Driver Managers

Okay I've read on a few of the forms here people complaining about their driver managers. From what I've been told a DM can make or break you as far as Trucking goes. What are some things I can do as a new driver to make sure my DAM and I get along and work well together. I know sometimes personalities will clash so putting that aside looking for good advice. Thank you in advance

TBH, don't speak in anger or frustration. Other than that be yourself. You will rarely be face to face with your Dispatcher. Just remember to keep your communication professional. Once you 2 get to know each other than I guess the occasional joke, but in all seriousness, if you keep it professional you shouldn't have problems. Remember it will take time for your Dispatcher (DM / FM) to learn your driving habits. Figure first 3 months is all about your DM learning how you like to run and you demonstrating what you can do.

I related my own personal experience in a different post, but I will reiterate. My DM is bad mouth by a lot of drivers at my company. Many don't like her. However, I have zero complaints. I don't wait for loads, she knows how and when I like to run, I make the high mileage bonus every quarter. I wouldn't want any other DM at my company. She knows I am a no news is good news kinda guy. I don't get messages from her unless it is important. She knows if I send a message it is important. Other than that she makes sure I always have a preplan waiting.

Charlie, I am going to say it's fairly unusual to have this problem. Sure, it happens, but I think it's out of the norm. I even had a dispatcher that I would never have been a friend with. He kept me running because his pay was performance based, much like mine, and he knew I could be deoended on.

One big thing you can do to assist your driver manager is to learn to communicate effectively with them on the Qualcomm. Here's a link to a thread on this very thing. Take a read and try to learn from it...

Communicating With Your Driver Manager

Be careful you don't fall into the extremely common trap that says your driver manager controls your destiny, or the idea that it's us (drivers) against them (dispatchers). This is a huge team effort, but you are the one that will usually set your destiny. Learn to do the things that make you an easy driver to manage. You'll be running so hard that youll be begging for a break once you figure out the little secrets of the top tier guys and gals.

Charlie I've read some posts where people are mentioned as having issues with their DM's and I don't understand why. Maybe it's because I'm new. But I almost never talk to my DM. Occasionally I have to ask a question because I don't yet understand everything. He knows this and is cool to answer them. But other that I just accept my loads, pick them up, and deliver them. When I first started I would deliver a load and then wait for a new trip plan then call because it was taking a long time to get one. Then I started calling before I was finished so I would have a preplan ready after I unloaded. Now I've been getting preplans sent without asking before I get to the receiver. I just added up all my miles from July 3 (when I got assigned to this truck and my first dispatch on it) which is when I got back from hometime after training, and the total was over 15,000 miles. And that was with 5 days hometime in there. Not too shabby I'd say. I asked my DM the other day how I was doing and he burst out laughing. He says "fantastic man. This is how you know if you're doing good. If you don't hear from me, the less you hear from me, that means you're doing great." Basically I just do my job and accept that I don't know squat.

Thank you for your advice I will keep this in mind and apply it

You will also find that a lot of drivers that blame their DM are the same ones with poor service records, accidents, poor clock management etc. It is easier to play the "us vs them" game than to clean up their act.

It is not in their best interest to have drivers sitting or quitting. DM usually have a performance requirement as well.

It really is all about communication. I've only been back a couple of weeks, but so far my DM is great. She's very professional and she's on top of things. My last go around was the same way. I never had any issues with him.

If you make all intentions clear, communicate your messages coherently and pay attention to details, things like load numbers, your clocks, your directions, I don't see how things can be that bad.

This is a profession and its the drivers that don't know how to be professional that have bad things to say about everything from miles to equipment to personnel and everything in between. Focus on being a professional with your DM, in good and bad times, and you'll be just fine

If you work with your DM as a team (not as your boss), you'll get miles and sometimes even special favors. Imagine if a player in a football offensive team wanted to argue with the QB in a game.

Driver Managers are graded by the miles their drivers make. So get out there and roll dem miles. Everyone's happy.

I can tell you that not all drivers are treated equally, and that's a good thing. At least it was for me. The harder you run, the safer you are, the more reliable you are, and the more friendly you are the better you'll be treated.

There's really no reason for personalities to clash. You're not working side by side chatting all day long. 98% of all of your communication will be short sentences typed over the Qualcomm , with an occasional phone conversation mixed in from time to time. Keep dispatch informed at all times of your situation and do a fantastic job out there. Over time you'll develop a better understanding of how to keep them informed so they can plan ahead to keep you rolling.

I did a podcast on this called The Importance Of Dispatch so check that out:

Podcast: The Importance Of Dispatch