6 dollar a gallon fuel !

I’m still at the house. Went to bed and it felt a little warm. It was 70. 70 is fine anywhere but my house. Turned the AC on. So we are idling tonight

 

Welcome to my world of pa/NY/NJ prices Lol. Right now it's perfect non idling weather

 

We have a couple of drivers that refuse to shut the truck off all day. Part of my responsibilities in my new position is to try to find ways to save money so I have been reviewing idle times and we got guys driving for 5 or 6 hours a day and idling for 4 or 5 hours.

This is for day cab trucks so they are obviously letting them run while they are out of the cab unloading. I can kind of understand doing that when it’s 90 degrees out, but I can’t see any practical reason to do it when it’s 65. Plus when it’s 90 out you should only need to run it a couple of minutes before you leave to help cool down the cab.

We have the trucks programmed to shut off after 30 minutes, but kicking the idle up with the cruise keeps it from shutting down. They are definitely doing that as I see idle times for more than an hour a lot of times.

We had a drivers meeting 3 weeks ago and I asked them to voluntarily cut down on their idle times but so far no change.

I would say about 75% of our check engine lights are emission system issues and it’s usually in the thousands of dollars each time. I hate to be the guy that try’s to micromanage my drivers but when I ask nicely to cut idle times when you can and explain to you why it’s so bad for the truck and I see no difference afterwards I feel like I have to start looking into stricter controls.

My 2 worst offenders are seasonal guys who are getting ready to switch to their Winter jobs, my plan is to not bring them back next year for this and other reasons.

Hopefully I can find people to replace them but finding drivers who are willing to do what we do is not easy.

 

I been off so long and haven’t kept up with prices. Just checked the TA in Dallas Pike. Even with my discount I was like WTF.

September 4 was $4.66. Today is 5.43. My Ohio and WV fuel ain’t cheap no more.

There is some for $3.99 at the Marathon in Hebron, OH. Across from Pilot. That has to be an error on the app!!!!

 

Do you turn off the power to your house when you are home?

 

Perhaps you can implement an idle time reduction bonus. And if that doesn't work then you may have to make a new policy (assuming your drivers aren't running a PTO).

 

Do you leave your car running when you go grocery shopping? 50% idle time is pretty outrageous for a day cab non pto operation.

 

Who cares.

Mind your business.

 

I agree with D.

Even tho it might be 65-70 ambient temp outside they're still sitting under a ~150-200 degree trans and a ~200 degree engine that will make the temp feel a hell of a lot hotter than it actually is outside. Be reasonable with your guys. It's like a big steam box when everything under the truck is hot.