# Raise request: Sam Okafor, dispatch coordinator

To: Pat | From: Sam Okafor | Date: October 8, 2026

Pat, I am sending this in writing before the October 30 deadline so nothing in our meeting is a surprise.

## The ask

A base salary of **$55,200 a year**, up from **$48,500** ($6,700, about 13.8 percent). The owner said budgets are "tight until the holiday season," so I am asking for it **to start after the holiday season**, not now. Nothing changes in this year's tight period.

## Why: the on-time rate

- January 12: I started tracking late deliveries by route. December's late rate was **14 percent**.
- March 3: I rebuilt the route sheet so drivers stop doubling back on the east loop.
- June 30: June's late rate was **6 percent**. September's was **5 percent**.

What I can and cannot prove: the late rate fell from 14 to 5 percent, but December is a single month and I cannot show how much of the drop came from the route sheet versus other causes. I have tracked by route since January 12, and I will send you the route-level breakdown in writing before the meeting so you can judge it yourself. The "about 9 hours a week" saving is the drivers' estimate, not a measurement, and I cannot put a dollar figure on it.

## Why: work beyond my role, which I will keep doing

- April to May: covered for you for **six weeks**. Ran the morning call, approved overtime, handled two customer complaints.
- July: trained three new drivers (Ines, Marco, Dee). All three are still here.
- August 19: caught a double-booked truck the night before the Harvest Market order; it went out on time.

I am asking you to treat driver training and covering for you as an ongoing part of my job, not past favors. That is what the higher base pays for.

## Why that number

The number rests on the work above first. I know you have said surveys "don't know our margins," so I am using the survey only as a check, not as the argument: its median for my role is $55,200, its 25th percentile is $49,800, and I am at $48,500, below the 25th percentile. My last raise was 2 years ago, 3 percent; I have been here 3 years. Coordinators who also train drivers or cover supervisor duties have a median of $58,400. I am not asking for that; I am asking for the plain median.

## What is still open

My 2025 review said: "Needs to delegate more and stop doing everything yourself." This year's list shows me doing a lot myself. Training three drivers is a start, not proof that I delegate. I will treat that as open and want your view on what to hand off.

## Objections answered

1. Budget is tight; full 13.8 percent at once: answered in "The ask" (start after the holiday season). Conceded: I cannot show savings that cover the $6,700.
2. Case rests on a survey: answered in "Why that number" (survey only as a check; work comes first). Conceded: no company cost data in my notes.
3. 9 hours is hearsay: conceded in "Why: the on-time rate" (labeled an estimate, no dollar value).
4. Cause of the on-time gain unproven: conceded in "Why: the on-time rate"; route-level breakdown to be sent in writing before the meeting.
5. Delegation answered with a different skill: conceded in "What is still open."
6. Extra duties have no pay basis: answered in "Why: work beyond my role" (duties continue as part of the job) and "Why that number" (not asking for $58,400).