Originally Posted by al_huryn

Don't ever look into entertainment if you can't hack driving at night. I really cannot believe this is even a valid thread. Wow is all I can say. Well i could say a few more things but they all fall under if you don't have anything nice to say........

What? Nothing nice to say from someone who lives in a city that booed Santa Claus? I'm Shocked, shocked I say

Some people are night owls and some aren't. Some are solar powered and some aren't. Some people can run at any time and some can't. That doesn't make someone a whiny-##### or a baby. Or a bad or useless driver. We're all different.

Most are aware coming into this business that it isn't a 9-5 job. Personally, I prefer 0400-1800. Not because I'm a whiny-##### or some little boy who can't get his big-boy pants on, but because my body refuses to sleep during the day. I can pull the curtains, cover my face, whatever... my body flat refuses to sleep during the day. And it's worse when I've just slept all night, and wake up to a preplan picking up at 2300. Now after sleeping for the last 8 hours, I have to sleep some more or I'm going to be quite tired when I start that night.

Some might just say "Tough, that's just the way it goes. Get over it." Well, when the body decides it's sleepy time, it really doesn't care if you're in bed or sitting in the seat at 62mph. Would you want your family to be driving around me when that happens? Or you yourself? Well, I won't take that chance on you, them, or me for that matter. I won't take the chance on making my wife a widow and our kids fatherless, getting a ticket or a prison term over a measly .36 a mile. Or $100,000 a mile for that matter.

Like I said, everyone is different. Just because you or someone else can sleep on demand doesn't mean that everyone can or should. I get my loads picked up and delivered on time, and I run my ##### off. Out of my 70 in a little more than 5 days most weeks. I run legal. But I just can't sleep during the day no matter how hard I try.

Guess if that makes me a useless driver and less than a man, than so be it. If another driver can sleep on demand, great. Any tips or tricks for the lesser of us? But if a driver feels that he needs to take chances and risk killing himself or someone else, then perhaps it is he that needs the career change. Way too much at stake.

I'm also one of those people that cannot sleep during the day. Approximately 15% of people are "hard wired" for their sleep patterns and cannot not change it. Come 0500-0600 and I'm up. If I stay up till midnight or 0100 I might make 0700 but thats about it. When I tried a night only job, Wal-Mart dedicated with SNI I worked 1600 or so till 0500 give or take every day. I tried everything to adjust. Stayed up all night on my days off, white noise machine, blackout curtains, melatonin. Nothing worked come 0700 or 0800 I was up sitting around like a zombie. I"ve made it over 20 years in this business with the number of nights, barring that job, driving till dawn that I could count on one hand. Everyone is different.

I'm company, but I book my own loads off the boards. And yes, last week started with three overnight runs in a row before I could rein it in and get back on days. It's just the way the load schedule worked out. The best paying loads just happened to pick up in the late afternoon, run 500 miles and drop before noon. One dropped at 4am. Just the way the ball bounces sometimes.

Originally Posted by snowman01

I drove flatbed for several years and can count the overnight trips on one hand. Your doing that to yourself or you need a new company.

you must not have a very good job then. or you're not doing long haul. or your lazy.

cuz if we don't drive at night. we don't make delivery the next day or pick up. which means more sitting then working. 2 loads for the week instead of 5.

I have the same problem.Can't sleep during the day.Fortunate to work for a company that gives drivers a choice.Very rare that I drive through the night.