Schneider Lease-Purchase..

Right??? 1350 rpm's in direct with 2.64 rears is 60 mph with lo pro 22.5's. And peak torque is still at 1200 rpm's.

 

I run slow, because... I want to. LOL.

Seriously. I started doing this about 25 years ago. When I bought my current truck, mainly out of the boredom that has overtaken the trucking industry, I decided I wanted to pursue fuel economy and see how well I can do. Just waiting for the engine to get well broken in, toss in an fleet air filter, and see where the mileage is at during this coming Summer.

Financially, it just makes sense to slow down.

55 vs 70? (as mentioned in a previous post). First off, it isn't a 15mph split. At 55 mph, a driver can average close to that actual speed all day long. Running 70, (unless you are running out west), you are going to be battling all day long to try to maintain that speed, and your average will be significantly lower. So, the split is not as great as you think once you apply it to real world.

But, I can run way more miles. Again, not really. You can't deliver the freight until you are in your drop window, or appointment time. If you are scheduling drops and pickups based on how fast you can get somewhere and keep running, you are setting yourself up for service failures. In the end, you don't really run more miles because you are running faster. Sounds good on paper, but it's just not the case in the real world. Decent size fleets and single truck companies alike have tested this theory, and ultimately find themselves running the same amount of miles per year.

Maintenance costs - the faster you drive, the higher you drive up your maintenance/repair costs.

With fuel below $2.00/gallon, the savings for driving slow is not a large margin. But it is still a savings.

Your health - Driving slower = less stress. Also = less hearing damage because the noise levels in the truck drop significantly. If you can't hear the difference, damage may already be done.

Safety - you can stop faster, and you are rarely stuck in a pack of vehicles where people often don't have an out when things do go bad.

 

yes, somewhere between 1300 and 1350, depending on the tire.

Peak torque varies. Mine is 1400, but I have a dinosaur 12.7L Detroit in a new truck

 

Good stuff. I got 8.5 mpg last month and was over 9 a couple months last year.

 

WOW, it must be a dinosaur. My '02 12.7 Detroit was at 1200 as was my '07 14 liter.

 

I read some Detroit info that shows it at 1200-1400, but I just don't see it. I tried running it at 1200, and it just seemed like it was lugging. Runs pretty good at 1300 on flat ground, but definitely does it's best at 1400

 

At $1.50 all miles which driver driving the same amount of hours will earn more money?
(Bare in mind these are simply examples to give a general idea)

Driver A: 55 MPH 7 hours per day, 7 days a week 2695 miles at 8.5 MPG at $2 a gallon
Driver B: 65 MPH 7 hours per day, 7 days a week 3185 miles at 7 MPG at $2 a gallon

Driver A fuel costs: $634.12
Driver B fuel costs: $910

Driver A income after fuel $3,408.38
Driver B income after fuel $3,867.50

Point being.. driving slow doesn't always mean you'll earn more especially with fuel cheaper now.
Going slow takes more time off your 70 which could mean the difference of sitting vs having the hours to be able to get more miles.

 

I drive 60 in california and the northwest. I drive 65 in Arizona and Utah. No desire to run at 70 unless I'm in a bind on a load. There's a safety factor here that I value more than making a few extra bucks.

 

But, it is far from that simple.

The driver trying to run 65 is going to get slowed down far more often, so that driver will be much farther from that total in miles than the driver will be going 55. I drive 57 mph, and almost never run up on any traffic to slow me down throughout the day. Also, during the course of a week, there will be many slower speed zones where I can still maintain my average speed, but the 65mph driver will be forced to slow down far below their average. So, in the end, your total miles come closer together based on that alone.

And, you simply are not driving a specific amount of hours per day. You have a pickup time, and an unload time. Driving faster, usually, simply means you are going to set longer waiting to unload.

maintenance/repair costs. As stated, this increases with higher speeds. Faster tire wear, more damage to any and all wear components (hitting a hole at 55 does less long term damage to suspension components than hitting it at 65-70mph)

Not sure how everyone else does it, but it is a rare occurrence that I see 70 hours. Most weeks, I am back at my house with only 50-55 hours used up.

I ran faster in my previous trucks here at Schneider. Running slower, I run the same amount of miles each week, and I am home just as often. It has taken discipline to force myself to run slower, but doing so has shown me (via very well tracked accounting) that it is simply more profitable.

 

Yes freightwipper- if you can run more miles at the higher speed with the same revenue per mile you will make more. Profit to expense ratio will be down, but the net will be larger.

The point Roothog brought up is running faster doesn't guarantee more miles or more profit.

Revenue is based on the load. The load has certain parameters - weight, distance, route, and pickup/delivery times. ICs try to string together loads to maximize revenue per mile AND per day.

Running the same loads WITH strict pu/del Windows running faster (at higher operating cost) doesn't result in a higher net if you can't stack more loads together.

Couple of weeks ago got loaded at the same time as an IC. He left before me; shortly after scaling he blows my doors off. A couple hours later he blows my doors off again. The next morning I'm pulling out after delivery (open drop window) and in rolls the IC. Were I an IC - which one profited more per hour of work, per mile, and overall?