Why Dispatchers Lie… and Get Away With It

by TRUCKERS VA
(UNITED STATES)

Intro: The Unwritten Rules of the Driver-Dispatcher Game

Ask any seasoned driver, and you’ll hear some version of it:

"They told me it was a live unload. I show up — it’s a 6-hour wait."
"‘Only 200 miles away,’ they said. Left out the 4 mountains and 3 road closures."
"Dispatcher said the load pays decent… guess decent now means below fuel cost."

So why do dispatchers bend the truth?
And more importantly — why do they keep getting away with it?

Let’s pull back the curtain and expose the real mechanics of the trucking industry's most toxic love-hate relationship.

The Real Reasons Dispatchers Lie

No, it’s not always malice. But here’s what really fuels the BS:

1. They’re under pressure too.
Most dispatchers are juggling 10–50 drivers at once. They’ve got load planners, brokers, and fleet managers breathing down their necks. So sometimes, they cut corners with "creative" communication.

2. They’re trying to avoid arguments.
Some think lying about delays or rate details will calm you down, get you moving, or avoid that verbal beatdown they know is coming.

3. They’re incentivized differently than drivers.
Many dispatchers get bonuses based on dispatch volume or miles moved, not how long you sit at a dock. Your headache? Not their metric.

4. They assume you’ll “figure it out.”
Instead of saying “this load is a mess,” they give you just enough info to get you rolling — hoping you’ll fix the problem at the dock.

The Industry Culture That Enables It

Let’s be real: dispatch dishonesty is a symptom, not the disease.

No accountability systems: Most carriers don’t track dispatcher performance from a driver’s perspective. So if a dispatcher lies? No paper trail. No consequences.

Drivers are seen as disposable: If you speak up or push back, they’ll just give your miles to someone else.

Truckers don’t unite: When we’re divided — leased, company, owner-op — nobody has bargaining power.

How They Get Away With It

Dispatchers survive on plausible deniability.

“Oh I didn’t know that receiver had a delay.”

“The broker told me it was drop and hook.”

“That’s what the system showed.”

And because so many drivers are living paycheck to paycheck, they take it. They grumble, curse under their breath, and roll anyway.
Why? Because sitting means zero dollars — and rent ain’t waiting.

The Ripple Effect: What It Costs Drivers

These little lies add up:

Wasted hours = missed opportunities

Stress levels through the roof

Relationships strained (at home and on the road)

Good drivers leaving the industry early

And let’s be real — this contributes to burnout, turnover, and accidents. Lies don’t just make you mad. They make trucking less safe.

So What Can You Do About It?

Here’s how you fight back without losing your temper — or your paycheck:

✔️ Keep records – Every miscommunication, every delay. Build your receipts.
✔️ Push for transparency tools – ELD notes, app-based trip tracking, and internal reviews can catch repeated patterns.
✔️ Build leverage – The better you are, the more freight you can pull, the more power you have to call out the BS.
✔️ Educate other drivers – Share your stories, online and offline. When drivers talk, patterns emerge.

Bottom Line: Honesty Shouldn’t Be a Luxury

Trucking already demands a lot. Time away from home. Long hours. Risk.
What it shouldn’t demand is tolerance for lies.

So the next time your dispatcher swears “it’s only 10 minutes to the receiver,” just smile… and ask:

“You timed that with traffic? Or with fairy dust?”

Want More Tools to Build Your Freedom?

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