Can you dictate your own hours OTR?

If you're a new company driver, especially with any of the BIG outfits, be very careful about attempting to "dictate your own hours" unless you're being put in an unsafe position. It seems like once a driver has a few years under his/her belt with a clean and safe driving record, many corporate executives will try to do all the dictating and squeeze you as hard as they possibly can... and some of them even seem to get a sick pleasure out of treating drivers like crap. As the saying goes, "pay your dues" and you will eventually land in a good spot. Good luck and be safe out there!

 

He was commenting towards skateboard, who is an owner op doing flatbed

 

Yup! I've been getting a kick out of people going back and forth about this.

 

Semper Fi

The companies are moving more toward forced dispatch now a days especially with electronic logs and computer programs that can figure your hours available to distance estimates and may have you running max out when freight is hot and other times when you're in an dry area for freight they are looking around where to deadhead the driver to get back to some good freight.

You will have some leeway to turn some loads down or at least tell them their times are stupid because they have you running through a major metro area during rush hour close to the end of your clocks. Sometimes you will trip plan and figure your time will run out in an area with no truck parking so you don't want to take that load that will mousetrap you into a log violation or something. Other times a big storm is coming into a region and all the owner operators split and capacity tightens so the big companies start snatching up all the available freight and send their company drivers right into the heart of the blizzards or hurricanes , you may be able to opt out of those loads knowing you might be sitting around for 3 or 4 days waiting for customers to open back up.

Mostly just make hay while the sun shines is my mantra.

 

if you are still useing paper logs, you do have more control on how you log your hours.

 

As far as setting your own hours, like the others said you still have to meet p/u and del times. Some of those can be flexible with the customers. If I have any say I like to try to set it up to where I am picking up in the early evening and do most of my running at night. Far more relaxing and more productive IMO.

 

80% chance

 

Response to "Can you dictate your own hours OTR"
Yes and No, depending on the company, the rules in force, etc.
No company, shipper or receiver can make your truck run faster than it's governed speed, unless all downhill. No company, can "legally" ask, demand, threaten you to violate DOT and FMCSA federal laws pertaining to pickup and delivery of loads. Yet, THEY WILL, REPEATEDLY put you in the damdest, ugliest situations at some companies. I've heard some worse nightmares from other drivers.

I personally have had 75 mph dispatches thrown at me with CRITICAL APPOINTMENT TIMES, with no warning and they were understanding when I called and pointed out the truck speed of 60 mph they enforce thru bonuses.

You will get some loads, from some companies, that give you control of your schedule, and have some sitting time in them.
In other companies and situations, like dedicated shippers with a shortage of drivers, you may get 70 hrs a week for months and have a hard time getting time off, but you can get it. It really depends on the commercial greed of the company your at! Some companies will attempt to get you to believe that EVERYONE operates like they do, so you won't be tempted to find a more considerate situation elsewhere.

In essence, you have to really learn the rules, laws, regulations, and be willing to put your butt on the line to keep some companies in compliance, and your own records in compliance.

CSA scores can get you tossed out of the transportation driving position faster today than 10 years ago. At the same time, we have many fewer PSYCHOPATHS driving big trucks today than 10-20 years ago. As a commercial driver today, you are by law, more accountable to the regulations than you would have been anytime in the past! It has a lot of benefits safety wise and disadvantages freedom wise. Emotionally Impulsive drivers rarely last very long in trucking today, they usually run into some regulation boundary and get frustrated and quit, or get fired, or end up in prison for a careless fatal accident.

The higher costs of fuel have slowed down a lot of the RAMBO's that used to fly across I-10, I40, I-70 and I-80 at 75-125 mph. That means you're less likely to get taken out by some irresponsible driver exceeding his skill levels, but it also means you have to take and stand responsible for your behaviors, choices and self-disciplines that you MAINTAIN to stay out of trouble. It's not difficult, but it does require more effort, more diligence, more dedication, and commitment to keep from getting lax, sloppy, and out of compliance. If after 11 gruelling hours on I-95 through VA, WV, MD, PA you find a place to park, you still have to do a post trip(in case you have something dangerous that is undetected, do your log book if you're still on paper, so you don't miss any important details that could bite you later, and plan out your leaving the next day so you don't park where some other tired driver blocks you in. A lot of extra stresses today that didn't used to be in the trucking job! It used to be more like a game, now it is definitely business for most OTR drivers. The US is the largest, most dominant COMMERCIALLY DRIVEN country on the planet, and nearly every law has been influence by that commercial interest at some level. So some laws didn't get cleanly organized due to the commercial interests pleading and paying lobbyists to modify or even corrupt the wording of the laws that govern trucking.

These are just the superficial levels, reality about the CSA laws goes much deeper in distortions, intentions, regulatory oversights, and the regulations ability to get you into serious trouble. Some of the tools are now in place to make trucking much safer, and if too many fatalities pop up in the future, truckers will find inspections really difficult to deal with, to attempt to stop people from getting slaughtered by truckers. Even thought the statistics already show we are the safest industry we have ever been. ???? TOOOOOOO Much ?????

 

One thing you have to be in this industry no matter who you drive for is flexible.You don't dictate your hrs the loads do.But its wise to keep an eye on your hrs.If you get a dispatcher that keeps you constantly running then you need to keep even a closer eye on your hrs and communicate with your dispatcher how many hrs you have so they can work with you on loads you'll be able to do with your available hrs.Companies hire drivers to drive which means you do as they say.OTR is everything but consistant.One day you may be running hard and the next day after getting unloaded you may be sitting the rest of the day.So be prepared for anything.

 

########. If you can't deliver you just call dispatch and say hey I can't deliver until this time due to this reason. They will say oh but it HAS to be there. It's crap. You deliver safely and within the hos.
Now within reason. You can't be late because you wanted to hit the local casino. Now if you have a breakdown or traffic jam or held up at shipper/receiver those are viable reasons.