34 hour resets vs recapping

@STexan touched on this some. As an OTR driver how you manage your hours should in EVERY case be based on how the freight is running. If the freight is running run as much as you can. I am an old enough (now ex) driver I remember the HOS before resets. I can remember running and having to just stop because of recap and have to wait till midnight. Bottom line is a driver can only legally drive for (most cases ) 70 hours a week. As I look back at my career I seemed to be able to make more money with the resets. That 8. whatever a day hours wise is a royal PITA to me. It limits the miles a driver can get a day. I and others have said this on this subject as well as most all other subjects with this job. Be flexible. there are going to come times when running recap is the best, but there will be times that running balls to the wall and doing resets are better.

I did see a comment in here about a company not letting a driver down for 30 hours go on and finish that 34. If I was still driving i would tell a company to bug off and finish that 34. especially if I have a lot of hours on duty already. A driver must pick their battles wisely, however there are times when you as a driver draw a line in the sand and make sure the company knows you refuse to cross that line. The thing is though, once you throw up that line be prepared for what follows. In my case as an active driver i always had someone I could call about a job. My "boss" always knew this. There was no place in the US where I could not rent a one way (rental) car and not be much more then 72 hours from home.

 

Ever been to a strip club? As long as they’re throwing money at you, keep your arse onstage.
Don’t look at it as either or, set in stone, do it this way only. Your goal is to make maximum dollar every day. The load is going to dictate how to run. You must be adaptable or you will be left behind.

Luck in battle.

 

I was trying to calculate which is faster if you were to drive a long distance, like the moon. Which truck would arrive first, the 34 or recap. It was more complicated that I thought it would be. If anyone knows the answer, I'd love to see it..

 

Reading your post again just now jogged my memory. I was once in operations speaking to my fleet manager about taking some time off. I had already been in at the terminal for close to 24 hours. Another driver that had been not getting many hours was fussing about a "hard" load. I told my FM to give me that load because I know I would make it into a good round trip back to Georgia then take my home time. I stayed out for almost 3 more weeks running my butt off. then once the freight slowed I went home. I never took home time with a lot of freight out there. If I did go home it was an over night and back at it the next day. I have very little patience for drivers that don't want to run but seem to want to sit in a terminal or truck stop bellyaching about how their company is screwing them over!

 

I know someone who has this done on a spreedsheet. Let me see if I can find out.

 

Take a driver 388 straight days on recap. So I would imagine with the recap it would put you behind by a few days idk. I started doing the math and was like Bzzt not breaking it down any further than that haha.

 

Its easy to figure if you look at it this way. NO line 4 time. 8.75 hours everyday or 11 hours for 6 days. lets say your truck will do 70 MPH. What is 8.75 x 8 x 70. Running reset every 8 days After 6 days you have 66 hours. this means you have 4 hours to run on that 7th day followed by 20 off. Then on day 8 after 14 hours your able to go 10 more hours. So in 8 days on that first week running resets you can drive 80 hours. When you do this math think about being out 21 days. first week on recap you can drive 4900 miles. first week on reset you can drive 5600 miles. Later on in that 21 day period those numbers start to get closer. Check my math please.

 

One major problem with running on recap is the type of loads offered with limited hours available.

Planners must love it though.

Look, we have someone to help out the hourly day cab drivers.. He just accepted three under 200 mile loads in a row. We love this guy! Let's change his comfort zone to our sub region and see how long it takes for him to figure it out.

This dude must love heavy paper rolls and mountains. Look at him go!

Based on a true story.

 

One drawback of recap is if you are doing that 8.75 a day and have been doing it for 8 days you CAN NOT go over that. Takes very good trip planning. In the case of a reset you have your full clock unless you are on that 7th day. Good and bad either way you go.

 

Sounds complicated.

Run 11 hour days for 6 days, take the 7th day off. You now have a reset. Rinse and repeat. 66/7 > 8.75