Money lost if no parking next to drop / pickup point

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by daveolson36, Aug 16, 2022.

  1. daveolson36

    daveolson36 Light Load Member

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    Good evening Truckers,

    I have a question that will likely bring back all sorts of ranges regarding income lost or potentially gained. My question is around the distribution centers that provide zero parking and build their facilities to maximize the earnings on a $/sqft basis and completely disregard truck parking. From their perspective, the bigger the building and the smaller the parking lot the better.

    Therefore, if you knew you had parking within 1-2 miles of each loads drop / pickup how would that impact the following:
    1. Hours gained by being able to drive to your destination vs having to cut your drive time short to park 60 - 120 miles away knowing if you advance your load any further you wont find parking.
    2. Likewise, how many hours would you get back per day if you knew when you woke up in the morning you would be 1-2 miles away from your drop / pickup point?
    3. How would these two scenarios above put money back in your pocket and "roughly" how much would someone save in this scenario?
    To be clear, I'm not trying to pry into your personal income but simply asking for ballpark or ranges to income lost and gained if there was such a solution.

    Thanks in advance!
     
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  3. xsetra

    xsetra Road Train Member

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    I usually park 60 miles away from delivery if they don't have parking ,verified with a phone call and google maps. I do prefer parking on site when possible.
    Where I park doesn't affect my income or how many hours I drive in a day. Same if I park on site or an hour from delivery.
     
  4. daveolson36

    daveolson36 Light Load Member

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    Makes sense. Not to change topics, but regarding personal conveyance, are you allowed to drop a load while on PC or only pick up a load while on PC?
     
  5. Heaveninamoment

    Heaveninamoment Light Load Member

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    Zero help financially except in your pocket. Personal conveyance exists for this exact reason so you can legally drive without touching your HOS or break time for an unlimited amount of time and miles to get to a safe parking location and or personal reasons.
    You’ll make more money teaching people how to understand the rules than to force them to pay for your parking.
     
  6. loudtom

    loudtom Road Train Member

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    PC isn't really about being loaded or empty. You can take a loaded trailer to do your laundry and log it as PC, provided you return back to where you started your PC. You can drive empty to do your laundry on the way to your next load, and it's not supposed to be logged as PC unless you return back to where you started your PC instead of going directly to the shipper. There really isn't very clear guidance, and too many people have their own interpretations of what PC can be used for. Every instance that I've seen someone talking about using PC has been to save their clock and use it for work. People are not inspected or audited enough to discourage them from abusing it.

    I wouldn't be affected financially by parking closer to a shipper, since I run a team truck. If I get close to the end of my clock, the other driver can just take over.
     
  7. Heaveninamoment

    Heaveninamoment Light Load Member

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    Negative “return where you started to PC”. That was never law and has been since explicitly explained as allowed to PC anywhere anytime for any reason and stay there and continue. (Any reason that PC was designed for) also PC is completely defined but only understandable by those who know right from wrong. The entire law was designed with its language on purpose to be clear but will always be confusing to all criminals.
     
  8. xsetra

    xsetra Road Train Member

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    I rarely use PC.
    Not sure how you mean "drop a load" "pick up a load"
    If I am loading "pick up a load" this time is recorded "on duty not driving"
    If I am unloading "drop a load" this time is recorded " on duty not driving"

    If you mean I am dropping the trailer to leave the trailer parked and I bob tail. I can log PC and drive however long I want bobtail. My time on duty doesn't start until I back under the trailer again.

    Usually the only place I drop my trailer is at home or at a repair yard to get my truck worked on.
     
  9. skallagrime

    skallagrime Road Train Member

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    Realistically if im not on site for pickup or delivery, the parking that makes the most sense for me is at least midway between delivery/pickup.

    Ive gotten lazy and twiddled my thumbs because i was right around the corner from pickup/delivery and had a bathroom/parking spot before (and i mean, exit truckstop, turn left for interstate, turn right to pickup)
     
  10. nredfor88

    nredfor88 Road Train Member

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    1. This is a typical scenario for when I'm delivering to a large urban area and arrival would be in the afternoon or evening when guaranteed parking is not assured. Often that would also mean a morning delivery and commuter traffic compounding the problem of wasted hours. There are many factors, but that could easily waste 3 to 5 hours or so of my time given that I also need to allow extra time for unknowns in that scenario.

    2. Too many factors to really guess; possible split clock, unknown next load position, unknown delay at shipper/receiver. But as a guestamate, I'd say the time would be similar to number 1.

    3. I'm a company OTR reefer driver (when I'm working). Breaking down my average weekly mile and bonus based pay into hours and factoring against question number 1, I'm saving 81 to 135 dollars by parking close to the destination.

    Yes, I would pay for guaranteed parking in that situation. Probably up to $25 given the unknown factors that often don't ensure that I come out ahead. But generally speaking, paid parking is worth it to me.
     
  11. TallJoe

    TallJoe Road Train Member

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    In terms of productivity loss it may be quite significant because staging, sometimes up to 2 hours (60-100 miles) away from the warehouse, is the only possibility and the time to finalize arriving could be better served after the arrival to pick up/delivery.
    Often enough, the problem is with the warehouses themselves, disallowing staging, yet specifically requiring arrivals no earlier than 1 hour or even 15 minutes prior to appointment.

    A good solution is exemplified by Costco DCs. They allow staging within 12 hours of appointment and every facility has a designated - about 50 trucks - staging area.
     
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