Whats up with 62 mph?

Minimum speed on most highways is 45 mph. Done it the last 2 years and have not had a problem. If I do it won't be my fault.

 

By the way that $396 a week on 2500 miles is 15.8 cents a mile extra to my net income after expenses on top of less maintenance costs.

 

I know but if the law did'nt feel some speeds were too slow they would'nt have up the speed limit.Ohio and Illnois have higher speed for trks.Only state not in with the times is Calif and probably never will be either.But one way of looking at going slow is saving fuel.

 

They raised the speed limit not the minimum speed. For years and years those states said it was safer that way. If drivers pay attention I don't see the problem. You are supposed to pay attention when you are driving aren't you?

 

The main objective of the thread was why do you drive 62

We've told you ... Why we do it . It is a business decision to control a CONTROLED Expenditure ... Fuel IS NOT a FIXED cost it's a VARIABLE expenditure or CONTROLED cost ..

We drive 63,62,60,58 64 what have you based off of the following
1. RPM
2. Rear Ratio
3. Engine Sweet Spot
( those are a few reason ... Not all )

Along with proper maint , proper tire inflation .. You can achieve deep savings

 

I'm not sure why it's hard to understand like I stated earlier it's not
E=mc2

If I was a company driver I could care less how much I saved unless I was getting a bonus so yeah let me drive 68,70,75 etc....

But when you OWN the fuel ... Or BUY the fuel you change your thought process to achieve a better profit margin ..

It's a learning curve of a business owner YOU MUST LEARN !!!

Some own trucks
Some own a business

 

55 m.p.h. will likely average 50 m.p.h. Don't tell me you can run over 1200 miles in 2 days or 1800 miles in 3 days . Yeah , you might make 600 miles in one day running 500 one day , taking a 10 , then running another 100 the next day but you won't make the return trip the second day after inspections , fueling , and unloading or swapping trailers .

 

What's your point Rick ?

It's a business decision don't you get it ..

 

Unless you are running the superslab were you can have an average of 55 mph then you are not going to complete a 600 mile run in a day. If you are running alot of roads with towns etc that cause you to slow down then your average won't be 55 mph through out the day thus you will not complete a 600 mile day unless you are fudging your log book.


I run ALOT of non interstate roads in North Dakota ,were we have 65 mph speedlimits on most all the state two lane highways, and I can not average enough speed to complete a 600 mile day in 11 hours.

With an average of 55 mph you could put on 605 miles in an 11 hour day.

You start slowing down to 25 or 30 mph for a few towns and your average speed will drop quickly.

Take one run I do often. It takes me from base in Minto ND out to Williston ND then back to Grand Forks ND then back to Minto ND. Most of the time is spent on ND highway 2 wich is a 70 mph road. I have a 68 mph truck and I run out of driving miles about 30 miles from Grand Forks ND.

Now before they got the truck back to 68 from 73, I could do the trip in one day and do it on 1 log page and not have to burn a page and start over to make it look good to DOT and our safety director.

Sure I had to up my speed to around 71 mph or so on highway 2 but it was not fast enough to raise any eye brows with the law.

99% of the time you don't get any extra notice that we have to go out there. We got done with our day and check in before going home for our 10 and we get told that we have to be out there to load the next day. This only gives use 16 or so hours to take our 10 then drive out there.

So there is no way WE can possibly plan our trip any better so that we can head out the day before and camp out there and load after our 10 is up.

This is only 1 example as there are many runs that we do that have similar miles and driving conditions.

It all changes when you start running time sensitive loads and running into companies that don't have schedules setup in advance. Just part of life hauling raw bulk potatoes into processing plants.

Also I did the math on the fuel savings when they cut the truck back. LOL. the boss was saving less then 200 dollars a week with the truck I am running. 2004 Peterbilt 379 C15 mbn, pulling 50 ft eagle bridge live bottom, grossing 100k+ when loaded.

I am loosing about 200+ dollars a week due to the slower truck. He doesn't get that extra 1000 dollar load hauled due to the slower truck.

I am now burning up my 70 much faster which puts me sitting alot more waiting to get hours back or doing a reset.

It would be more if I was running electronic logs etc. Thank god we are still running loose leaf.

 

Running on interstates at 55 on cruise you do not average 50 mph it is more like 54 mph. I am telling you I could do those runs easily.