How do you trip plan?

I haven’t read all the replies, but a lot of times the delivery appointment is set before you even get loaded. Trying to change it enroute or the day before will be tough unless the place isn’t busy or there’s been a cancellation. Instead of starting your clock with the hopes of getting unloaded early just drag your feet on the last day of the trip, leave a little bit later, and show up around an hour early.

 

I take the Google Maps eta, add the expected stops for fuel and/or 30, and then add in 30-60 more minutes for a day. This has worked like a charm for me for the last several years.

 

Absolutely, totally dependent upon the region you run.

 

I ran into a situation 2 times in 2 separate companies where the head of safety is a POS.

To make a long story short he tried to force me to do these unreasonable loads. To me, this is driver harassment and right now I'm wondering if I have legal rights against the company? Probably not worth my time but I'm thinking about it.

 

Not worth it. Move on.

 

Speed limit dependant for sure. Going to be hard to get those miles in PA with a 55mph speed limit. But everywhere the speed limit doesn't get in the way, it's possible. The Lower 48 is my "region".

 

Probably not worth your time at all.....

 

But I can report them to FMCSA, giving the names of safety head and my dispatcher.

Maybe takes 10 minutes. And the people are in trouble.

 

Thanks to your post I have reported the people involved to the FMCSA. You are great inspiration!!

 

As soon as I noticed the ETA was too optimistic I would let dispatch & customer know my best estimate of the ETA ( plus 1 hour). Dispatchers don't drive and you NEVER ask them to answer a driving question. Many new drivers look to the dispatcher as the boss or the experienced expert. They are computer clerks. They drive like the idiot aggressive 4-wheelers around you. Every time they get in a jam they blame you for their mistake. If you had to wait 4 hours to be assigned a backhaul, and the ETA for that customer is 3 hours after you can get there if the roads were empty, your dispatcher will be telling the customer the truck will be late because the driver overslept, got lost, is stuck in traffic, etc. The 4 hours wasted BEFORE you were assigned the load will not be mentioned to the customer.

 

A lot of these issues are preemptively avoided by working for the companies that don't operate like drivers are time machines. Newbies generally think they can work for any trucking company and then change those companies into better companies. You can't and you shouldn't expect it.