Millis OTR journal

Snarky answer to the question that was asked on qcom is global warming??

 

Do have to say 51.4% is awfully high. Almost doesn’t make sense. How could it even be that high?

 

Yikes, hope you're feeling better now. Last time I was there there were 3 trailers getting dropped off at the same time. A customer mentioned how all the Millis drivers tended to show up at the same time there, guess that happens other places too.

 

That does seem high to me too, but I don't have anything to compare it to. But I can say I've been stuck in traffic a lot more lately and wonder if the creeping along at idle or sitting in traffic would be part of the idle time. That's going to get worse now that road construction has resumed with the warmer weather too.

 

Well I got my percentage sent to me and apparently it is possible to reach that limit.

 

You guys hearing about idle percentage now?

 

Just now. No one has mentioned anything to me yet so I must be doing something right. I did think it was strange when I stopped at the recommended fuel stops and didn't get to 50 gallons before filling the tanks a couple of times. I wonder if I'm using less fuel than average and the fuel program didn't take that into account? I was 100% compliant too and only got the recommended amounts of fuel or less when that happened.

 

That happened to me quite a bit too. Based on the QC readout my idle percentage was usually 20-25 % on average. Sometimes it would be much lower than that. It would be higher in the summer when I would need to idle more to stay cool. Usually around 40% then with some spikes higher if it was really warm for days. I had a couple fans which help quite a bit. I would also try to park so the sun was facing the rear of the trailer or hide behind another truck where the sun was hitting the opposite side of that truck. Alongside a tree line blocking the sun. I would also block my windows when parked with those sun shades.

I refused to sit there and sweat, particularly when I needed to sleep and would idle when I needed to. I would usually wake up part way through the night cold, shut the truck off and the fans did the rest until morning.

I'm actually surprised something wasn't said sooner because of Heartland and because of some of the excessive idling for no apparent reason I would personally witness.

Getting on a soap box here but I operated the truck as if I owned it and was responsible for the bills. I turned if off every chance I could. Drop and hooks, checking in and out of customers etc...I personally don't like idling anyway. It wastes fuel, unnecessarily pollutes and long term causes def problems. I don't idle my personal car other than when it is covered in ice and snow before I need to drive it. If I did have my own truck I would have it equipped with an APU/EPU and not have to worry about it. I actually did a few more things to manage my idle but I've said more than enough and probably pissed a couple people off in the process.

The Heartland trucks have an EPU, maybe they should start equipping Millis trucks with them.

 

I don't like to idle for the same reasons you mentioned, plus the noise and vibration make it harder for me to sleep. Especially with the Cummins engines, the cooling fan was so loud it sounded like it was going to take off!
I thought of another contributor to increased idling times today while waiting to fuel, some of those lines can be pretty slow and if you're not sure when the truck ahead of you is going to finish because it keeps looking like they're almost finished you end up sitting there idling away.

 

Yeah what I said isn't set in stone nor will it always work. So many variables. I'm thinking about the guys who spend half the day in the drivers lounge swapping stories while they do their laundry and their truck is out in the parking lot idling away for hours. I know people who idle because they say they sleep better when the truck is running. Stuff like that. I'll take a wild guess that if they were paying for the fuel they would figure out how to sleep with the truck off. I can't sleep in pure quiet so I would use a noise making app on my phone set to a heavy rain sound. It would also mask random noises from the outside that might otherwise wake me up.

I have a good friend who used to work at Millis years ago. He said his truck would run continuously for the entire time he was out, 2-3 weeks straight without turning it off. He left and went owner op and joked to me that once he was responsible for the fuel he would turn his truck off any chance he could and would coast into fuel islands with the motor off. He didn't actually coast into fuel islands but that is how much it changed his view on wasteful idling.