Question for OTR drivers

I would never drive for a company like that. However, I did WORK for a company like that, but in the office as a road breakdown agent. They used to send eastbound drivers in PA to get off the PA turnpike and cut diagonally south-east to get to York PA, instead of just letting them get off at Harrisburg and just take I-81!

 

The trucking company tell you what appointment times you have to be at pickup or delivery. It’s your job to be on time. You kinda decide for yourself but they have influence also. The trucking company tell can just go crazy because of the log book. They know what the limits are and have plan for that also. You basically run the same time of day most days 7am-9pm or 6am-8pm some guy like to stay at 3am and drive till 5pm to get easy parking spots at end of day

 

Something else I think is a bad sign of a company. This kinda of a trick they would say back when we had paper log book was you would should log sleeping to maximize your time to work to make say a 3am delivery even after driving all day.

They can’t do that as easily today because of ELD but you could take 10 hours off. Get up in morning and dispatch might say only load available loads at 8pm and you have to drive all night for 8am delivery.

The trick is they say go take another 10 hours off a sleep and then get up and drive all night. You won’t be able to sleep and then you will be tired trying to drive all night might fall asleep when driving. But your log book say you are 100% legal. The trucking company will say. You should have stopped if you were that tired. It’s a scam because the trucking company knew exactly what they were doing asking you do to but hide behind it was legal and your the captain and should have stopped. Then add in most trucking companies will fire a drive that is late many time. They basically set you up to fail. That’s a bad trucking company.

 

Well, you need to be ready for things like this. No coffee unless you are under a load. Go do your laundry in the morning, then catch about 4-5 hours sleep, and have coffee ready during the night. As an OTR driver, you're going to either do this a couple times a month, or end up with a crappy 2000 mile week..

 

Very simple you say no......no one can make you turn the key when you're tired or whatever, you are captain of the ship.....

 

I make 2500 plus without running nights.....I run how I like and they let me be .....plus I'm on CPAP and the whole interrupted sleep driving overnight would make it difficult to sleep.... did the overnight spill on reefer....I don't miss it

 

Sorry to hear that you're on a CPAP, fam. I always made time to exercise and eat right over the road to avoid having to deal with those kind of issues. We make the same amount, sir, but I'm just a lil healthier. I get it either day or night. Also get the 2 Year Physical... no pressure or medication issues

 

Sorry I meant 2500 miles not $$......lol

 

I don't care what preparations you take, unless the driver knows well in advance flipping the sleep schedule is at best a royal pain. I've done it, but being able to get it done doesn't mean I enjoyed it and it's definitely not a good idea. There is just no way to get a full nights sleep, spend 4-5 hours farting around and then get 4-5 hours of sleep before running a 14 hour shift. If the driver knows ahead of time, it's one thing. They can make adjustments to make it easier, but it's still a PITA. And if it's happening more than a couple times a year, Dispatch needs to get their act together. If it's a couple of times a month, the driver is getting abused.

In one 'sit-in' a CSR asked me why drivers would refuse loads that would require taking back to back 10 hour breaks. I asked what he would do if he showed up to work and was told not to clock in because he was needed to cover 2nd shift, but he also wasn't allowed to go home. Dude finally got it.