The most stressful job in bulk hauling companies is typically managing dispatching communications. The dispatching office is often noisy and chaotic, but it doesn’t have to be.
Dispatchers must multitask while handling dispatching communications across multiple channels and coordinating with many people. This article will highlight key challenges and outline practical approaches to improve these processes.
While specific statistics on communication volume are limited, it's evident that dispatchers juggle various interactions daily, from coordinating schedules to addressing driver concerns. Ineffective communication between dispatchers and drivers has been linked to high driver turnover rates, with studies indicating that 35% of drivers leave a company within the first three months, and 70% depart within the first year.
Dispatchers juggle a wide range of communications daily, often across multiple channels. The image below illustrates the various types of interactions a dispatcher might handle, from driver updates to customer inquiries. While not exhaustive, it provides a clear snapshot of the communication flow in a typical dispatch office.
A small study across different-sized offices revealed that dispatchers typically receive 2–3 communications per hour per truck. For an office managing 60 trucks, that’s anywhere from 120 to 180 communications per hour—an overwhelming volume, especially when relying on paper-based systems. This is why many hauling companies with such systems struggle to scale beyond 25–35 trucks per dispatcher.
The number of trucks a dispatcher can effectively manage depends on several key factors:
If you want to replicate a study like this, you could have a sheet laid out like the image below and add a tic mark in the appropriate time and communication channel cell. This will let you see the breakdown of the various dispatching communications by hour and the total at the end of the day.
Note that someone other than the dispatcher will have to do this. A busy dispatcher won’t have time to do this study while dispatching. Sometimes multiple channels are active at once. For example, a dispatcher might be on the phone and a radio call comes across.
If you do this study, I’d love to hear what you find.
In addition to the number of communications, we need to take the type of communications into account. In some channels like the telephone or in-person, it typically takes longer to communicate than when the request comes in via email or SMS. With phone calls and in-person, there is more exchanging of pleasantries and chit-chat. Emails and texts tend to be shorter and more direct.
There are two main types of communication:
The above study and variables suggest the following to optimize your dispatching process and reduce the chance of mistakes and chaos.
For better dispatcher productivity and efficiency, it’s best to favor asynchronous communications like emails or SMS. These reduce interruptions, allowing dispatchers to focus on their current tasks without constant disruptions. While some face-to-face or phone conversations are necessary for urgent matters or relationship building, fewer real-time interactions save time and reduce the chance of errors. Requests sent via email or SMS are quicker to handle and less likely to be missed.
Minimizing the overall number of dispatching communications is just as important. Providing all necessary information in the initial dispatch helps avoid follow-up questions. Next, we’ll look at how to reduce communication for each type of interaction.
Ensuring dispatches provide all the information drivers need is critical for smooth dispatch operations. Many dispatchers rely on texting details to drivers, but this can be time-consuming.
To save time, dispatchers often send minimal information, leading to follow-up calls or texts from drivers asking for missing details. This back-and-forth disrupts workflow and increases the risk of errors. Each message should include all necessary details, like delivery instructions and a link to the job site on a map.
We designed software to make dispatching easier, helping you manage everything in one place. No more juggling calls, texts, and sticky notes—just a streamlined system that keeps your operations on track. Learn more about the dispatching features you can enjoy here.
If dispatchers don’t receive timely updates from drivers, they won’t know when to send them to the next job. At the same time, managing a high volume of status updates can be overwhelming. When updates come through radio, they’re easy to miss—a driver could be sitting at a job site for 30 minutes before reaching out again.
A better approach is having a system that queues up the day’s work for drivers and automatically sends the next dispatch as soon as the current one is complete. Even better, it should show the real-time status of all jobs and notify dispatchers when drivers are out of work or have reached 100% of the order amount.
We took all of this into consideration and created a dispatching system that simplifies the process. We also have a driver app where drivers can clock in and out, receive messages, use Google Maps for navigation, and snap tickets that will be instantly available to dispatchers. Dispatchers can then monitor the progress of jobs in real time, making it easier to manage schedules and keep operations running smoothly.
A system that handles both dispatches and driver status updates can reduce 67% of synchronous communications and cut down the time spent managing these updates by over 50%.
When only the dispatcher has access to schedules and order histories, it creates bottlenecks, especially in busy offices with multiple dispatchers. Relying on a paper-based system limits visibility, making it hard for managers and other team members to stay updated on the status of current or previous orders.
Switching to a digital system solves this problem. By having past and current orders in a format that’s accessible to everyone in the organization, it’s easier to track progress, make updates, and manage schedules without constant check-ins. Even better, when the system is accessible online, team members don’t have to be in the office to see what’s going on. They can still check the status or adjust schedules from anywhere.
All order information, schedules, and dispatch details are stored in one place, making it easy for your entire team to stay connected, whether they’re in the office or out in the field.
Having sales quotes easily accessible in an electronic format makes it much easier to process orders accurately. When a customer places an order, being able to reference the original quote ensures consistency in pricing and details. While PDFs, Word documents, and spreadsheets help, they have limitations—mainly because dispatchers need to know a quote exists before they even look for it.
A better approach is using a system that integrates sales quotes directly with orders and dispatching. This reduces the need for duplicate data entry, lowers the risk of errors, and can automatically pull up the relevant quote when an order is being created for a customer.
After deliveries are completed, back-office staff often spend time gathering tickets and pricing information to finalize billing. This process can be inefficient if they constantly need to ask dispatchers for details like haul charges or missing tickets.
Streamlining this process starts with making order and delivery statuses visible to the back office. When they can access this information directly, there are fewer questions for dispatchers, saving time for both teams. If drivers upload tickets through a driver app, the back office has everything they need without chasing down missing paperwork.
Implementing some of the changes mentioned above can lead to noticeable improvements in your dispatching process by reducing unnecessary communications and streamlining day-to-day operations. However, more meaningful changes will require an investment in software designed to streamline the sales, dispatching, and billing process.
There are only a couple products that can streamline quotes through invoicing as well as the back-office processes like driver and subcontractor pay. Dump Truck Dispatcher can allow a dispatcher to dispatch twice as many trucks as he does now for the typical aggregate hauling company.
Ready to take the next step?
If you have more than 10 trucks and want to see how Dump Truck Dispatcher can help you, you can schedule a FREE demo and we’ll discuss your specific needs, walking you through how the software works to help improve operations efficiency across your business.
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