Dispatch Response Times?

I've heard this mentioned a few times.

What is a realistic expectation for response when sending a Qualcomm msg? Average wait time on a phone call?

*Note, my previous life includes military, and ecommerce project mgt. Pretty sure what I find reasonable (5 min before I asked you) and normal person reasonable are wildly different.

I have my opinions about what it should be. But realistically when I was OTR with Swift, wait time on phone calls was anywhere from none to over 40 minutes, and qualcomm messages depended on the day and if my driver leader was in. My driver leaders were pretty good about answering their direct line, but if they weren't in I was out of luck. As for qualcomm messages, my DM would usually respond within 10-20 minutes or less, but if he wasn't in I could wait hours or not get a response at all.

Things got way way better when I switched to dedicated. On Target dedicated, we didn't send freeform messages. We just called in and someone would always pick up. Sometimes I had to wait a few minutes if they were busy--that's it. Huge difference. With Miller Coors dedicated, we sent in freeform messages but they were typically answered much more quickly, like within 15 minutes most of the time.

I can message in and get a response in a few minutes usually. I can call and usually get picked up within 10 minutes. CFI is working hard to improve dispatch.

The overwhelming majority of dispatchers don't want you calling them, they want you to use Qualcomm. You can be far more productive answering Qualcomm messages than you can phone calls. You can prioritize the requests and situations as they come in, where a phone call stops you in your tracks right now and really absorbs all of your time and attention. So if at all possible, stick with Qualcomm messaging and avoid phone calls.

A reasonable response time on Qualcomm will vary, depending on the nature of your message. If you need critical information quickly, figure about 10 - 20 minutes. If it's something that isn't a high priority thing it could be a couple of hours. If they're waiting on someone else to relay the information you need to them, that could be the primary reason for the delay.

Remember, dispatchers have anywhere from 50 - 100 drivers to take care of. They're frantically trying to handle a dozen situations at any given time. So do your best to be considerate of their situation. Use Qualcomm for messaging and don't interrupt them needlessly. The whole reason it can take a long time to get answers is because 10% of the drivers are taking up 80% of their time with needless phone calls, complaints, and needless baloney.

You should definitely drop in on dispatch sometime and learn all you can about how they work. The more you can do to help your dispatcher , the more they can do to help you. It truly is a team effort. Dispatchers will really go out of their way for the best drivers. They'll also go out of their way for those they develop a good relationship with. The more they're willing to do for you, the more money you're going to make. It's as simple as that. So go in there, get to know them a bit, and find out what you can do to help them do their job better. It will literally pay off big with more money in your pocket.

By the way, a 5 minute response time is not reasonable at all. They have way too many people to take care of.

I have numerous dispatchers and their fleet manager , and our operations manager on my voice dial contacts.. their direct number. If they're in, they answer. If they're out, another dispatcher will answer their line. I don't typically have to wait to reach anyone.

I prefer Qualcomm messages for the paper trail and rarely call anyone, but if I need them I will call. Don't even have to tell them who I am.. they recognize me (and every driver here) by their phone number. Lol I can call my dispatcher let it ring a couple times and just hang up.. he already knows most the time what I need and that info magically appears in to my Qualcomm. I love working at a smaller company.

I love working at a smaller company.

Where I work now we don't even use the messaging feature on the Qualcomms, which has its pros and cons. If I need something in writing, someone has to text me the info. We're so small they don't really want to hear from us unless we have a problem we can't work out on our own. We literally just pick up our trip packet in a mailbox before we leave and turn it in at the end of our trip--no macros, no phone calls, nada. I call dispatch once a week to let them know I'm back so they know when to send me out again.

Yeah Pianoman, that's exactly how we ran our own tiny trucking company 20 years ago.

My company now is 550 trucks, which is small but no mom and pop operation.