I usually try to avoid long, preachy posts on these boards, but I have seen some comments on here that border on the just plain ignorant. Chiefly among these comments are the following:
A)Teams should only be offered team runs.
What the blazin' heck does this mean? Being a team operation means that you can continuously run freight without having to take the same breaks a single does. It means that you might take a 20o mile load, and then a 600 mile load without worry of having to break. That 60 mile load now might lead to a 1500 mile load in the evening.
However there are some teams that can't get stuck off of the notion that teams should only be offered "long loads". Hey, wanna know something about those long loads? Sometimes they get ya stuck in the worst areas.... and while you're waiting for another long load to get you back into civilazation your profits decrease. Time is money in this business, and when you spend it parked at Wal Mart in California for two days you are kissing dollars good-bye.
I would much rather take back to back 200-300 mile loads that keep me moving. Or better yet give me back to back minis that pay me a minimum charge.
And then there are team operations that seem to think that any load that is offered to them at less than 700 miles is a personal insult, which leads me to the next misconception.
B) Dispatchers have control over how many loads they have or what they can offer you.
The company that I work for is very open, and I have had several occasions to sit with the dispatchers while I am on layover and watch them work. These are good, hardworking people. And most of them care about the drivers that they work with. But they have NO control over what they offer a truck. A customer calls them, requests a certain type of unit and the dispatcher has to try to find a truck for that customer. It is simple as that. It would be STUPID if a dispatcher were to tell a customer that they wouldn't take a load from them because it is too short or doesn't have enuff for FSC. That customer would be very unlikely to call that company back again.
Dispatchers can only offer the freight that customers give them. And for the most part they distribute the freight fairly based on who has been sittin the longest or whose closest to pick up the load.
If a dispatcher has a mini called into them and the only truck available is a team, they cant tell the customer that it is too short. They may not even want to tie a truck up on s hort load just in case a longer load comes up that they'd have to pass on, but what type of business would refuse a customer because the request isnt ideal?
and just a note, dispatchers aren't rich. Ive talked to alot of drivers out on the road that think that everyone that works for a trucking company or works in an office has tons of money. The truth is that many of us make much more than our dispatchers. Dispatching is usually a entry level position and these people work hard for what they do. They are stuck between there customer and working with us.
And at my company I consider most of them my friends.
Although there are a few I would like to thump in the head. But there are also plenty of my fellow drivers that i'd like to give a thumpin' to.
If any of you ever get a chance, and your company allows it, sit with a dispatcher for an afternoon. I learned alot, and was able to clear up lot of my own misconceptions.
A)Teams should only be offered team runs.
What the blazin' heck does this mean? Being a team operation means that you can continuously run freight without having to take the same breaks a single does. It means that you might take a 20o mile load, and then a 600 mile load without worry of having to break. That 60 mile load now might lead to a 1500 mile load in the evening.
However there are some teams that can't get stuck off of the notion that teams should only be offered "long loads". Hey, wanna know something about those long loads? Sometimes they get ya stuck in the worst areas.... and while you're waiting for another long load to get you back into civilazation your profits decrease. Time is money in this business, and when you spend it parked at Wal Mart in California for two days you are kissing dollars good-bye.
I would much rather take back to back 200-300 mile loads that keep me moving. Or better yet give me back to back minis that pay me a minimum charge.
And then there are team operations that seem to think that any load that is offered to them at less than 700 miles is a personal insult, which leads me to the next misconception.
B) Dispatchers have control over how many loads they have or what they can offer you.
The company that I work for is very open, and I have had several occasions to sit with the dispatchers while I am on layover and watch them work. These are good, hardworking people. And most of them care about the drivers that they work with. But they have NO control over what they offer a truck. A customer calls them, requests a certain type of unit and the dispatcher has to try to find a truck for that customer. It is simple as that. It would be STUPID if a dispatcher were to tell a customer that they wouldn't take a load from them because it is too short or doesn't have enuff for FSC. That customer would be very unlikely to call that company back again.
Dispatchers can only offer the freight that customers give them. And for the most part they distribute the freight fairly based on who has been sittin the longest or whose closest to pick up the load.
If a dispatcher has a mini called into them and the only truck available is a team, they cant tell the customer that it is too short. They may not even want to tie a truck up on s hort load just in case a longer load comes up that they'd have to pass on, but what type of business would refuse a customer because the request isnt ideal?
and just a note, dispatchers aren't rich. Ive talked to alot of drivers out on the road that think that everyone that works for a trucking company or works in an office has tons of money. The truth is that many of us make much more than our dispatchers. Dispatching is usually a entry level position and these people work hard for what they do. They are stuck between there customer and working with us.
And at my company I consider most of them my friends.
Although there are a few I would like to thump in the head. But there are also plenty of my fellow drivers that i'd like to give a thumpin' to.
If any of you ever get a chance, and your company allows it, sit with a dispatcher for an afternoon. I learned alot, and was able to clear up lot of my own misconceptions.
