Driver responsibility with the cleanliness of issued trucks?

My driving time is to be preserved. Between loads may be the time needed to achieve a break to allow the extending of the day. Why drive around and mess it up. I have been to the truck washes and waited hours to get a truck washed. I could have been eating, or taking a shower.

 

I must be missing something. When I was driving I had no issue getting the truck cleaned in between loads. I still got my showers and time to eat. I also ran my ### off. So unless we have different ideas of the volume of runs that is exceptable I am not following.

 

Many of us have other diversions such as laptops, TV's, books, magazines, cell phones, even full blown gaming systems to "entertain us" on our off time.

Off time is; time spent between loads waiting as well as our 10 hour mandatory breaks. There are not too many drivers (that I know of anyway) that would rather clean the inside of the windows, wipe down the dash, polish wheels/tanks , vacuuming or sweep out the sleeper/floor of a truck as opposed to watch TV or play on the computer.

The only drivers that I do see cleaning are usually owner ops.

 

Probably because of different companies. I rarely spent time around a truckstop. The nights before were at the dock. After empty, not allowed to leave until dispatched. Direct to shipper and then drive direct to the receiver. I rarely had time to eat. I ate cold food.

 

Well, I did. I did not shine anything, but I spent time making sure my work area was clean. I did not have any of the stuf you mentioned either. I do not know, maybe it was the military in me.

 

I ran like that as well. But I still found time to pull into a truck stop from time to time. I am not saying all situations are the same, that is just my experiance.

 

If you have the time, fine. But when I scrambled to run my loads without stopping except for fuel, there was not much choice. Driver was penalized if the loads arrived late. Even a blizzard was not a valid reason.

I no longer work for them, because it was quite apparent that the load meant more than the driver.

 

I have heard of that sort of thing before. I will never put a load ahead of my driver.

 

Pardon me for not believing you.

Those are the exact words that this company said to me when they hired me.

 

The most notable company with a policy like this is TMC. Just look at how they do it, but I believe they pay for everything involved.