Heyl Journey with xlsdraw

I know you don't think those numbers are very good. But for a refer company driver, those are great numbers. 4 months, projected to 12 months, that is 135,000 miles for the year, with 48 days off...

Going to be almost impossible in the general freight market to find a company job that runs you any harder.

And don't forget about the 1 cent bonuses for every mile you ran in the last quarter... That is a rare.

 

Most companies base their expected "million mile award" on an 8 year cycle which translates to 125k a year, to expect more in this freight environment with these new HOS rules is asking a lot. I use to run 140-150k a year when I was young, dumb and full of........ummmmmmm, *edited for content*. But I was making $0.32 per mile....now in the high $0.40's a better paycheck can be made running 120k w/the extra's. There was a talk show host on XM's trucking channel..not sure if he is still on there, but his tag line was "run smarter, not harder".

 

Longer runs equate for more miles as well. Less loading/unloading/dropping/hooking etc. My four years at Schneider, I never topped 110k. Constant NE....very few runs over 1k.....If I were running consistent longer hauls, I might not be satisfied with 120k. That is something I really didn't consider in my previous comment.

But I have coffee right now....and I'm on vacation....my brain already seems to be defogging a little.....

 

Longer runs do help...especially when companies insist a set minimum amount of time for line 4 stuff. Enjoy a stress free week. I read a news article the other week that said studies show vacations don't relieve stress as much as we thought. Primarily because the thought of going back to work when you get near the end of the time off causes our stress level and b.p. to return to pre-vacation levels...I guess the only hope is to win the lottery and disappear so all the "new" old friends you manage to make don't bother you 24/7

 

If you did not have to wait for appointment times, then yes longer length of haul would equate to more miles... but in todays JIT, where you deliver, and the warehouse loads it onto the delivery trucks over the next 24 hours, we just don't have the option of delivering early, and the company does not want to loose the customer due to late deliveries, so they schedule extra time, as a safety net. And in refer, this happens very often.

And since many of the company drivers are not willing to run as hard as you, the company has to protect themselves, and schedule accordingly, which will frustrate a hard runner, like you.

 

I brought that kind of dilemma up to Rae in Deland one time...her reply "not everybody is a 'insert my name here'. Most don't want to run as hard as you do"...to which I told her, if they'd hire more drivers like me we wouldn't have to have excess drivers during the slower time since we could cover more loads during the busy time.

 

I personally had a great week with Heyl, i started last Monday afternoon FL-MD= 950mi nd MD-WA= 2750mi dont deliver til wed at 13:00 so im 106 miles from destination with only 2:50hrs left out of my 70 taking a 34hr. After my delivery im pretty sure ill be getting routed back to FL

 

that is the reason I left refer, and went to local crude oil hauling.. a lot less schedule, I run hard, don't waste time, since we get paid by the load, I go and get my 2 loads done in 9 hours... or 3 loads in 13 depending on the needs of the producer... no set schedule, just get it done.