Am I being unreasonable?

I guess you have to take the good and the bad, for most people sleeping in the daytime is hard especially if you're not used to it. USA Truck could be testing you also just my 2 cents

 

Dispatchers at USA believe they can make drivers sleep just like flipping a light switch at times... I was in your situation and slept as much as i could before the load needed to be picked up. After I did that first night load I was running nights for the rest of the week.

One time when I was running nights it actually helped me get more miles for the week. I went down to Laredo on a Friday night/saturday morning (IF you know Laredo, going on the weekend means your stuck there till Monday afternoon). My dispatcher calls me Friday right after I started driving down to Laredo (was west of Houston), he said if I get down there before 8am central I don't have to deliver the load... just drop it and pickup this other load and head to Colorado. I was stuck driving the west coast at night for another week, but I did make quite a bit while running out there (total out that trip was 8 weeks).

 

If you have trouble sleeping during the day and staying awake at night please don't get into the reefer business. Some of the grocery warehouses only receive late at night. Sometimes it's just how it is. You are not being unreasonable in wanting to do your driving during the day, but sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. I suspect the load planners are getting the only available appointment slots, and both you and the company have to adjust your normal routines around these appointments. I would be cautious about refusing loads. Do it enough and you might be cleaning out your truck in some distant terminal with a nice negative writeup on your dak file.

 

That's just part of the job. How far do you have to go to pick up? I never had any problems getting rest unless I was at a dock with someone on forklift waking me up every 20 minutes.

 

I passed out (due to having to change driving shifts) while I was getting loaded. It took about 4-5 hours to get into a dock and then I don't know how long it took them to load me... Forklift went in about every 20-30 minutes (i think). I was so out of it I didn't hear them pounding on the side of my door...

When I woke up, I open my curtains and all the trucks that were at the dock area were gone... I go inside and everyone there was gone... Luckily they had my paperwork within arms reach of the window, it had a note saying that they were unable to wake the driver. I signed it, left their copy and left. Got my 10+ hours in and was off to the consignee .

It is hard to wake me when I'm sleeping which is why I don't usually rest/sleep when I'm getting loaded/unloaded

 

Age old problem, no clear solution. If you could get sleepy and wreck a truck (and hurt some one), don't do night driving. If you can take the punishment and your body likes night driving, go for it.

Just don't drive sleepy, it's not worth the risk.

 

I unloaded at the Publix warehouse in Lakeland Florida last week. I got in the sleeper for what I thought was just a brief nap. I remember the shaking the forklift made. I finally heard a tap on my window, the supervisor of the lumpers handed me a receipt and said I could get my paperwork. I asked him with surprise (you got me unloaded that quick?) He laughed and said it was over 2 hours. I was in shock as I got my paperwork.