Employee Spotlight: Getting it Delivered with Dylan Chiles
At Cardinal Home Center, delivering your materials on time, every time, is a commitment, and dedicated team members like Dylan Chiles lead the effort. Dylan, our Dispatcher at the Madison location, has been a key part of the Cardinal family for over four years, working in the yard and receiving before settling into dispatch. We recently sat down with Dylan to find out what goes into managing those busy delivery schedules, especially during the hectic late-fall season.
A Day in the Life of a Dispatcher
What does it take to keep the trucks rolling across Central Virginia? According to Dylan, a typical day involves a mix of planning, problem-solving, and constant communication. His responsibilities include invoicing driver orders, printing orders for the yard to pick up, scheduling deliveries, managing the delivery board, and responding to calls from both salesmen and customers. His main goal? To keep “the best drivers in the world updated on deliveries, instructions, and happy”.
Dylan notes that good communication with salespeople is key to organizing everything when schedules fill up, especially by trying to group deliveries going to the same area together. He also relies on taking a lot of notes for reminders to stay organized.
Navigating the Fall Rush
Fall is one of the busiest times for deliveries, and it comes with challenges like unpredictable weather. For Dylan, the most challenging part of the weather is ensuring drivers can get to job sites without getting stuck. The solution, again, comes down to communication with the salespeople and the customer.
What’s one thing most people don’t realize about the job? It’s the patience, thought process, and communication that go into the planning and scheduling. To balance customer needs against driver routes and timing, Dylan says that keeping both customers and drivers updated via phone calls is essential. In fact, one of the most important things he’s learned as a Dispatcher is how vital just one phone call can be for any changes or updates.
More About Dylan
Dylan is a Madison native who played 14 years of soccer, mainly coached by Mr. Toby Allen. He loves working with the Madison team and the drivers because they are funny, friendly, and hardworking. When he’s not managing deliveries, you can find Dylan at church, on the golf course, or shopping at Men’s Wearhouse.
And here’s a fun fact that might surprise you: Dylan has a great sock collection!
