Shortest route vs best route question.

When your rate is $0.45 a mile for 1220 miles you will be paid $549 bucks. Divide that by the true miles (549/1310) and you will see your true rate is $0.419-- So you see in this way Swift kept $0.03 cents of your own money for themselves. If the load was hazmat or had a stop on it, they basically give you back your own $0.03 cents per mile and they don't feel a thing.

You multiply $0.03 across 10,000 drivers at 500 miles a day times 300 days a year that comes out to $45 million dollars Swift is stealing from shorting your miles out.

 

Lol That sounds like a great idea....If you never plan on driving again

 

Not to menation the only one you really screw over is the poor driver who will recover the truck ...

 

Cannonrush, your paid miles are based on zip code to zip code, not the routing that Swift provides in the dispatch. So even if you follow the fuel route that Swift provides, it's not going to match what you are getting paid. Now it that said, you are NOT required to follow that route to the letter. If you know of a shorter route, or possibly a faster route, or just a plain better route, you can take that route without fear of getting in trouble. For example, Swift will rarely route you on a toll road, even though the toll road will be faster and shorter. Take the toll road. They won't say anything about it. That is why you have that blue box stuck to your windshield. Also, you are NOT required to use their prescribed fuel stop. If you take a different route that doesn't include their fuel stop, just call and ask for a different fuel location when you need to fuel up. Just make sure you are in range of one of their preferred stops.

 

Cannonrush , for the time being I'd recommend you use the Qualcomm GPS route until you get a bit more experience . Getting inventive with routing gets a lot of rookie drivers in serious difficulty .

When your load is dispatched you get a fuel route . Write it down and match it with the Qualcomm route . They will often be different with the GPS route usually longer . Next get out your Rand McNally and review your route . As you have seen the fuel route is the shortest distance but the least efficient . As you get more experience you'll be better able to make routing decisions .

HHMG miles were developed by the Feds years ago in response to moving companies ripping them off when moving military and government employees . They measure the shortest route from city edge to city edge not door to door or zip code to zip code . We will always be short paid for miles as long as Swift uses HHMG.

EDIT
dodgeram440srt is correct but until you get some more experience I recommend you be very careful with alternate routes . And yes , take the toll roads but only if it has a cash or pay by mail option . There are a few that can only be used with the correct toll transponder .

 

LOL They can not take your license away. If you think a past employer can keep you from working for someone else, then you really do drink their kool aid and seriously are brain washed in to being a scared little sheep to the mega carriers.
The only thing that can keep you from getting a new driving job is not having a cdl. Tickets, accidents, and even dui's are all things that certain company will work with and over look.

Taking a sht in someones truck is not a reportable indecent. All an employeer is allowed to ask is when you worked their, when you left, are you rehirable, did you have any accidents and thats it! Nothing more nothing less. If they ask for more info or if the past employer says more, then its a serious labor law issue.
You didn't know that. But now you do.





And you people need to come off your high horse. It was a joke. I don't expect him to actually do that.
Some of you clowns been in your box to long with out fresh air .....

 

JOKE PEOPLE! It was a JOKE!
Go get some fresh air!

 

Seeing that you replied to what I said, and I said neither of those things, everything you said is irrelevant. Next time don't think too much into a comment. Read it, laugh, and/or move on. Bahhhh

 

When I was OTR, 8% out of route miles was pretty much the standard. All the big carriers do it unless they advertise "we pay hub miles or practical miles". You can talk to them but don't get ugly about it. They all do it.

 

Well, I'll be 'out of route' for most of the 1,160 miles of my current load.
It was such a wonky route that it had me getting to I-10 for my first fuel stop, which was on I-35 and no where near I-10. That stupid program didn't seem to know that Pearsall was 90 miles straight up I-35.
I called my DM after I fuelled and told him, he said to just go the way I want.

That is an extreme example, I grant you. But I have had issues with the routing like everyone else.
If I don't like it I will simply go the way I feel is best, then call for fuel when I need (at an appropriate place - Love's, TA or Petro). The system will generate a new fuel route from that location, and I will no longer be out of route.

Sometimes I will call my DM with my preferred route. He has always agreed to it, and says to call when I need fuel. Simple.
There have been times when I told my DM that I wanted to go a certain route because I needed pipe tobacco, and it was a better route anyway. (My pipe tobacco is hard to find OTR, so...)
All it takes is a little communication with your DM, or a little initiative of your own if it is ECT people on duty.
ECT people almost never approve a different route, although every once in a while one is smart enough to do so.


We have more freedom out here than most new people realize.
-A computer generated fuel route is not God telling us what to do, it is simply a computer program following some programming. It will add 100 miles to your route to save .01 per gallon sometimes.
-Plus-1 times, and those generated by the trip plan program are not even close to realistic, by anyone's estimate - except for the idiot programmers that designed the software. Macs 9 and 22...
-Idle times are less important than so many things, like getting a load delivered on time and/or safely. Stay comfortable in that truck!