Field note
Volume going up and closures going down is a shape we see on desks that hired help.
The extra person is usually good at answering. That is why they were hired. They take new calls. The original dispatcher keeps the unfinished returns “because they know the drivers.” The pile grows in the unowned strip between the two chairs.
A test that does not need a full week
On a single Friday we mark each job with who last touched the paper. If new intake and returns never share a hand, you do not have a volume problem. You have a gap. The briefing script we leave is blunt: one person owns returns until they close; the second owns only new intake until the first says they are clear.
When two chairs really do help
If both people can see the same tray, and the tray has a lid that travels, two chairs can clear a peak. We have watched it in a Dandenong trades desk where the second person faced the yard door and took only walk-ins. The phone person never turned around. That split had an owner.
If you are about to add a Friday chair, tell us on the contact note. We would rather sit one peak with you than write a report after the second chair has already taught the board a worse habit.