Sneaky Company!!!

My truck shows 64 MPH on the speedo but GPS shows 62. If I couldn't deal with the slower truck I'd find something else to do because complaining isn't going to change the speed of the unit.

Yep, thats what I did. I got a driving job where the company's inefficiency's did not affect my paycheck.

The same trucking company who sees it as wasteful having a driver driving 65 instead of 62. Will have no problem wasting a drivers time on the dock or laying them over on the road.

It's a easy out for the trucking company's to lower a drivers potential income rather then to make more money by running more efficiently in the face of higher fuel costs by planning a drivers available time better so they are not idling or babysitting a truck.

If you just look at it as 2 m.p.h. for 1 truck it seems like no biggie. But at a potential loss of 22 miles per day times 250 days at 5500 miles per year.
My last OTR job payed me .38 a mile. Thats a potential loss of $2090 bucks a year out of my bank account. No biggie? ANYTHING a company does that may affect my income is a biggie in my book.

 

My husbands company held the monthly safety meeting and they asked the drivers to please keep it at 65 or under. If they can work together and do that, then he won't have to govern them and it helps the company keep it's head above water in this fuel crunch. I thought it was a respectful way of doing this. The undertone of the meeting was IF the driver chooses not to do this, they might be held financially responsible for the difference and then governed.

 

Again that's where a driver has to make a choice when picking an employer. When asked by someone who is looking into a driving career, I've always suggested for them to look for a job where you drive for a company that hauls their own product or a trucking company with a dedicated account. Most likely you won't be stuck at a dock for long & if you do you'll get detention pay. Also you won't be left sitting while the company hunts for you something to haul.

Cut backs aren't just limited to trucking. I used to have a production job where the owner just stopped giving quarterly & annual bonus' without any notice. This amounted to around a $4000.00 a year set back.

 

Well if it is a company truck they don't have to tell the driver they are turning them down. All they have to do is tell the shop and routing so they can change the time it takes from point A to point B. Someone has to make a move to lower the cost of fuel OPEC isn't going to drop it. Have A Nice Day & Be safe

 

I have looked at the average speed of our drivers on dispatched loads from when our company was 65 mph, and where it is now. The average never changed. They still run 45-46 mph. Most of the drivers that run high speed, also stop for extended periods of time "because they can make up the difference". Kind of like the rabbit and the turtle story. All they actually do is burn more fuel, and increase the likelyhood of a fatality at greater speeds. If you have a personal vehicle that tracks your average or total mph, you will see the same thing. I average 70-75 mph in my car on the highway, but at the end of the day, the average shows around 50-55 mph. This is due to anytime you brake, hit a stop light, get something to eat. That eats away your average mph. So in the big picture of going from 65 to 62, the only real difference is better mpg.

Wes

 

There's also a better chance of being rear-ended, the inability to go with the flow of traffic, disrupting traffic patterns, dropping another gear while going up a large grade...

I'm not sure where you get an average of 45-46MPH. My usual average is around 57-59, unless I'm doing a lot of off-interstate driving.

 

Maybey she has alot of truckstop coyboys in her company they do 80 mph down the road and stop at every truckstop.

I have to agree about being rearended I though it was a bad idea to even have the truck set at 65 when some interstates are 75 mph.
Having the truck set a 60 will make you drop more than one gear going up a hill.
I use to go down the hills and gain speed up to 70-71 mph when I knew there was another hill comming up to try and make it up the next hill and not drop too many gears.
I hate down shifting just to pull a hill.

 

The trucks that go fast and change lanes constantly to get ahead are the ones at the biggest risk for accidents. I know Swifts accidents have declined, not increased, from the trucks going slower. In all actuallity that claim is not correct. I see plenty of cars on the interstate daily that goes under the speed limit by 5-10 mph. I also see plenty that do 10-15 over the speed limit. In general it doesnt impede the flow of traffic unless you get two governed trucks side by side trying to pass each other on a two lane. That is why we have the slow lanes and the hammer lanes.

For MPH, going through the lights to get to the interstate, contruction, the act of getting up to speed, slowing down, exiting to get to your consignee, going up or down hills (unless you like letting your load push you down hill as fast as possible), it all costs you on your mph. Every 1.08 minutes not moving is a loss of 1mph on your average per hour (In a 65 mph truck). It adds up quick. The very act of passing into most citys gaurantee's your mph will drop just because you have to hit your brakes for cars, slow down for construction, etc.. Our system tracks how many minutes at each mph and rpm a driver is in. So its pretty accurate. It even tracks it at sensor miles which are equivelent of hub miles. I do agree you can get higher mph, and its usually when you have some good straightaways, but I am talking on average that is what I see. On second thought, I will also double check and see if its using just the drive hours, or total on duty hours vs miles on its calculations. Will let you know.

Wes

 

I don't understand- if they own the trucks, they can do what they want with them. If you are an O/O, then yes, you have issue.

 

I just cut and pasted a truck. It is pulling only driving time (truck in gear time)

Average Speed....... 047 MPH Fuel Mileage........ 00008.06 MPG
Total Distance...... 0000818 Mi Driving Mileage..... 00008.65 MPG
Moving Mileage...... 00008.76 MPG
Engine Time......... 000027:36 H:M
Driving Time........ 000016:56 H:M Intertrip Idle Time. 000010:28 H:M
Moving Time......... 000015:21 H:M Intertrip Idle Pct.. 037.92 %
Total Active Time... 000036:20 H:M Short Idle Time..... 000010:28 H:M
Short Idle Pct...... 037.92 %
Over RPM Time....... 000000:00 H:M Extended Idle Time.. 000000:00 H:M
Over RPM Percent.... 000.00 % Extended Idle Pct... 000.00 %
Over Speed Time..... 000000:19 H:M Auto Fault Check.... ENABLED
Over Speed Percent.. 002.06 % Possible Faults..... 000000 #
Excess Speed Time... 000000:00 H:M Extraction Date..... 08/23/08 21:03
Coast Out of Gear... 000000:00 H:M User Fault Confirm.. NOT REVIEWED

Here is part of the actual breakdown of how much time for this trip was spent in each MPH. It doesnt look it it took the paste very good. Bottom number is in minutes how long spent in each of the MPH ranges. So 1-4 mph the driver spent 31 minutes, etc..

% Time Covered.. 100.00 M P H (high ranges to .9)
1-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49
1400 000:01 000:01 000:02 000:01 000:01 000:04 000:03 000:09
1500 000:01 000:01 000:02 000:02 000:04 000:01
1600 000:01 000:01 000:01 000:01 000:01
R 1700 000:01 000:01 000:01
1800
P 1900
2000
M 2100
2200
2300
2400
TOT: 000:31 000:45 000:20 000:12 000:08 000:13 000:15 000:17 000:18 000:21