Status Transportation dispatcher Kyle P.
September 13, 2017
Ben D – Status Trucks Dispatcher
November 18, 2021
Hi, I am Alex Schwappach and I’m a Dispatch Supervisor at Status Transportation.
Before I became part of the Status team, I was already working in the trucking industry. I used to work for a big-name brokerage company, but it was time for change. Everything came along – I saw the job posting at Status, applied, got the job and kind of just flew into dispatch.
Connecting with people and making money are what I like most about being in the trucking industry. It is surely not just a boring, cut-and-dry job. Whether it is talking to brokers, to Owner-Operators or dealing with shippers, I enjoy connecting with people and building relationships. A lot of these guys I get to know on a personal level and we’re able to talk about family things.
I think the most important things for a driver to achieve financial success in the trucking industry is communication, making sure that you are keeping yourself accountable, and of course, making sure you’re keeping track of your time.
If you want to be a guy who is home every weekend, or you want to be home every three weeks, be on time for what you are doing. When you say you want to come out on a certain date, try to stick to that. If something comes up, try to communicate beforehand so that way your dispatcher knows what to expect. That way he’s not working for you and then losing loads because you changed the plan unexpectedly. We are working hard to find the absolute best loads for you and when we get a call saying that you decided not to run, it is a waste of our effort. But if you call the day before we can work with that and plan ahead to make sure we have a good offer for you when you will be coming out on the road.
Communication and keeping yourself accountable will definitely help you achieve a lot of financial success in the trucking industry and in any industry really. Work with your dispatcher, trust him, and build a good rapport. You guys should have a good work relationship. A driver and dispatcher should almost share one mind and act as a single unit.
We do no force dispatch here at Status and a lot of my guys trust me so much that I can book a load and sometimes I don’t even need to call them. I can say, “look here, man, a got this load for you” and they will say “this looks awesome, thank you! I’m on my way.” They know that’s a great load and they can see they are making good money on that load.
It is hard to dispute that there will be money to make on the absolute best loads I offer to my drivers because that’s what I’m looking for. By the time I offer a load to you I’ve most likely looked through a hundred loads and if I could not find the best one, I would look at two-hundred more if I have to. That is what we’re going to go through every day till we pick the best one, make sure you are making the most money and that you can make it on time.
So you’ve got to have that synced communication with your dispatcher and trust them. We do our part and for this relationship to work well you have to do yours and we have to have a good rapport and good understanding of each other.
A dispatcher and Owner Operator’s relationship is really a unit; it is a team and it should always function as one. And that kind of goes back to the importance of good communication. Becoming a dispatcher is not as easy as it looks on TikTok, trust me. I’ve had a lot of my friends hit me up saying “Oh man, you guys make so much money.” It is true, good dispatchers can make a lot of money and if you know what you’re doing, you can make a lot of money in the trucking industry. But when you’re just trying to be an independent with no history of how to do brokering, dealing with shippers, dispatching, or trucking it’s challenging. You can’t just book a load and say “Oh, I booked a $7,000 load.” Yeah? Where’s it going, man? Is it going to Colorado? Good luck coming out of there. You have to know where the next step is and you’ve got to plan ahead. It’s like riding a bullet, don’t allow yourself to get thrown off.
The difference between a good dispatcher and a bad one is probably that a good dispatcher is making money for his guys and the bad one doesn’t. A good dispatcher will make sure the paperwork is actually done right too. I mean, there’s a lot more to it than just booking loads. A really good dispatcher is going to be on his A-game with organization and timing, above and beyond just booking loads. Anybody can book a load. But to build a career in trucking you’ve got to know how to keep everything clean, organized, and ready for the next day.
The relationship between a driver and a dispatcher really is the most essential part. I am sure that’s one of the key components to being a functioning team for no forced dispatch to work. A lot of time, I see guys blaming the company when really they’re just not in sync with the person they’re working with. You can work with, let’s say Status or any other company, but say you’re working with Status, and you dislike the dispatcher you’ve been assigned to and it may not even be personal. It may just be that you just don’t like communicating with them or you don’t have the right chemistry, and that’s very important.
I think that when you actually have someone you’re in sync with, when you have good conversations, when you can communicate clearly, then things will be smooth sailing. I have watched countless times drivers switching from one dispatcher’s board over to another and suddenly everything is working out well. The Owner Operator is making twice as much money, the daily operations are going smoothly and there are fewer headaches and making money in the trucking industry just works.
Another very important thing for making money in the trucking industry is how you choose your geography. The best areas to run are definitely the areas where no one else wants to go. Everyone wants to stay on I10 and I20, that seems like a safe bet. Yes, being in the Southeast is easy. We all like it, for a lot of us it’s warm and close to home. But when you go places, no one else wants to – you’re going to make better money. That’s a fact. Do what’s hard, not what’s easy and you’ll make more money.
The Midwest is typically a great area to find absolute best loads. Most of the time you know you’re going to make great money out there. Long runs are always a good bet too. You’re going to get a ton of money when you’re doing long runs, instead of day runs for example. You’re not risking dealing with shippers and receivers as often and spending time at the dock. When you cut that element out and just pick up one load to run for three or four days you’ve made your work a lot easier. You have the comfort of running your hours without having to worry about all the variables and all the other people interfering.
What I would like to say to all drivers. Get out there and make money hauling absolute best loads. Also, why are you not on my board? All of my guys are rich – you could be rich too. I can make you the biggest money there is, let’s go.
