Dispatch Efficiency Tips for Understaffed Teams

When your dispatch team is short-handed—whether due to turnover, sick leave, or unfilled roles—every load, call, and decision gets harder. But construction sites don’t wait, and neither do contractors relying on daily deliveries of materials like drywall, steel framing, or engineered wood.

For building materials distributors, dispatch is the operational bottleneck where service speed and accuracy are made or lost. Even with fewer hands, there are strategic moves you can make to keep trucks rolling and customers happy.

1. Prioritize Loads by Margin and Impact

When the dispatch board is overloaded, all deliveries are not equal.

Triage your queue based on:

Customer tier: Key accounts get priority

Product type: High-margin or custom materials (e.g. LVLs, trusses) should move first

Jobsite readiness: Confirm which sites can actually receive today

Use a “priority matrix” built into your dispatch logic to make fast, defensible decisions when you can’t ship everything.

2. Implement Cutoff Times and Stick to Them

Understaffed teams can’t afford late-breaking chaos. Establish and communicate clear order cutoff times (e.g. 2 p.m. for next-day delivery) and enforce them.

Benefits include:

More accurate routing windows

Less overtime during staging

Fewer picking errors from last-minute rushes

Customers may push back at first, but once the standard is set, it protects your limited team from burnout.

3. Auto-Schedule Repeats and Standard Routes

Dispatchers shouldn’t manually route everything—especially repeat orders. For:

Weekly framing drops

Repetitive insulation orders

Recurring commercial site deliveries

Set up auto-generated templates that pre-assign truck types, load zones, and delivery windows. This keeps routine loads off your team’s plate so they can focus on exceptions.

4. Limit Change Orders After Dispatch Lock

The #1 time-waster for dispatchers? Mid-route changes.

Set a hard cutoff (e.g. 4:30 p.m. daily) after which orders are frozen for dispatch. Post-dispatch changes should:

Trigger manager approval

Be scheduled for next-day flex runs

Be tracked for exception reporting

Even small additions (“just add a box of fasteners”) cost staging time, re-sequencing, and coordination.

5. Use Digital Load Sheets and Staging Status Updates

If you’re still working off whiteboards or printed schedules, you’re losing visibility.

Switch to digital tools that:

Show real-time staging status (picked, staged, loaded)

Let dispatch see what’s falling behind

Flag missing SKUs or accessory items before the truck is closed

Fewer phone calls. Fewer surprises. Faster reallocation when issues pop up.

6. Consolidate Loads Smarter, Not Heavier

When you’re tight on trucks and people, it’s tempting to overpack loads. But overloaded trucks lead to:

Longer unloads

More product damage

Route delays that cascade to other customers

Instead, consolidate by zone and unload time—not by weight alone. Two 80% loads that flow well beat one monster run that misses drop windows.

7. Cross-Train Office and Yard Staff on Basic Dispatch Tasks

In a crunch, office staff or staging leads can help with:

Calling customers for delivery windows

Printing labels or manifest sheets

Checking load compliance

Make sure at least two non-dispatch staff per location are trained to step in for basic admin during volume spikes or vacations.

8. Lean Into Driver Feedback

Short dispatch teams can’t monitor every site nuance. Drivers often know which jobsites are tight on space, slow to unload, or mis-sequenced.

Build a daily driver feedback loop:

Quick post-shift surveys or voice memos

Feedback flags on load sheets

Weekly review of delivery exceptions by dispatcher and driver lead

This helps the short team work smarter, using firsthand field intel to improve sequencing and load design.

9. Use a “Flex Run” Strategy

Dedicate one truck or window daily for:

Missed deliveries

Rush re-orders

Small accessory orders

This gives dispatch breathing room—and prevents the need to reschedule full routes when minor issues pop up.

When done right, your flex run can:

Improve OTIF metrics

Protect dispatch from schedule disruption

Reduce customer escalations

Final Word

Understaffing doesn’t have to cripple your dispatch operation. With smarter load prioritization, auto-scheduling, hardened cutoff rules, and digital visibility, you can reduce the burden on your team—and actually improve delivery reliability.

At Buldix and across regional distribution, dispatch efficiency is increasingly a margin defense strategy. And the right systems, policies, and cross-training—not more headcount—are what unlock real-time resilience.