Mileage Question

You cannot driver more than 70 hours in an 8 day period of time. You also cannot log more than 14 hours total of driving and being on duty not driving. It will become more clear to you as you work with the logbook. Your school should go over the logs and when you get with a trainer, they should also work with you and your logbook to make sure you understand how to do the logs. You can take a 34 hour restart at any time, but it is not a requirement. For instance, lets say you have driven 50 hours for the week. You are allowed 70 hours to drive. At this point you have 20 hours left that you can driver within an 8 day period. If you have at least 34 hours off where you won't be driving, you could do a reset. Once you take 34 hours off your work clock will reset where you once again have 70 hours to work. It can be confusing. I wish that if they would forget about any time other than driving. Personally, I would like to see the hos and logbooks go by the wayside. That isn't likely to happen so we need to live within the regulations.

 

There will be days you deliver in the morning and spend 2-3 hours on the dock, possibly more. Then you'll dead head to the next shipper and spend 2-3 hours on the dock. That eats up alot of your day. When you stay out and run a rolling recap after the last day, you'll drop the first day while you pick up the next day. That's why the "Hours Available Tomorrow" columm is important. Once you get some experience with a recap you'll understand it easier and there are some math formula shortcuts. Only when your hours available tomorrow drops to a critical level do you need to do a 34hr restart. I stayed out 6 weeks at a time and wouldn't have to do a restart but maybe once. It all depends on how you run and how much you sit. You can actually work around 8.75 hours everyday forever.

 

Forever..and ever,and ever,and ever? Honey,where's that rope,the one with the hangman's noose?

 

this whole HOS is for the birds. But we are stuck with it for now. espescialy with elogs. clock starts at 7am stops at 9pm unless you have had 8hrs sleeper for the 8,2 split.

you can logg it how you need to but any way you look at it on duty, driveing, off duty, sleeper (less than 8hrs). only affects the 70 rule. does nothing for the 14,11

if i have to waite 3hrs to load 3 hrs to unload there is no way i'm going to work only 8.75 hrs a day. lol (besides sure the company won't let me)

 

You are spending alot of time trying to figure out something that you will never know or control.

The miles you can get in a week will depend on the company, the trailer type, the freight lane, the time of year, the length of run, your experience and the mood of your dispatcher just to name a few factors.

While it is perfectly legal to run in excess of 3600 miles a week, few will do this repeatedly. It would be realistic to target 2000 - 2500 miles a week. If you are trying to determine earnings for a budget, I'd never count on more than 2200 average. A year or two back when things were so bad, many were fighting for 1500 - 1800 miles a week.

 

Since you're starting out let me share my standard advice. It is designed to help new drivers avoid several of the things we read about happening repeatedly.

You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go.

I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record. Check out your local community colleges and employment office.

Just know that most training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second.

It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles.

You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week.

Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. For OTR this can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training.

One last thing, you don't want to wait around too long after training or you'll have trouble finding a job. If you get out before you have a year in, when you try to come back a few months later you will find they want you to start over.

 

yes is the simple answer. depends on freight, shippers recievers weather and traffic also repairs. could be 5 6 or 7 maybe 1800 miles ,may be 3200 miles


trucking happens

 

One owner/operator I saw post his average for a year and it was about 540 miles a day. Weekends foul up loading and unloading on a regular basis.

It seems to me many companies have the 34 hour reset mentality too. So they seem to think it is okay to set over the weekend because you need a reset anyway.

To me 500 miles a day times 5.5 days a week should be realistic with a 34-hour reset. That would be 2750 miles a week. Whether it will happens is anyone's guess.

Being old-school, I'm not interested in working for anyone that thinks I need a reset. One day a week off to keep the hours legal if running 10+ hour days is all I need. If I need a reset send me home for it.