Werner - Not What I'd Heard (Thank God.)

Tera thanks for the insight. My hubby is on his 3rd week. Its good to know that if its taking him past the 8 weeks there is a way to test out.
Do you think that my hubby would be better off starting out as a team driver or try for the dedicated. I know that his friend seems to have it together and as a team you have the support. But both of them really would like to get home a little more often if they could. Just wondering whats your thoughts.

 

Tara -

I have a pre-hire from Warner - but I was told by the instructor at the school that if you need an extra 10 min. It is very difficult to do that on a paperless log. He said it gets a lot of noobs in trouble, as most noobs don't have the experience at planning. - Your thoughts?

 

It is my understanding that he is asking if they permit extra time on logs Tara. Hope I got it right MS.

KH

 

I think what she is asking is if you are at 11 hours on your 11 (for example) and you need an extra ten minutes of drive time how do you do it. Because if an instructor isn't willing to spend an extra 10 minutes on helping a student learn the log system, then that instructor needs to go.

Other half (18 years at Werner, and nearly 2 million miles accident free) says, "trip planning". You can try to do a log recap and see if you can do a log correction somewhere to get an extra 15 or 30, submit it and hope the log department approves it however, if you already out of hours, sitting there spending the time trying to find that 15 minutes, you will waste 15 minutes trying to find that 15 minutes, sending it across the QComm and waiting for a response from the log department, and you may not even get approved for it so don't try to get 2 hours back with log corrections unless it is a valid log entry error. (Get use to the QComm kicking him to Line 4 for no reason...........)

The instructor is right. (Wait.. did I actually say that?) Trip planning is the key. Make it a habit to always do a recap of your hours when you stop for fuel (if you are running close), end the day, beginning of the day to see how many hours you are getting back, where you are sitting on your 11/14 and 70 etc.. etc. This also guarantees that you do not leave early after a break whether it is a 2/8/10/34 hour break. Dispatchers at Werner are notorious for looking at the 11/14 but not the 70 hour clock, as I think its on a different page in their system. You already have to send a 46 (I think its 46? Or is it 64?) across before midnight Omaha time, so why not send a macro for a recap?

As for trip management, well the best way I can give an example of that is lets say he has a delivery on a Monday at 10am, noon and 2pm. The first stop is 10 hours away. He will add on a sleeper birth break to ensure that he has the hours to do all three stops. He would leave on Sunday, after getting the load, and fuel at 2pm, which means he would head to the truck around 1:30pm. This allows him 10 hours driving, to which he would be at his first stop at midnight and take a 10 hour break. Now this seems a waste of time since he's due to unload at 10am and would sit with his clock running or extra break time. The one thing about the account hes on, they nearly always unload early, but he still plans (mostly) on the actual delivery time, but also knowing that he will probably get the load off about 60-90 minutes early. And that is a good thing because their contract says they can be no later than 1 hour, then it's considered a late load and that account is sitting at around 99% on time (about 45 drivers) on a weekly basis.

Another example would be if the distance between the first stop and the second stop could not be covered within two hours. He would schedule his leave time and break time, hoping to get the load off early enough, so he could have time to make the second stop on time. If he didn't and they took him at 10am, he would then send a macro saying "delayed by receiver" to CYA along with a message that the loads were scheduled too close together to make the distance in time.

In other words, trip planning isn't just to your first stop. Its from the moment you step in the truck until your trailer is empty, all stops are done and includes breaks and refueling. You have to plan each leg of the trip, including all stops, and figure out where you are going to need extra time because planners dont seem to realize that an inch on a map may be 100 miles and cant be covered in two hours through mountains or weather.

And this trip planning never stops. You could come across an accident, or a road closure, or road construction which causes a delay. Then you have to calculate again if you are still running on schedule. The dispatchers have it a little easier because their system calculates where you are based upon your QComm and the distance to your destination so they know if you are ahead of schedule, on time or falling behind.

Also, invest in a truckers atlas. It may seem an expensive item when he first starts out however, until he knows the Interstate system across the US or region and exits (and most drivers do after awhile) it will be a blessing. And, it's tax deductable on your income tax. Keep the receipt.

However, if you can, expect phone calls on addresses and different routes. There have been many times Highlander has called asking me to look up an address on Mapquest to see an alternate route to get there as, for example, the exit is closed and he's in downtown Los Angeles, there's an accident and he needs a way around, the road is closed due to weather and he needs a way around, or (GASP) the directions are wrong on the QComm. Or look up a state DOT page to see the detour for construction, or an update on an accident he's heard about.

The one thing about being a truck driver or being involved with a truck driver is that you need to be flexable as things never go as planned. Murphy's Law serverely applies to the life of a truck driver.

HTH

 

The 7-minute split gains you time. Say you go on duty at 8am, log shows 8am - 8:15 on line 4, but you start rolling at 8:08. You are stopping for fuel, you arrive at 12:07 - but you log from line 3 to 4 at noon. Same goes for whizz breaks pull into the rest area at 15:07 in real time, but log show pulling in at 1500. Or you pull in at 1500, go to line 1 @1500, but pull out of the rest area at 15:08. End your day 20:00, but actually shut down at 20:07. Etc, etc. It adds up.

 

Thanks you have answered my question. I now understand a little bit more what the instructor was saying about paperless logs.

 

This is exactly what I wa talking about with trying to find "extra" time with log recaps. That seven minute thang can make you or break you. Learn how to use the QComm "seven minute rule" to your advantage and learn how to use the QComm and log corrections in combination with the seven minute rule to your advantage. (Legally)