Are there any good OTR companies out there? "Really"

8.75 hours every day and you will never exceed 70. 8.5 and you will never hit 70.

 

Good morning, I have to agree with most of the posts that there are very few realty good otr companies out there. I have been driving trucks, and busses going on 18 years now and if you really like to drive, want to make 2.5 times what truckers make, like people, then look for a job with a good tour bus company. I am not trying to discourage you from OTR, I drive tanks for a local company now so I can be home every day. However, the tour bus company I worked for from 2010 until 2013 was awesome!! Averaged 2200 per week with tips, stayed in the best hotels, went to many pro sporting events, college sports, etc. Anywhere from Canada to Georgia. I am in Boston. All expenses are paid, cash given for food every day your on the road its a really fun way to make a living. BUT BUT I would work 30+ days with out a day off, now I could go home sometimes during the 30 days but it would only be for about 12 to 15 hours then had to drive back to Boston for another trip. Overall it was a blast! Anyway, sorry to digress just something to think about. Keep doing research you will find a company to work for. Good luck.

 

Sure if the load works out that way go for it. 14 hours is 14 hours no matter how you divide it. 10 plus 4, 9 plus 5 or 7 and 7. Regardless, 14 hours is coming off your 70, what does it matter? 8.75 a day is far from a solution.

 

fueling should logged as on duty time too. Theoretically I agree but I'm not going to make a mess of my logs by logging off duty every time my butt leaves the seat for anything besides fueling or pre-trip. I do log line 1 if I'm spotted on a door for a live load or unload though since that is usually a good chunk of time.

 

Excuse me, yes on duty for fuel but I always fuel on my PTI, so I kinda forget. Are you on Elogs?

 

These OTR companies are taking the shorter runs that pay more ,while the driver is paid by the mile ....this adds up to
to more work & less pay .....so low that it is not feasible to support a family .....look at the average OTR work week and we are finding that average is now at an all time low 2200 to 2800 miles a week ,....a good week would be around 3200
.....now if we break it down to an hrly wage ,for a 3200 mile work week and all that's involved in this at the very best
....the driver is making around 12 bucks an hr or less .....notice that the mega corporate fleets are grabbing every uniformed rookie they can get into their equipment ,( any warm body will do ) while they continue getting gov assistance
.....i hope someday ,we stick together to put a stop to this by standing up for ourselves and our families
to have frgt regulations re instated ,until that day comes we can expect this job to pay less and less

 

What are you talking about??
The only parts that count against your 70 are your line 3 and line 4 activities in a 14 hour period. Your statement and little math divisions make no sense and are incorrect. I run 3000 a week on recap hours and yes 8.75 is very much the solution.

 

Really, you want to get all hostile when you apparently have reading comprehension issues? When did I say anything about what lines come off your 70? 14 hour trip, a trip that takes 14 hours to drive takes 14 hours off your clock regardless of how you drive it. Was that slow enough for you or do we need to go over this again? If you want to do the 8.75 thing great!!! I'm so happy for you, you seem like you need to keep it simple.

What if your destination is 8.76 hours away? What do you do then? I mean it being such a solution and all.

 

All I was really saying is averaging 8.75 hours or less every day will keep you from running over your 70. But if you are running a dedicated Minneapolis to Phoenix like me every week (when it works), 8.75 hours will just make you get up earlier the next day, only to run shorter because you are borrowing from your 70. And this is logging close to 70 MPH on the 4 lanes (yes my truck still runs that fast). A lot of my reloads dont come straight back to MN either, which can compound he hours problem if I end up with a 4000+ mile week.

 

Find me a bus company where I can average $1100 per week or even $800 and be home 3 nights a week, and I will be in heaven. Most of the ones around MN/IA/WI/IL have terrible pay, idiot drivers, junk equipment (partially due to the idiot drivers destroying and beating on it on a daily basis, and partially due to the same cut-throat rate game that goes in in trucking.)

I just left one of the better bus companys (relatively speaking) in MN, and even their pay, vehicles, and compensation are terrible when compared to the trucking job I came back to (and never should have left). The bus job was mainly hauling old people, 2nd and 3rd rate colleges and high school groups around.