Delivery Times/ Night Driving

There is no policy that says drive a certain amount of hrs a day.every load is different.you look at the miles of that load and go from there.you plan your drive time and ten hr brakes accordingly.it's important to look at the time your delivery appt is.

 

That's my point... It's fine to have a light day here and there, or a load now and then with plenty of time on it, but it all depends on the delivery date/time...

 

yep,if I wasnt typing on this cracker size keyboard I would give an example.

 

I do same thing. I figured in 8 hrs of driving which leaves you with 45 minutes for inspections, fuel, etc.

 

There's wisdom in this post.

I also run "out of the night" (I like that phrase), especially if I'm just shy of a major metropolitan area I need to get through. If I start my clock at 2:00 am I can drive through an area like Dallas basically on cruise control. Try that at 7:00 am and it's an entirely different animal. Remember, you are "selling your 70", so try to run at a time when you can maximize the miles per hour. Don't be making less than minimum wage stuck in traffic if you can at all help it.

Another great advantage of the 2:00 am start is that when it comes time to take your 30 minute break there is plenty of parking available in truck stops and rest areas after the "solar powered drivers" get underway. Then when your 12-14 hour shift is complete and you need to find a place to park it's early or mid afternoon, and parking is wide open. If you started your day at 7:00 am and roll into a truck stop at 9:00 pm to find a place to park then good luck to you squeezing into a "make-a-space" that will require you to be woken up several times during the night so other drivers can get out of their legit parking spots.

All this being said, while I prefer my 2:00 am start, frequently I need to "flip schedules" and start my clock according to the needs of the freight. Everything is driven by the schedule of the freight.

 

Drive as hard as you can and get there early. Then maybe you can get unloaded early and get to the next load that much quicker. That's how I roll. It's all about the money and nothing else.

 

This is also very true.

Frequently if I get a load that has a long time to delivery I'll call the customer as soon as I know my ETA and let them know I can be early. Often they will either say they can take me early or work me into the schedule. Sometimes they can't take me early and I can trip plan accordingly to take my breaks in a comfortable spot.

Another way of maximizing use of time is to ask the customer if I can park on their lot. Sometimes I'll be told to go ahead and open the doors (when I was a door banger) and get it into the dock. Then I wake up when the forklift starts rocking the trailer, make my coffee, do my pretrip, and get ready to roll with a fresh clock. I can log two things at once, both pretrip and delivery (or pick up) and save unpaid on duty time.

 

Another thing I like to do when I can not diver early and know I will have extra time, is plan my drive times with my recap hours in mind. If I have 2 days and 14 hrs drive time, I will drive 7 and 7 rather than 10 and 4.

Just planning ahead.

 

But if you go the 10/4 route you will get three extra hours a whole day sooner on recap... If you don't use them it just rolls to the next day anyway... I can see taking the 7/7 route for a couple smooth relaxing days but not seeing the benefit to recap. I must be missing something.

 

I can never get my company to run me threw the weekend because nobody is open to load or unload. That is very anoying to me. That gives me a fresh clock every monday. That's the down side to working for a company that has nothing but dedicated customer's. One day I will be a O/O and I will be able to pick up spot freight on the weekends.