Can you dictate your own hours OTR?

He said he "owns" his own company. That gave it away.

 

The loads definetly determine your schedule as a company driver. How and when you are dispatched also is a determining factor. When I was running solo, I would sometimes get loads that had a little extra time on them, and that would allow some flexibility in my schedule. Other times I would get a load that was already late before I even picked it up, which meant I had to hammer down and not mess around. Also, I sometimes would get loads that had an open delivery time, which means the sooner I can get there the sooner I can drop it and get rolling on the next one.

in summary, your schedule will very greatly day to day and week to week. This is not a 9-5 job and we OTR drivers definetly don't keep bankers hours. Just be prepared and willing to be flexible.

 

Doing different things every day is what I miss the most about the Marine Corps. Now driving between home and work every single day is driving me crazy. I'm always trying to find different routes.

 

Want fairly set hours? Drive oversize. We tend to only be able to move sunrise to sunset in most states. Inclement weather? We're down for the count. Metropolitan area? Curfew is even earlier.

 

Oh I'm not worried about having set hours at all. I was just curious about what the expectations were. It seems like sometimes it's "get there as soon as you can" and sometimes it's "take it easy, just don't be late." I've got plenty of experience in the field of irregular hours from the Marine Corps. =)

 

For me, hauling legal stepdeck and flatbed loads. the value or "pay" on a load is often determined by how quickly it needs to deliver. So, in theory. I could book get it there when you feel like it loads, but I wouldn't make much money.

It's even a bit of a joke at times. I've told friends that my customers would be happier to see it at 7 am Thursday than 3:30 Wednesday. I mean, you impress people by getting it delivered quick. But they also perceive "quick" as being there waiting to deliver when they get in. There's exceptions, it's a customer by customer, load by load thing. The bottom line is you give it to your customers how they want it if you're smart. If you want them to schedule around you, well, good luck buddy.

 

better go and reread the Original posters statements... he never said he OWNS anything.

 

It is all over the lot. Some companies watch you like a hawk with every tidbit of electronic surveillance known to man and force you to run if you have the hours to do so. Some companies are the opposite, here is the schedule, call us when you are empty. Owner operators have the same extremes to deal with, but choose to do one or the other for personal reasons. With the increasing use of ELOG's, scheduling flexibility is on the decline.

 

The driver that posted that is an owner-operator.

 

Loads are delivered to meet the buyers needs; if, you dont have the hours, then u dont work the load.