BIG COMPANY OTR solo drivers don't get long runs - do you agree!?

Ok, here's my 2 cents. First, I've noticed that a few on here who've answered are Lease or Owner Ops. That's a different world than where I am. I am a solo company driver and everyone I've seemed to have spoken with agree that solo drivers are on the bottom of the pile. I don't have the numbers yet but I can certainly say that 900+ miles have been a rarity.

Although, the past 2 or 3 weeks have been the exception but I don't know if that's simply because of the season since this is my first year.

Experience has brought me to the conclusion that the higher miles on one load, the better. And this being because as an OTR driver u will more than likely get paid by the mile, so with this said, every other responsibility you have as an OTR driver which MUST be logged you get paid zero. This is way many drivers cheat on their logs, just so they can maximize their pay potential. They put 15 min drop & hook when it took them an hour. I don't do that ..anymore. I used to (after taking some bad advice from someone I know), but realized that one; it was being dishonest, because you ARE working and increasing your fatigue level (70hrs a week in any job will wear anyone out, so in this job where you are responsible for your life and the publics' ...you really don't wanna mess with that) and two, it really doesn't make that much of a difference to log it right. Maybe 200 to.. at the MOST 500 miles a week

But anyways, back on topic. There have been plenty of times where I had to pick up and deliver the same day, and we all know that sucks. We only get 14hrs out here so if u spend 2 hrs picking up, then 2 hrs dropping after 8 hrs driving, one hr for fuel, inspections and pit stops AND there goes ure 14... a lot of guys I talk to out here say it's not getting to be worth being OTR anymore. Choose wisely

 

500 miles x 1.302 (current pay, with FSC) = 651 - (243+10+5.5+10) (approx. fuel cost, scale, IFTA, and maintenance reserve (truck under warrantee) for the extra load) = $383.5 difference in net pay. (overhead is the same regardless of miles)

383.5*52 weeks = $19,942

would you do it for that? The point of saving line 4 isn't that you get a few minutes back to drive, it's that it might make the difference between squeezing in an extra load or not. Obviously, as a company driver this math doesn't apply to you, but something you should think about before pointing fingers at people trying to make a living.

Also, if you're good with time, a drop and hook at a familier shipper should only take ~25 minutes. If it takes an hour your on the loosing end of that deal, because you'd never have an hour on duty for a live load unless its a driver load.

 

Most of the runs I get are around 1600. I'll get shorter runs if I don't have the hours, in a bad area, or going home.

 

I'm with Schneider on the west coast and occasionally go east. Usually my loads are in the 500-900 mile runs, usually with a 1000+ mile run per week. Currently picking up a 1214 mile run from Tracy CA to Roswell NM.

I just came off time at home but last time I was out for 5 weeks and got over 3100 miles each week.

 

Not pointing any fingers but obviously my comment rubbed you the wrong way.

I've done MANY drop & hooks in 15 minutes, but the reality is that isn't the case at some customers and DOT know where you have to go thru hurdles at a shipper/receiver just to get/deliver a load.

So you say $19,000 more a yr? And that's a guaranteed number just like the miles your promised when u first sign on with a company right? In my previous comment I mentioned that the MOST I observed was 500 miles. But somehow that's the number you made your example with. Do you have an observation you'd like to share or is your scientific method based on taking what someone else states as the only available example? I suggest you try doing it legal once in awhile so you can have something to base it off of. Forgive me for saying so but judging from your comment, I would say your the impulsive type trucker. The one that's always in a hurry to get nowhere fast, the going 70 in a 55 zone, you know the tailgating 4-wheeler kind. Being a professional driver means having a professional attitude. But to be fair, I made this assessment of you with only one comment.

PS real smooth in admitting that you cheat on your logs.

 

You assumed a lot off of nothing. I was making the point that when you say "at most 500 miles" like that adds up to nothing, you're way off. And to be fair, you're pointing a lot of fingers right now.

Ill give you the benefit of the doubt that you read a lot of tone that wasn't in my text.

 

Fair enough. I may have read into what u were saying, and if I did I apologize.

But I do strongly believe that the cheating on the logs in the long run won't make that much of a difference. Your luck will run out eventually. I look at it as an unnecessary and not worth the risk. When DOT checks ure logs (especially paper logs) they make sure everything is in order.

But again I apologize if I categorized you as a Cheater of logs, before that I don't see how I was pointing fingers though...?

 

i dispatched for a carrier with both o/o and company drivers, back in the 70s. would run the o/o on the longer runs,because it was cheaper, the company drivers would do the pickups, and multi stop loads. it was just a matter of money but have not done that for a long time an maybe things have changed, oh yeah was the worst job i ever had jon

 

You accused me of being impulsive, a speeder, and a tailgater. Safety is something I take very seriously.
I think we both got a little hot headed in that exchange; just human nature. No worries, and drive safe.