CDL in hand... Now What ? Decision time, that's what...

Start: 03 April 2012

End: 01 May 2012

Load Assignments: 17

Total Miles Driven: 8,726

Average miles per week: 2,182

Total days out: 29

Average Miles per Day: 301

Driving Days: 27 (two 34-hour resets taken)

Average Miles per Driving Day: 323

States Visited: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Commodities Hauled: steel tubing, steel conduit, steel bar, steel I-beams, steel coils, spiral steel rod (slinkys), stainless steel coils, aluminum coils, sports flooring, insulation, ceiling tile, dunnage.

 

I have found, changing 'careers' from engineering to marketing to sailing instructor to small business management to consultant to truck driver, that anything is possible. Just follow your instincts and realize that fear is really anticipation in disguise.

Best wishes to you as you move forward along your chosen path.

 

Certainly not my choice.

I would have preferred not to take the two 34-hour resets. I was not very close to running out of hours on my 70. However, both of these resets were over weekends when I received relatively short distance load assignments lasting from Friday to Monday. It was some consolation being able to claim layover pay by being within 50 miles of the consignee.

Then there was the company operations department faux pas of not giving me any load assignment for over 24 hours after having completed a delivery. This was previously discussed on this thread.

From 12 April to 20 April I actually had 6 load assignments with a total of 2,783 miles that went into one pay period. The average distance was 464 miles per load. This was my best 'week' of the month in terms of revenue (> $1,000 gross), but the actual work was over a period of 9 days.

Perhaps it has to do with the amount of time required to get loaded, secured, tarped, get to the destination then untarp, unsecure, unload. If the load distance isn't that far, then a lot of time is burned with activities that do not accumulate miles. I am getting faster at the securement and tarping but obviously have no control over loading/unloading. It seems like longer distances between shipper and consignee is the key to making possible those consistent 500+ miles per day.

I specifically chose the National flatbed fleet thinking that this would net a greater quantity of miles and I would definitely like to see some improvement in the number of miles on my next outing (also planning to be a month in duration). Time will tell...