Flatbed/Open Deck/Machinery Haulers

CPAPE, I know it's a long shot but you never know until you ask. I live in eastern NC and just starting my driving career. Are there any possible opportunities for me with your company? If not, could you give me a little guidance on how or where to start a heavy haul career? I've always wanted to haul heavy equipment since I worked at Cat about 10 years ago. I just don't know where to start to gain experience. Any info you or any other of the fine folks reading this could provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I would recommend that you try craig's list. Just make sure you put all of the information there so any prospective person knows who you are from the beginning. I never understand the companies who do not disclose who they are in their ad's. They should be proud of their company and want everyone to know they are.

I know in talking to other drivers that a lot of them look at Craig's list.

 

I'm not sure if the truck itself did it, or the qualcom system, but one truck I drove would limit itself to 65 if the mileage dropped under 7mpg (I think). When the mileage came back up, it reset to 70. That was a nice instant result bonus with the extra miles I could get just from the extra speed.

 

fuel bonus are paid on my mileage 7.5 miles per gallon equals three cents per mile. I average three cents per mi fuel bonus last year.

 

All this talk of fuel mileage I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with the new MP8's. I know this is kind of off topic but it amazes me what you guys are getting for fuel mileage, I've got a brand new 2010 Mack Pinnacle with the MP8 and the best I've done in the year and a half I've had it is 5.9, that's basically the fleet average since we've updated our equipment. We're governed at 65 and that puts us right at 1,450rpms, thank god we don't have to achieve fuel expectations over here or else all of us would be letting the company down. On another note, CPAPE it's cool to see a company owner asking questions in regards to his drivers and future drivers, you seem to be the vanishing breed of company owners out here.

 

The company I work for doesn't have any kind of fuel bonus program, I've been here going on 4 years and we've had the same kind of bonuses set up since I was hired, we have a weekly revenue bonus and quarterly bonuses that are based on truck revenue and safety. We're mainly a local fleet opertating in Florida and south Georgia but we do have 30 or so trucks running OTR. If the company were to institute a fuel program it seems it would be nearly unachievable due to the lack of performance these new motors are getting. I've tried progressive shifting at lower RPM's and have not seen a difference, our digitatl read out on the dash shows that the most profitable RPM range is between 1250 and 1450 and even while operating in these ranges the results are always the same with the new MP's we have, we have both the 7's and 8's, both of which are only achieving a max so far of 5.9. I'd say our fleet average in Tallahassee is 5.5, not very impressive for the new technology these trucks are equipped with.

 

OOR miles are sometimes tough to determine given you type of work and the geographic region your fleet runs in. O/S routing as you know is at the whim of the state and some desk jockey. We have all seen O/S permits ordered at the same time for the same loads and different routes being given.

As far as a bonus for fuel economy, the driver is the biggest contributing factor in it. I'm sure your organization is giving your drivers training in how to get the most out of a gallon of fuel but is it current and has anyone actually showed them the numbers?

My suggestion for a bonus would be to use the previous month's IFTA return and base it on that. If a particular driver can beat the previous quarter's return by a half a mile per gallon and your fuel cost is currently 60 cents per mile then give the driver 50-70% of the savings! You're still money in the bank and what a great way to get drivers to drive more efficiently.