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July 5, 2000 9:35 AM, EDT

Technology has given dispatchers more tools to be efficient, but it hasn’t eliminated the heart-popping stress of the job.

“It’s like air traffic controlling, except we move the aluminum on the ground. It’s the same kind of pressure,” said Warren Oszmanski, vice president of Warrior Express in Charles City, Va.

Dispatching software as well as electronic vehicle-tracking and messaging have taken some of the edge off the job by helping dispatchers with some of their more tedious tasks.

“It used to be everything was done by phone,” said Oszmanski.

Now many carriers use software to route loads and satellites to track drivers and communicate with them. But technology doesn’t translate into extra coffee breaks, and it can, if not handled right, reduce a dispatcher’s personal contact with truckers — a deadly sin for a position considered the first line of defense against driver turnover.

For the full story, see the July 3 print edition of Transport Topics. .