How to choose a truck dispatcher

A dispatcher can take the load search off your day, or cost you money and control of your FMCSA account. You can head off a lot of that before you start: with what you ask, what you sign, and what you refuse to hand over.

Ask these before you agree

• How do you work? A dispatcher can act as your agent under a standing agreement. One who decides which of several carriers gets a load is allocating traffic, and FMCSA says that takes broker authority.
• What is your fee, on what amount, and when is it due? Percent of the linehaul or of the total? Is detention included?
• Who do you dispatch for now, and can I talk to one of them?
• What trucks and lanes do you actually work? A sprinter and a reefer are different jobs.
• What language will we use on the phone at 5 a.m.?

Put it in writing

• The fee and how it’s calculated, and when it’s paid.
• You decide on every load: a dispatcher can’t accept one for you without your OK.
• The money for the load goes between the broker and you (or your factoring company), not through the dispatcher.
• Whether a fee is due on a load the broker didn’t pay for. Agreements differ, so decide it up front.
• How either of you ends the arrangement.

Check their claims against the paper

If a dispatcher promises a rate per mile, ask to see it on rate confirmations. Check each broker they book for you yourself, at least at the start: it takes a minute, and the broker is your risk, not theirs.

On DispaLoadIQ

Our dispatcher directory is free and early, with few cards so far. You can post a “Looking for a dispatcher” listing and compare replies, or send an offer from the directory. You choose, and after an offer is accepted you both can read and sign a short standard agreement on the website. You pay the fee to the dispatcher directly, and DispaLoadIQ takes no cut and doesn’t hold money.