12 questions to vet a dispatcher before you sign

Twelve questions that separate operator-aligned dispatch from a load-flipping shop.

You have three dispatch services on a call list. Each one quotes a different fee. Each one promises better loads. None of the pitches sound different on the surface. The pitch is not where the answer lives. The answer lives in twelve specific questions.

Most operators compare on price and personality. That picks the smoothest sales rep, not the best dispatcher. The questions below force the rep to talk about workflow, not promises.

Asking about fees first is the right move, not the rude one

Operators sometimes save fee questions for last. By then the call is half over. Lead with money. The fee structure tells you what the dispatcher gets paid to do.

A flat percentage of gross rewards higher rates per load. A flat weekly fee rewards consistency, not chasing. A per-load fee rewards volume, even cheap volume. None of these are wrong. But each one points the dispatcher in a different direction.

The first four questions are about money flow

Start here. If they dodge the money questions, the rest of the call is theater.

1. What is your fee structure, and does it scale with my gross? A 5% cut on $7,000 weeks and on $4,500 weeks is not the same job. Watch for vague answers like “we keep it fair.” Fair is not a number.
2. How are TONU, detention, and layover paid out, and who chases the broker for it? A real operator-side dispatcher chases detention every week. A bad answer sounds like “the broker decides what they pay.” That means nobody is fighting for it.
3. What does weekly settlement reconciliation look like? You want a line-by-line statement: load, gross, fee, accessorials, deductions. If the answer is “we send a summary,” you will spend Sundays rebuilding their math.
4. What happens at day 30 if I want to renegotiate or walk? Every honest dispatcher has a day-30 checkpoint. Listen for “we sit down and look at the numbers together.” Listen against “you signed a contract.”

The first four questions decide whether you are paying for a service or paying for a sales pitch. The fee math should hold up under your own spreadsheet. If you want to compare what fees actually buy, the dispatch rate breakdown walks through where each model leaks money.

The next four expose how they actually book loads

This is where load-flippers get caught. Booking process is a workflow question, not a marketing question. The answers should sound like a Tuesday morning, not a brochure.

5. Do you book the next load before delivery, or after? Before delivery means reload positioning. After delivery means deadhead and a cold board. A bad answer sounds like “we wait to see how the day goes.”
6. How do you handle below-floor loads on slow days? The honest answer is, “we call you and ask.” The bad answer is, “we book what is available.” Below your floor without your sign-off is the fastest way to a $1.20 mile.
7. What is your deadhead philosophy and how do you enforce my lane preferences week to week? The dispatcher should name your two or three primary lanes back to you on the call. If they cannot, they have not read the file.
8. How many trucks per dispatcher do you carry? Eight to twelve is normal for a working desk. Twenty-plus means you are a row in a spreadsheet. Watch for the rep who refuses to answer this one at all.

Booking process is the part of the job that actually moves your week. A dispatcher who books reactively keeps you on the spot market every Friday afternoon. A dispatcher who books two days ahead keeps your truck loaded into Monday.

If your current dispatcher can’t answer the first eight of these cleanly, the last four are a formality. Run the full list before your next renewal conversation.

The last four questions are about authority and ownership

This is where operators get hurt twelve months in. The first eight questions handle workflow. These four handle what happens when the relationship is not new anymore.

9. Do you have agency authority to bind contracts on my behalf, or only to coordinate? Coordination means they pass loads for your approval. Agency means they sign on your MC. You want to know which it is, in writing, before the first load.
10. Who owns the broker relationships, you or me? If they own the relationships, leaving the dispatcher means losing the broker book. If you own them, the broker has your number, not theirs.
11. How do you handle paperwork: rate cons, BOLs, lumper receipts, accessorial documentation? The right answer involves a shared folder and a clear handoff. The wrong answer is “we forward emails.”
12. What is the process if I bring a problem load, a chargeback, or a dispute? A real desk has a written escalation path. A flipper says “we will look into it.” Looking into it is not a process.

The authority questions are the ones operators skip on the first call. They feel awkward to ask. Skip them and you find the answer the hard way at month four.

How the answers actually compare

You are not grading each answer pass or fail. You are listening for the shape of the operation. Three services will give you twelve answers each. Lay them next to each other.

Signal	Operator-aligned answer	Load-flipper answer
Fee structure	Specific percentage or flat, with reasoning	“We keep it competitive”
Below-floor loads	“We call you first”	“We book what we can find”
Detention recovery	Named process, weekly cadence	“The broker decides”
Trucks per dispatcher	Direct number, 8-12 range	Refuses or says “depends”
Day 30	Built-in review	“You signed a contract”

One service will sound sharper on money. Another on workflow. A third on authority and paperwork. The one you want is the one that has a clear answer for all twelve, and whose answers match how you actually run your truck.

If you want a working benchmark for what an operator-aligned desk sounds like on these twelve, our dispatch service workflow answers each one in writing during the intake call.

“All three services sound fine” usually means you stopped listening

If every service sounds the same, the questions were too soft. Press on the second answer. “Walk me through last Tuesday for one of your trucks.” A real desk gives you a timeline. A flipper gives you a slogan.

According to the ATRI 2025 operational cost report, marginal cost per mile sits at $2.27. A dispatcher who keeps you on $1.85 lanes for two weeks costs more than their fee saves. The twelve questions exist because the cost of the wrong choice shows up in the next month’s settlement, not the sales call.

Quick decision rule

• If two or more answers are vague on money, drop the service.
• If they refuse to name trucks-per-dispatcher, drop the service.
• If they will not commit to a day-30 review, drop the service.
• If they answer all twelve in concrete terms and your gut says “this sounds like my operation,” shortlist them.

The fee is the smallest part of the decision. The workflow behind the fee is the whole thing. A 5% dispatcher who books reload before delivery and chases detention every week beats a 3% dispatcher who books off a cold board on Friday at 4pm. You are not buying a percentage. You are buying a Tuesday morning.

If your current service cannot give clean answers to these twelve, the gap is not a personality problem. It is an operating model problem. The fee structure matters less than the booking behavior attached to it. That’s what the twelve questions actually surface, and what the next month’s settlement quietly confirms.