Defining Home Time

You need to put the shoe on the other foot. First thing I tell a prospective employer is Home more important to me than your job, 1. truck goes home with. Number 2. I do not normally work weekends, Loose most there but I do not really care, My family matters to me and there is always another truck that needs a driver.

I do not discuss something with them, like If I pull a load from Phoenix and it is delivering to Sacramento I have to take 10 off somewhere I do not call and ask permission I go home and makes dang sure I deliver on time.

Same is true with a 34 reset If I can wangle it to happen at home then I will. I do not and never have worked for a company that will not send the truck home. Nor would I allow them to tell me where I have to take my breaks.

You have to take control of what your willing to do. Can not blame them for running over you, Kinda like a train but you still have to step out of the way.

 

I understand what you're getting at and you make some very valid points but here's what "home time" means to me as an LTL driver - night line-haul for the last couple years and the next few.

Show up Monday night, run the run and return home Tuesday - repeat 4 more times. Get home Saturday morning sometime and report back Monday night sometime - maybe 7 PM or maybe 8 PM if I so choose - maybe even 9 PM if I need some more sleep throughout the week. Just tell them to pass my hooks if I'm not there yet. Home time for me means if I'm not driving or getting paid for some other company related function I'm in a place of my choice nowhere near the truck. In 7 years I had to lay over once and work one Sunday - volunteered for another so I guess I've worked 2. Home time is where you go every day when you're done with work and weekends to me - took me a while to land this job selection here but it was worth the wait - till Monday night then I'll hate it again..lol..

 

I have worked with some pretty sharp dispatchers with companies that didn't care if the truck went home with the driver. This was long before the 34 hour restart provision and if you did it by the book, you might get 3 hours available. That is when you pull out the second log book, get home and burn the second log book when you get there and adjust the first later.

The trouble is the system puts you in a position where you cannot do it legally unless you are willing to put up with it or fight it.

 

While i did my road time with FFE from 1977 to 1981 i defined home time if and when i ever got home! there was no gaurantee back then to get home. i think of all the money i blew on rent for an apartment that i was never at! now you can call me spoiled if you like. i punch in at 7:30 am and i do my best to get back to the yard by 4:30 pm. by then if there are any pickups left that i couldnt fit, a second shifter can have it!