Schneider Trip Plan Sheet

I don't know anyone who actually uses them. I think Schneider does a good job training but I don't understand why they complicate trip planning so much. I came to Schneider with experience and by the end of orientation they had me convinced I didn't know how to trip plan. If you're just doing them to get out of training then I'm sorry I can't help but if you're on your own then don't worry about them, trip planning isn't hard.

 

Simple formula for trip planning. Take the miles DH & Loaded and divide by 50 (average mph taking in stops, slow downs). The 50 mph will give you time. If it is over 11 hrs drive time then add in a 10 hr break. Add it all together and it will give you a rough estimate of hrs needed to drive the load. Add in 2 hours for loading and 2 hrs unloading. Once you see how you run you can tighten up the mph to your liking.

 

Great post. Don't forget to add in time for fueling, pre and post trips, 1/2 hr break, etc.

 

The Good Idea Fairy is rampant here. It was the Good Idea Fairy that came up with that trip plan sheet. If you ask the Good Idea Fairy what time it is, it will give you a powerpoint presentation on how to build a watch. I figure for 50 miles/hour, 450-550 miles a day. Throw in an extra hour at the end if you're as lazy as I am.

 

that is the old one with macro form but is essentially the same.

 

Guess I'll throw out my version of trip planning. A Schneider trucks max safe range is 640 miles in a day. I have done 652 in one day but that was through Montana and North Dakota so few hills and little traffic. 640 is a safe max but plan on 600 a day. If you get to 600 and say there is a Pilot 30 miles away and it's not on the other side of a large city then go for it. So everything gets divided by 6. 1800 mile run, 18 divided by 6 equals 3. So you need 3 full drive days to get there. I divide every run into three categories, Pick up days, drive days and delivery days. You have very little control on the pick up and delivery days as how fast you get out of there is not determined by you.

Or let's say you only have 2 drive days. Then you need at least 300 miles on both your pickup and deliver days. Or 400 and 200 or any combination you choose. Obviously if you can do more miles on your pick up day that would be better. Basically to make it even easier add up your drive days and multiply that by 600. In this case it would be 1200 so you have to get another 600 somewhere. If you can knock out 400 on your pick up day then you only need 200 on the last day which is about 4 hours of drive time. The reason to add up your drive days is because it takes a huge number away from your total miles because you know you can get 600 a day so it only leaves a small number to figure.

But usually if you have an 1800 miler you will have at least 3 full drive days to get there. There is no reason to figure at 50 mph because you know you can do at least 600 in a day. You cannot plan for accidents or sudden congestion unless you know there is construction on a certain road. Rarely was I unable to do at least 600.

Now all that is figuring DOT time, real time is just as easy and usually you don't have to figure to the minute. If it's Monday and I deliver on Friday morning 1800 miles away why do I need to figure the exact time I will arrive? I will be there on Thursday with plenty of time to do a break and then all I have to figure is about how long it will take to get there. I always get to the customer at least 30 minutes early. But if I start my clock within say 50 miles of the customer there is no way I'm going to run out of hours because if I sit long enough to do run out I've sat for 10 hours and therefore I have a break. Unless you're one of those crazy drivers who actually logs on duty while loading or unloading. If you're one of those you are losing tons of money, I drove for Schneider a long time and never logged more than a 15 minute pre trip and no one ever said a word.

Now obviously some loads don't have drive days, you pick up and deliver the next day but those are usually not that far away. For those loads that are tight you can only do what you can do and if you're going to be late then call. But I have never been late for any reason other than breakdown or weather.

Finally let me add, this is how I do it, if you do it differently I'm not saying you're wrong and I don't care if you don't like my system. I know it works and you drive how you want to drive. Trip planning can be hard to explain especially in this context.