Anti-idling laws. Company drivers, how do you get rest if you don't have a APU?

I'm pretty lucky with the company I signed with. They are a small company, and would rather the driver idle than be uncomfortable or worse, in danger. They are starting to add APU's to the trucks now. 2 of them have them, and a couple more are slated for the year.

They are very much a driver's company. Then again, we don't even run qualcomm. But we do have nice shiny new tractors.

 

Same deal with me. I work for a couple of ex truckers and nobody has ever mentioned idling. We only have two trucks though, so APU's are still a bit fancy.

 

Would be nice is it could get organized and no one delivered there. But this is never gonna happen, you're never gonna get every company especially these big ones to not deliver or pick up in these areas. Theres just to many trucks and to many people or companies that can not afford to not go there. All these companies see is numbers and money, they dont care about anything else.

 

I have a question while we're on this subject.
If your company tells you "no more than 30% idling time" what will they do if you go over 30% like on these scorching summer days here lately you would have to idle every day and probably your 34 reset.

Will they garnish your wages for fuel,fire you or will you just loose some sort of fuel bonus?
How do they handle that?

 

Every company is different but one of the consequences you stated would be likely.

 

Of course it's just a pipe dream, you'd never get everyone to work together even for just one week. Even when doing so would make everyone's life better and put the idle nazis in their place. As far as what does a company do if you go over their idle time? They can't garnish your wages. They can, however, fire you. Usually after two or three warnings. The flatbed company I used to work for called me up once about my idling. I told him if he wanted my idling percentages down keep me moving. Another choice was he could do something about the weather. But that I would in no way live in a metal box and freeze or burn up for the sake of fuel. He never called me again about it.

 

When I was with SNI two an a half or three years ago I idled it all summer long one my 10's it was a hot summer. My dispatcher sent me a message to call him about my idle time when I was available. Talked to him about it and he said need to work on getting it down. I said "I will, once it cools down outside" never said another word to me about it.

 

Id imagine some companys would do that...(which is an easy way to tell if you are working for one of the 'bottom feeders'), but it all depends on the circumstances. If they see you had a 3000 mile week and have a 65% idle time, Im sure that would catch their attention.

I work for one of the 'less than desirable' companies, and NOT ONCE have I been hounded about my idle time. Im actually quite suprised(and impressed) that they havent gotten on to me about it. Now, last winter, I did get messages almost every week about idle time, but they were cookie cutter messages, not personal...if that makes sense. I have had as high as 65%, as low as 0%(did that for a month straight before miles dropped off).

Im sure most companies know times are tough out here with low miles and all, and though it may be hard to tell sometimes, Im sure they know that if youre idling, youre idling for a reason(comfort).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCSF0H0MOo

 

I posted this on another thread, but think it should go on here as well.

I keep my idle under 5% without any trouble at all. I bought a fan for use in places where the relative humidity is low enough to allow for the evaporation of sweat to provide cooling. This works while sitting during the day, or while in the sleeper.

When the fan is not sufficient, I run the truck with AC blasting in the front and back until the Qualcomm beeps at me with a 60 second warning. Then I'll shut off the truck, wait until it's just about uncomfortable, and turn it back on. The Qualcomm counts this time as non-idle and it actually lowers the idle percentage. Keep this in mind the next time you are sitting around during the day and it's not time to sleep. There's no rule I'm aware of regarding turning the truck on and off. Hell, the TAS does that all night long if you set the thermostat low enough.

Speaking of TAS, if it's just too #### hot for the fan to do anything, I'll turn it on and set the thermostat in the bunk. Mind you that it's not set at 68. I set it for around 78 or 80 and deal with it. Is it as cool as I'd like? No. Is it cool enough to sleep through the night, without running my idle percentage through the roof? Yes.