Originally Posted by evertruckerr  bduke wrote:
Thank you for your kind words.
I try to explain my reasoning and thought process through my posts without getting too long winded (ya, I know I've failed miserably, perhaps on both counts) to help other drivers maximize their miles. It really comes down to every little decision and every minute saved at any time can effect how many miles a driver can get.
It would often be easier to shut down for the night short of my destination and deliver first thing in the morning, but when I get it there the night before I find that I'm off on my next load while the other Crete drivers are putting in their MT calls and are waiting for their next load. I often push the limits of my logs and keep my breaks to a minimum at all times. Just because I have plenty of time to make a delivery today doesn't mean I can drag my feet. My decision to take back roads instead of the turnpike in my last weekly post seemed to make sense at the time, but the lost time on that run really came back to haunt me later in the week when I was trying to squeeze minutes out of everything I was doing to get in a reset.
Resets are another great tool that many drivers will argue about, but the absolute fact of the matter is you will get more miles on a consistent basis if you use them to you benefit. There have been uncountable times that I have passed up comfort of the moment and a more relaxed pace to make a reset happen and it almost always works out for the best.
I realize many drivers don't have the desire, or need to continually push the clock, but in the end it's what keeps the miles coming. I just happen to be the kind of person that feels better working under pressure, or at least some form of urgency. I tend to get fidgety when the pace slows down.
And I think the absolute most important thing, especially with this company is a thorough understanding of Log Book management and the ability to use it to your advantage. NEVER waist minutes on your logs, ever.
At Crete we must run 100% complaint, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a number of ways to stretch it out by using the gray areas to your advantage. For instance, let's say there are two drivers starting at the same place and going to the same destination.
Driver A starts at 4:53am, because he has started 8mins past the last 15 incriment on the log book he can legally start his log at 5am.
Driver B starts at 5:05am and also must log his start at 5am. Right from the start he is 12 miles behind the first driver and the day has just started and their logs are identical and both legal.
A few hours down the road driver A stops for fuel and arrives at 7:50am. Because he is able to slid is card through the fuel pump at that time he has to log his fuel stop from 7:45 to 8am. Driver B arrives after driving the same distance in the same amount of time, but because of his later start he pulls into the fuel island at 8:02 and has to log his fuel stop from 8 to 8:15. When driver B leaves the fuel island at 8:15 driver B can be 15mins ahead and they are both only 3hrs into their day and driver B already has 15 more minutes of drive time on his log.
Rest stops are the same way. If you pull in and stop for 8 mins it can legally be logged as 15mins. If you stop for 20 minutes it must also be logged as a 15min stop. In this example the first driver would have gained 12 miles on the other driver. If I ever sit somewhere for 12-15mins I will purposely sit and wait for the 23min mark to hit so I can legally log a 30min stop. By doing this I can routinely gain 30-45 driving minutes on any particular day and always stay within the legal parameters of the regulations.
These examples only apply to companies like Crete that strictly enforce logs books down to the minute. With the more lenient companies it is much less important to be this anal, but for me it is imperative in order to maximize my available hours.
It doesn't take too many of these examples to make a significant impact on a drivers productivity. Like everything else in life, its a game and you have to know how to make the rules work to your advantage.
Another thing that has saved my butt on more than one occasion is logging local work on line four. As long as you stay within a cities limits while doing various drop and hooks, or delivering on one side of a city and picking up another load on the other side of the city it is legal to stay on line four. It may not save any time on the overall 70hr clock, but it does make it possible to put in more driving hours into any particular day when needed. It is also helpful to know that even though your 14hr or 70hr clock has come to an end, it doesn't mean that you can't keep working, you just can't keep driving. What does that mean, well, as long as you are within city limits and on line four, you can continue to preform duties necessary to load and unload a truck, including driving to a nearby truckstop as long as you stay on line four and don't travel more than 15 miles or so. You can get away with driving further in some cities that cover many miles.
Now I don't want everyone jumping on me and challenging my opinions, as I stated earlier, these are gray areas that can be exploited to your benefit. I am not a DOT officer and can offer no defense for you if one of them calls you on it.
Ok, that went on far too long. I could continue, but I'll spare you the agony. These layovers tend to make me babble. Sorry about that. |
10.31.2008
You deserved it! 
Similar Threads 
Linear Mode
