Impossible Jobs

Used to be! Now we get told what can't be done.

 

There is a time to do what cannot be done. But making a habit of it to please the boss is verboten today. I crossed WVa into Ky fighting 3 foot snow powder without chain because I was literally being taught that first winter how to do it by a trainer to get to auto glass for GM Baltimore. No matter how horrible winter got that glass got through.

Today I would be more reluctant to feed GM baltimore (They are gone now..) and prefer other kinds of shippers and recievers with better situation rather than JIT assembly.

Oh by the way, we ran the pike or the smokies to bypass mountain storms in winter where possible even if it's out of route. Worse case scenario lies in 80 to Milesburg/State college a foot of snow is easy peasy to work the way down the 7 mountains 322 pass. Rather than a screwed up T-Pike.

But I understand today you don't get to decide route anymore. So that's out.

 

I don't know if I agree with you MrEd. I do understand where you are coming from, but I also have dealt with too many dispatchers that only care about getting the load moved and not a single driver actually making any money. In the OTR work mileage is king, and to go to a shipper just to pick up and get to the truck stop 10 miles away.. Well I'd rater not do anything, instead of working 2-3 hours making less than $5. Now, on the other hand if the driver can get even a couple hours down the road, sure get loaded and do a swap and take your 10.

 

I definitely and very strongly agree with MrEd. But, with some conditions. Yeah, if you have time to grab the load, and don't, you may be lazy, or you maybe don't get paid. It's gotta be one or the other.
My conditions are simple. PAY ME FOR MY TIME WORKED. If you won't do that, then go screw yourself, and explain to YOUR boss WHY I refused the load. Or better still, I'll be more than happy to give your boss a call myself, and explain why.
You can pretty much bet that they will never try to get you to work for free again.
(Of course, they could just fire your arse, but I think you'd have a good case against them, if they did.)

I am absolutely for supporting the company you work for. And if you DO NOT support it, then quit that job and go find one where you can support them.
It is a two way street here.

 

Can you go off duty during the day to save hours, or is your 10 hours the only time you can go off duty?

Say I drop off a load at 9AM and my next load is at 1PM but it's only 20 miles down the road so I stop at a truck stop. Can I go back to off duty even though it isn't 10 hours? I know it won't reset my 14 hour clock, but it would save some precious hours. I've asked the recruiter of the training program I'm going to and she said you can only go off duty for your 10 hours at night. Any "break time" during the day has to be on duty not driving. I don't think she's correct.

 

You can do a split, but make sure you know what your doing. There are plenty of threads on it.

 

She is very much incorrect. I hope she is only a recruiter and not also an instructor.

 

Sounds like she doesn't understand splitting. UNLESS there is some obscure reason that the company has made it against policy...

 

She doesn't understand HOS rules period. If what she said was true (can only go off duty for 10hr break) then no one could ever take their dot mandated 30min break and we would all be running illegal.

 

Let me make this point again. Logbooks are the sole property of the driver. They were designed to protect the driver from being over worked by the company. Running legal protects the public and keeps our wages up. Still it is up to us as drivers to maximize our pay. Therefore we should use as much of the 70 hour rule as driving and avoid wasting time doing "on duty not driving". So remind your dispatchers that anytime speaking to them is on duty not driving and therefore, a waste of time.