Anyone using a dispatch service? Need info
 

Hello,

Is anyone using a 3rd party dispatch service running under your own authority? I don't want to lease to someone and I can't justify/afford a full time dispatcher for only 3 trucks.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-scott

You can't handle three trucks yourself?

I have found it difficult when I'm driving one of them........

Same boat here.
 

[QUOTE=skrissel;486213]I have found it difficult when I'm driving one of them........[/Q

No worries.Have you ever tried doing what he just mentioned?Even with 2 trucks and driving and dispatching is no joke.He calls me and tells me he getting unloaded and then asks if I have something lined up for him?I then have to get my rolodex and laptop out to search for loads.It is not fun when you have a "hungry" driver looking for every mileage he can eat up.
I am in the same boat, please let me know if you guys can recommend one.Not just recommend, but have you used that particular service and how much are they grossing your trucks?

Unlike many, I wouldn't respond unless I know what I'm talking about. I have...as many as five; though they weren't my trucks and not for more than a few weeks at a time. Develop your system before you buy the trucks and it's not an issue...so long as you figure out how to operate efficiently. Besides, hire a driver for the third truck and you can come off the road.

Our infamous ex-board member is using a dispatcher type service. I won't discuss specifics, but he's happy with it and the price seems reasonable.

Who is this and what are the specifics?Email or PM us.

It can be difficult to find loads for multiple trucks when you are also driving one of them yourself. I have tried that myself. I found that if I am going to have drivers that it is much better to stay home and dispatch them myself rather than drive. You can't do justice to either if you drive and dispatch. It can take too much time finding better paying loads. It isn't that difficult if you don't care about the rate or where you go. It does take much more effort when you want a decent rate. If I had more time I might consider doing it again myself.

What type of trailers??

Sign me up when you start doing it again!

Reefer

steve boothe?

I will let you know.

check your pm's

Got it and responded, thanks!!!

dispatch service
 

I am using a small dispatch service some of the time.I like to drive and not play with a laptop or run in and out of truck stops faxing papers

I have a past driver who is disabled and he gets me most of my work.
here is how we work and what it costs
he finds loads and runs them past me.He calls on them and gets them up in price when he can.He earns his pay doing that.

He also sets me up with brokers takes care of all my paperwork
I figure up each month what he has found me and send him 5 % in a com check

I handle all invoicing,money and stuff like that myself.
He acts like a independent service.I could do it all myself,but I like this guy and I like driving,not stopping and being on the lap top or telephone

pm me and I will send you his info if you are serious.He knows the trucking business from a drivers standpoint since he has driven.A medical condition has forced him to get out of the truck or he would be driving

I offer the complete solution... I am an indeoendat dispatcher.
 

I offer a personal dispatcher service through Bridges Logistics. bridges-logistics.com
I can do a far superior job as opposed to someone trying to find their own loads while driving. It is my job to find your loads. I not only find the load but I find the backup loads. It's a complete Freight Finding / Dispatching / Planning / Administrative solution. No driver has ever been displeased! It's a win win. email me at [email protected]

call 7345127723 we can help ask for dale or munatavo

The Owner Operators Freelance Dispatcher

I am offering my dispatch service and resources to Owner Operators that have their own authority and Insurance.
I call for loads under your business name/Authority as your employee for you. I book the best paying loads with the least amount of deadhead I can find on your terms, and dispatch your freight directly to you or your driver(s), it is that simple.
All the money flows through you or your factoring company, I do not see or touch your money, which means I get paid from you not the other way around. I charge 5% percent of the gross of each load and will only take on 5 owner operators max, so space is limited. I already have the experience, know how, load boards, phone, fax, and the time! Now you can just drive!
Do you not have the availability or time to Drive and properly put forth the time and effort it takes to get a decent load? Do you lack the resources while on the road or a person at home to book freight, write invoices, mail out the original?
STOP Paying 25 – 30% of your gross to a leasing company that does not seem to care about the cost of fuel and dead head!
Call: Nope, no free advertising for your book here either. I have brokers calling and emailing every morning with loads every where. Just dont have the trucks to do them. I drove semi for 13 years pulling oversize. Due to a back injury I cant dive I sit at home and dispatch. Im up at 6 am and dont get done till midnight or after. You will always be able to get ahold of me 24 hrs aday. [email protected] 1-812-626-9181

The Owner Operators Freelance Dispatcher

I am offering my dispatch service and resources to Owner Operators that have their own authority and Insurance.
I call for loads under your business name/Authority as your employee for you. I book the best paying loads with the least amount of deadhead I can find on your terms, and dispatch your freight directly to you or your driver(s), it is that simple.
All the money flows through you or your factoring company, I do not see or touch your money, which means I get paid from you not the other way around. I charge 5% percent of the gross of each load and will only take on 5 owner operators max, so space is limited. I already have the experience, know how, load boards, phone, fax, and the time! Now you can just drive!
Do you not have the availability or time to Drive and properly put forth the time and effort it takes to get a decent load? Do you lack the resources while on the road or a person at home to book freight, write invoices, mail out the original?
STOP Paying 25 – 30% of your gross to a leasing company that does not seem to care about the cost of fuel and dead head!
Call: Nope, no free advertising for your book here either. I have brokers calling and emailing every morning with loads every where. Just dont have the trucks to do them. I drove semi for 13 years pulling oversize. Due to a back injury I cant drive I sit at home and dispatch. Im up at 6 am and dont get done till midnight or after. You will always be able to get ahold of me 24 hrs aday. [email protected] 1-812-626-9181

Funny, none of the dispatch folks advertising above have mentioned what their fees are.

personally i think with an internet air card, laptop and a smart phone, i say do it yourself. when they say they're getting you the "Best rate" how do you know? just the way i look at it anyway.

When you use a dispatch service you need to have a certain level of trust. If you don't think you are getting the best rates with your dispatch service, then find another or do it yourself. When I was dispatching, I asked the owner operator what he wanted as his minimum haul rate. I would not bother him with anything less. A dispatch service should be able to negotiate the best rate possible. Rates are down right now. Most brokers are not willing to do much negotiating due to having an over capacity situation. When we have more trucks than freight, rates are going to be lower. Hopefully, the economy will improve before long and rates will rise.

I agree, firebird, but luckily I haven't been in that situation yet. I trained my wife to dispatch two years ago and she has probably gotten better at negotiating rates than I am. I'm better at planning when and where to run and predicting what rates we should be able get in a particular area, but I believe day in and day out she is able to talk a broker into coming up on a rate far more often and for a greater amount than I am. That being said, I know I could (and occasionally do) find loads from the cab of my truck; but what I can't do (safely) is watch the load boards all day while driving down the road. I COULD do it, but we set our standards so high that we often have to call on as many as fifty loads to get the rate we require. I just can't see driving down I-81 in VA and trying to call on load after load. Or worse yet, be somewhere out west where the cell signal is suspect at best and be in a situation where I REALLY needed to book a load to keep me moving over the weekend.

There may be a valid argument for a dispatching service in some situations, but like GMAN said, I'd have to have a huge amount of trust in the dispatcher. Not just trust that the dispatcher is getting me an overall better deal than I could on my own, but also that the dispatcher is representing me to brokers in a manner that I approve of. Over the years, in all areas of trucking, I've found that more people than not are incompetent in their jobs. Right now, the 100+ brokers we work with, without exception, all find every aspect of our operations to be professional and of uncompromised integrity. All it would take to ruin that hard earned reputation is have some idiot calling brokers on my behalf who can't communicate in a professional manner, or who makes promises I can't deliver on. I hope I never have to rely on someone other than my wife to dispatch me. Hopefully if that day ever does come, I'll be in a position where I no longer need to turn the miles I currently do, and I will be still be able to handle everything myself.

Welcome to SummersAgency.com!

7% includes payment as soon as he receives your BOL's

Right, but that brings me right back to that issue of trust both I and GMAN have already mentioned. How do I trust Summers Agency? And what if I don't want to factor?

I have been using him for 3 years and couldn't be any happier. Most honest guy you will find. If you need a advance for repairs or fuel he is always there willing to help in anyway he can.

Scott Krissel who originally started this thread put 3 trucks on the next week with Summers Agency and he is still using them. He doesn't factor with them. He does his own factoring through his fuel card somehow.

I think it is 5% commission if you don't factor with him.

He is looking for 3 more trucks to dispatch, preferably reefers but he will take a dry van on occasion.

Give Donny a call if interested and in 30 seconds you will realize he is all business and a straight shooter.

I charge 5% of what the trucks makes. I would like to get about 4 more drivers any one interested and willing to give me a shot at it give me a call 8126269181

Five percent seems reasonable, but if I had three trucks that grossed 250k a year like I do now with my one truck, wouldn't it make more sense for me to take that $37,500 a year and hire somebody full time to work out of my own office and do so exclusively for me? The more trucks a person has, the less sense it makes to use a dispatching service. I can see the argument being a good one for the single truck carrier, but that's about it. Of course I have a little different philosophy than a lot of people. I generally don't pay somebody to do something that I can easily do myself. If I ever lose my office girl, I might try a dispatching service for a short time. If the service could increase my gross (on same miles) by more than what its fees were, then it would be a worthwhile proposition.

Do you think you could get someone who would do a good job and stay in your $37,500 budget? Don't forget you get to pay SSI and Workmens Comp and unemployment out of your $37,500.

I think I could get somebody who would do a better job than a dispatching service for $37, 000 all inclusive, no problem... and I could train the person the way I wanted, AND I could have him or her do all my other office work to boot. In Southern Illinois $30k a year is considered a pretty good job.

Sounds like you got the plan that will work for you.

I don't want the hassle of hiring someone and doing the "babysitting" you have to do when you have a employee. I can call Donny 24 hours a day if I have any problem and he is there to help. He is worth 10 times as much as what I pay him in commission.

Donny owned grocery stores in Mississippi until he sold out to the larger chain grocery store and retired in Montana. He works out of his home with his wife and is always available to help.

Sounds great, just probably not for me. I do a lot of things differently than others. I don't even factor loads. I know, it's a hassle doing accounts receivable, but I like keeping as much of my money as I can in my own pocket. I have what works for me right now, as I have already said. If it's ever proven to me that I will put more money in my pocket by giving seven percent away to somebody else, then I would gladly make the jump to a dispatching service. Until then, or until what I'm doing becomes less profitable for me, I'll keep plodding along doing everything myself. There's plenty of others who do things differently though. There's nothing wrong with having a dispatching service, if that's what makes you happy.

How many trucks do you have? I work from my home as Independent Truck Dispatcher. If you just need dispatch service with no paperwork then i can dispatch your trucks for flat fee of $500/week up to 3 trucks. Currently i work mostly on east coast specially from NJ/NY/PA to GA/AL/TN. But i can work on your preferred lanes. Let me know if interested. I work hard to cover trucks and negotiate the best price for my trucks.


Thanks,
Rohan!

Instead of paying anywhere from 5 to 10% or more for a dispatching service, not to mention all the costs of your own authority, ins etc etc. We decided to lease our trucks on to a company like RoadMasters. If you have more than 2 trucks you can lease on as a outside terminal agent. As an agent you receive 83% of 100% of the gross for every load for each truck. So basically for 17% its like having a dispatching service(we have a huge, very strong construction and oilfield customer base) you run under our authority, bond, cargo and liability insurance is included, and also the unmatched name and respect in the industry. We have been in business since 1978 and we can haul for almost all of the good shippers and are very well known for the excellent service we provide to drivers and customers. We take all the credit risks and pay trucks weekly regardless of when or if customer pays. We do all of the accounting and billing etc. Several other benefits and ways the company will help the owner ops just starting also. My wife and I have been doing this 17 years and we know where the money is and how to get it :) Flatbed and heavy/oversized, if you ain't in it, get here quick.

And if I have only one truck? What if I have my own trailer? 83 percent of what? 83 percent of $2.50 to $3 a mile sounds good, but 83% of $1.80 doesn't sound so good. Additionally, empty miles and total number of miles makes a big difference as well. Three dollars a mile and only 1,500 miles a week would bankrupt me. So would $3 per loaded mile and 2,500 miles a week if 700 of those miles are empty and therefore unpaid. Do I decide how much I work? I like to go out for three to four weeks and run hard and then take two weeks off. Can I do that without management getting twitchy on me?

It sounds like it could be a good deal, but there's just too many factors in play that could cause what appears to be a golden egg to really just be a spray painted turd. I'd definately need more information before even thinking about making a jump like that.

Hello y'all, I am new to this site and new to the trucking industry. I grew up riding in my grandfathers truck, it was amazing. There is just something about that big old truck that fascinated me! I am new to working in the industry. I am kind of a cross between an independent dispatcher and a truckers right hand assistant! There are a lot of truckers in my family growing up and I always wanted to find away to be get involved. Since I cant drive I wanted to help in some other ways. I know how important their job is and how valuable their time is so I found a way that I could help them and make some money. I joined the site hoping I could meet some great new people, learn about the industry so I can better meet the needs of my clients and hopefully make some new friends!
Melanie

Hi Scott how are you , I can definitely help you out. Whats your contact info so we can speak. or call us at 972-248-3617

Hi Scott how are you , I can definitely help you out. Whats your contact info so we can speak. or call us at 972-248-3617

Dispatch services are not for professionals . Real hotshotters that succeed sell themselves and their services . The ones that come in asking where to find loads don't last six months. Yes , the best of them use brokers but once they demonstrate profesionalism with their service the brokers call them with the good loads that don't go on the boards.