Trip Planning: Old School Meets New School

As you said, Google Maps satellite imagery always blows my mind. In most cases, it allows me to already see the best way to approach the customer's dock and even which parking spots at the truck stop are best.

 

Thanks for the great post. Very helpful for us rookies. My truck driving school did maybe 30-45 min on trip planning which was def not enough

 

I have taught trip planning to many new drivers, I recently tried to teach my wife; who, bless her heart, has no sense of direction or any idea about laws concerning trucks and routes we are allowed to use. The reason I tried to teach her to trip plan was so she can monitor the load board and find the good paying loads and know where I can be and when I will be there, and how many hours I will have available once i am there.

When you are completing a trip plan you are not only looking for the route and where you will take your breaks, you are trying to answer 3 questions. What time will I be there? How many hours will I have left on my 11, 14, and 70? When will I be available for my next load? By having a accurate trip plan you can communicate to the dispatcher your availability and they can start looking for a load to keep you moving. It's all about utilizing your hours as efficiently as possible.

To a new driver, figuring out what time you will get to your destination and what you can do afterwards can be a challenge. As others have said I trip plan at 50 mph and I always plan extra time into my trip plan. For example, if I need to get fuel along the way I plan for 30 minutes, knowing that I will have to use the restroom at some point along the way, I add another 30 minutes. If my delivery is a drop and hook I plan 30 minutes. Live load or unload, I plan a minimum of 2 hours unless I know the customer is slow, then I plan 4 or more. You need to remember that this is just a plan and it is as fluid as you want it to be. You can change the plan at any time; but once you change it and it affects your times you need to communicate those changes so the dispatcher can keep looking for your next load.

Like everyone else said, the most important part of trip planning starts with a Rand McNallly motor carriers atlas, compare what you believe is the best route to the directions provided by your navigation system (MCP and/or trucker GPS) NOTE: GPS IS ONLY A TOOL, YOU MUST USE COMMON SENSE, GPS WILL PUT YOU ON A ROAD YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE ON. Write down all of the directions on a notebook in your own words. Write down phone numbers to your customers. If you are trip planning at 50 mph plan to travel 500 miles in 10 hours, figure out where that will get you to and consult your truck stop directory. Find a location that you can get to in 10 hours, this is your break location. Once you get it parked for the night re-evaluate your trip plan. Are you on schedule? If not make the necessary changes to your plan and notify dispatch of the changes. The next day, start on time, don't lounge around the truck stop unless you are delivering locally. Remember the only thing we have to offer our customers is a service, that service is on time delivery, if you cannot be on time some other carrier can be and will take that customer away from you.

Going back to the beginning, teaching my wife, she is very good with math and trip planning times is nothing more than math. I could not get her to wrap her head around trip planning. So I developed a nice spreadsheet for her to use. I will share it at the end of this post. But before I do there are some things to keep in mind. I make NO WARRANTY as to the accuracy of the results. You are free to use this for your own benefit. You cannot sell it. I hold and reserve all rights to this document.

There are some limitations in the application. It is only accurate up to 33 hours of driving. I am still testing and refining the application. To use the spreadsheet, only fill in the boxes that are colored yellow. O/O's who decide to use this, in the profitability section you will need to change the MPG to meet your trucks performance (BOX H4) , and the fuel pricing to current prices (BOX H5), and your fixed costs per mile (BOX H6).

To explain the sheet a little:
Mile from previous are simply your empty miles.
Mile loaded are self explanatory.
Previous hours is the number of hours you have used since your last DOT break.
Extra time needed is any of the items listed under the extra time needs box. Add them together and put the final total in this box.
Start date - enter in this format (mm/dd)
Start time - enter in this format (hh:mm:ss) 24 hour clock

The profitability section is for O/O's only.

The 70 hour calculator:
This section only looks at your last 8 days. Start by entering your time from 8 days ago in day 1 and go forward.

In the 11, 14, and NAT calculator the colored box tells you to enter a "1" in the respective box if your UNLOAD is live or drop/hook. Only one of those boxes should have a 1 in it. The other box should have a 0.

Try it out and give me some feedback if you see errors or other issues. Here is the link to the file on google docs. You will have to download it and will need Excel to use it.

 

To be fair.. the truck driving schools are not really the best place to teach or learn trip planning.... jt is est learned on an actual trip where hoj are really going to run the trip tne wah you planned.. in school, theh can only have you plan fictional trips..
It really sinks in when your in your truck, or a trainers truck and routing an actual trip and then running it... the important things for us newbies is to appreciate all th technology and tools we have.. but dont rely solely on them.. know how to do it without as well... I have been in places where I just didnt have a signal.. on my phone, qualcomm or GPS.. but, I had already planned the trip, knew the route and had my laminated Atlas.. so all was good..

With Werner, when you are traing yoh are required to keep paper logs so that you know how to paper log in case your qualcomm goes down... and it is a good idea to keep up on knowing how to do paper logs...

With werner also, warnings come over the qualcomm if your destination may have low bridges or weight limits.. it just sends a message warning yoh and telling you to plan your trip accordingly.... yet still some drivers dont do it and end up in some ugly situations..

When I was out with my first trainer.. she entered an address into the GPS wrong.. put Kansas City MO instead of Kansas City KS.. and it got us in a stressful situation going down a tight narrow curvy road and into residential... that was enough to teach me to do proper trip planning....


I also like the google maps and getting a visual of where I am pulling into... wish more drivers would.. before they pull in the wrong way then figure a way out...

 

One tool I have not seen mentioned is the DAT app on your phone. It lists nearly every truckstop and has repair, truckwashes, even walmarts. VERY helpful!
I gotta say the original poster hit the dock on the first shot! That is how I do it pretty much! I use the DAT app to find a place for my 30 minute break as I get closer to the time I need to take it.

 

and here i thought trip planning was,when does load need to be there....ok ill be there

 

With exp it is simple to trip plan but not quite that simple,lol.

 

has worked for me 36 years