the fact that Panther does derive some of its work through that thing they call sales.
2. Yes, companies differ from each other. But the only differences are the following:
a) Pay to the driver
b) Areas covered/not covered
c) Size/Annual growth
d) Whether they broker loads to other carriers or not
That is the main differences.
NOT really.
There is a lot more to it than that.
For example the owner's (or CEO, COO) attitude is reflected by the management of the company.
THAT alone has a lot to do with it.
Mainly the pay is pretty much the same, not much difference there believe it or not - it is either flat rate or percentage.
The coverage can be a bit of a difference but when you are talking about the major players, it really doesn't matter and size doesn't really matter either because a lot of smaller companies actually have the latitude to leverage their customer base/load access by being more flexible. Whether they broker loads or not, well ... that goes back to my first point - it is a reflection of the management of the company.
You guys are wanting some insider information on the biz. Well, right off hand here is a small piece of information for you. Dont take it the wrong way. Use it for knowledge. ALL dispatch has their phone calls recorded.
Well..... sort of important when there is a dispute but outside of that, not really important.
They have to have it recorded in order to go back through conversations for reference with customers and whatnot.
Actually hate to break this to you but they don't have to, almost all the companies outside of the majors don't record their phone conversations - shhhh they can't afford to. BUT there is another thing about this I will touch on in a moment, really important one.
But can also be used to catch a driver lying. For instance. Fred (Driver) says he was in Knoxville, Tn. @ 21:46 p.m. est. Now, 1 hour later, he says he is in Roanoke, Va. Uh, driver your lying I dont care what you drive but you cannot move that fast.
Actually this doesn't matter either, simply because if he lied, it isn't a big deal about location. It is a contractor/company thing and gets down to a point that this can be considered Forced Dispatch if you are hounding the driver.
This is a vague example especially since my company doesnt run into this problem with our driver because we are on satellite.
AND??
But I think you get the point.
No not really....
YOU cannot possibly lie to a dispatcher about anything on your load. If you are in traffic, we can find out. If you took too long to load, we can find out. We know where you are, when you got there, and if you are on satellite GPS phones, we know which parking space you are in. We zoom in on google maps your location, and we can tell you what gas pump you are at and when you pulled up to it. So, dont try to lie to the dispatch.
Well there is a real funny problem with a lot of what you are saying, this is another example of a contractor becoming an employee. You need to have a serious talk with your manager on how you are allowed to treat a contractor.
They may not react to it, but they remember it. I have 1 driver that lies to us daily. He doesnt know we can zoom in on his location. He always says he gets in traffic coming through certain parts of Nevada and Cali. Then we zoom in and he is at a casino. WTF? There is a small one for ya. Ask me more I dont know what to tell you guys just yet. So ask away.
Well ... so?
It is not your business where he is if it is his vehicle. If he says he is getting laid at the truck stop but is at the casino winning millions, it really doesn't matter unless you have to have him pick up a load for say $4 a mile and the world is going to stop without that load being picked up.
SO here is what I told you I will tell you. Be careful about recording people. In some states it is illegal to record a conversion without a full disclosure before the recording is made. If I was a customer of yours and had an issue with something you did, it can be used against you if I want to yank your chain really hard. I think it is a felony (it is in Michigan where I'm at) and being the guy/gal at the end of the phone where the the recording is taking place, it means you are committing a crime, even if I'm is in another state. Doesn't matter what you tell the drivers, I understand it has to be told every time they call in.
By the way, I am still trying to figure out the tier one thing. I understand what you said but the NLM guys said there are like a gizzion carriers that are tier one and they even have unqualifieds taking the overflow at times.
. Its just more professional this way. But we are a tier 1 carrier. Not a small company. We have about 25 trucks on 1099's and about 10 vehciles on w-2's.
