Time management issues

PART 2...

If you see through trip planning you cannot make an appointment safely and legally, message dispatch with the reason, i.e., not enough hours, anticipated heavy construction along the route (when you know the route has these delays), weather, etc., and give them the eta.

It's in your best interest to find out how to trip plan.

Search forums here, Google it, ask your dispatcher for help.

Rule of thumb...

If you're new...

Plan your trip at 50 mph, i.e., 1000 miles will take...

1000÷50=20 hours to drive.

Do not forget to include your 30 minute break... bathroom breaks... fueling breaks, 10 hour rest break, etc.

If your truck is governed, take that into account.

If the route has a lot of below 55 speed limit roads and stop lights, take that into account as well.

If the load is heavy and will be driven over mountains and hills in low gear a lot, this matters, too.

If you need an example...

I'm sure any one of these posters will be happy to provide one for you.

 

@Greywalker @tscottme

Check with your log department on how they want you to handle running out of hours at a customer.

Different companies require different things and not doing it your company's way can cost you your job.

Some allow personal conveyance, some don't.

If an accident occurs while you're under a load and you're on the wrong duty line, D.O.T. will ream you staring with falsifying logs.

Some companies want you to drive over on your 11/14 and put in the notes "forced to leave customer's property."

Others don't acknowledge safe haven driving.

Ask your log department.

 

You have to be smart with it. I don't say do that on a busy street. Many Walmart appts are early before people get to work. You can get away with it then ......you have to use your better judgement.

 

Yes, but regardless of that grace period, you still have to factor 4 hrs unload time at these types of places. The only time you'll get out in no time is if you have a simple load, like a truckload of one item. If it's assorted general merchandise, get comfy.

 

YOu are not late to your appointment.

But you will need tripplanning to protect yourself into the future. Before I took a load I asked for paymiles added 20% divided 30 mph and came up with hours. (Fueling etc already included plus storm situations and route etc0 and then tell dispatcher if it's doable or not. It's usually already late get going.

Walmarts and such are a poision to me. I spend a life time in those places grocery and cold storage. Sit and sit and sit some more. I look for carriers with drop hook and gone in 15 minute accounts. I finally got into Medicine hauling with McKesson through a leased company that did nothing but on the Memphis side with teams loading back occasionally with apples etc from Yakima WA etc.

In short all of the posters provided you a variety of workarounds. My way is two little letters occasionally used when asked if i can be in timbuktu by morning? No. The result is a new appointment, relay with a team (Or were a team racing to grab it) or just sit there when you get there hopefully on time.

If say Wyoming closes the interstate in your face as you travel... tear up the original appt, call your dispatch for new one.

Your logs are there to protect YOU. YOU will be the first that the DOT starts to write money tickets and violations and so on. And thus YOU are disposable. There is 50 more in orientation this week hungry to take your tractor.

Don't take too much from me. It's gotten to where customers do not respect drivers hours. If you bleat that you are out of hours and aint doing anything until you have your rest, they can kick you off. Ban you and so on. You accumulate a few along a life time. But it will be unloaded against your logs in violation. First. Or... even worse, put out and told not to come back until have a new appt. Ending up baby sitting that thing 5 days or more. (Talk to dispatcher, git into a drop lot, get it off you and get reloaded once legal on hours etc...)

In everything talk to dispatcher.

Those computers today are in your truck to pile violations against you and or company to try and slow down the things we have done with paper logs for decades. As a result it conflicts now much with everyone involved. Especially customers.

We did not have splits, resets etc in our time. Keep an eye on those coming up soon. So you don't get caught in tumbleweed valley 1000 miles from anything for a while.

 

What gets many drivers in trouble moving to fixed appointments across the country is they figure "okay. Three 9 hour days and I'm at the receiver." And so, that's what they do. Instead of driving two 11 hour days and one 5 hour day leading to the appointment, which provides for much more remaining time on the delivery day's Fourteen.

Also, one has to be careful about not starting too early on those critical appointment days where the dock is still a considerable distance away.

 

And if you're at a place where they keep you busy and running and out for extended periods, and your 70 begins to come into play ...

Then this can add some new considerations. In some cases, might mean you need to get shut down, out of hours, before about 14:00 terminal time so you could roll at midnight [if you had to]. If you shut down and end up with 0:45 minutes, then you could theoretically pull out at 23:15 and midnight hour recap hours would roll around and become available.

I hate "waiting on midnight" but it will happen from time to time but this has other advantages too (see below)

If you regularly bump up against your 70, then it's time to conserve time and not have a lot of minutes "wasted" unnecessarily.

• Try and avoid bad traffic rush hour times where possible
• Keep abreast of crash backups. Take breaks prior to getting caught up in them and hope for improvement
• Keep PTIs, loading and unloading, and fuel times to bare minimum to keep safety off your back (unless you're paid for all this On Duty time)
• In winter, keep abreast of weather situation and be smart about not stopping or perhaps stopping early, depending on the scenario. 2-6 hours can make a huge difference in the miles of snow/ice you drive on, either in a good way or a bad way.

 

So long as you put it on your QC, PEOPLENET or whatever...

You have a leg to stand on should they try to hit you with a service failure.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I asked the question in sarcastic amusement. If I've used 34 hours of my 70 and then my dispatcher assigns me the load, whatever time it takes me to get to the appointment, and the remaining hours of my 11/14 and/or 70 are whatever they happen to be, regardless of what the customer requires they be. The customer might as well dictate how much money I have in my pocket after I eat lunch. What control does a driver, ESPECIALLY at a megacarrier, over how many hours he will have upon making the appointment. Unless the driver has a time machine to change what happened before the dispatch, or dispatch allows him to change the appointment the hours available at arrival are whatever they happen to be. The dispatcher has access to the HOS, can do the math, and they decided to dispatch that driver on that load.

I've been giving ETAs for decades and I always pad them appropriately for all conditions. The dispatcher has decided what loads you did before the one with a "remaining hours" requirement, let them plan better . My time machine is broken.