Hometime On Time...WHY IS THIS SO HARD???

Because they know you will probably let them make it the last freakin' priority every #### time.

Being an O/O may give you more freedom to do some things a company driver would never get away with...but it comes with it's own set of shackles, too. It IS your truck, and it IS your fuel...however, nothing is free. You have a truck note to pay, and the bank wants their money whether the truck ran or not...so it better be running so you'll have the money to pay the bank. Out of route miles burn extra fuel, which cuts into the amount of money you have left over to pay the bills.

Not to mention, a significant portion of your home time is going to be spent maintaining that truck you now own because it is cheaper to do the work yourself than pay someone else to do it, and your home time is the only time you have when the truck isn't trying to get a load somewhere under a time deadline. The "free time" you used to have is gone.

There are also dispatchers who want things done a certain way...and if you don't do things THEIR way, they get their panties in a bunch and take it out on the driver. Sure, you went home when they didn't want you to....so now they are going to keep you on crappy paying loads 1000 miles from home for 2-3 weeks to "show" you who's boss. Or they will bump you down to the bottom of their priority list...so that they won't bother finding loads for you until you are empty and every other driver on their board is dispatched on something...and if there's not enough freight to go around, you sit. It isn't costing THEM any money to leave you sitting more frequently than their "top" driver...as long as all of their loads are covered, they won't hear a peep from the higher ups.

You, on the other hand, are going broke not getting any miles or only being dispatched on the "cheap" loads. The higher ups are looking at your low numbers and accuse you of not achieving the performance levels they expect from their drivers. You can blame dispatch, but all of the other drivers on your dispatchers board are outperforming you...so it CAN'T be dispatch's problem.

Some companies just don't care, and know that most drivers will let the carrier walk all over them.

I worked for one carrier for less than 3 months. I told them when I hired on that I needed a particular weekend off. I reminded them once a week for the last month, and nearly daily the last week or two I was out that I NEEDED to be home, and that it was scheduled before I even hired on. They attempted to send me to Laredo to "see about" getting a load out heading towards the house, but when asked if there was a load sitting there waiting for me to throw straps/chains & roll, they said no. They were going to leave me sitting in Laredo all weekend and get me home too late, so that I'd miss whatever it was I had planned.

Over the phone, I heard my dispatcher's jaw hit the floor when I asked him where he wanted the truck, because it WASN'T going to Laredo. He asked me what was going on, and I had to explain to him 3 or 4 times before he believed me that I quit, I was going to be home for whatever it was I had planned, and I just needed to know where they would like me to drop their truck off on the way. Enterprise picked me up from their terminal and I went home.

I refuse to work for a company that does not respect me enough to make the necessary arrangements to get me home when I need to be there.

 

It's a business. Stuff happens. I have a couple trucks and my own authority (I drive one) and I can tell you that I don't always get home when I want or plan to because it just doesn't work out. If it is a consistent problem then I'd say they 1) don't have much freight going to where you live or 2) they just don't care. I know this is easier said than done but if you can't get home maybe you should consider another company that is more local. Also, IF they give you a choice on loads, learn the freight patterns and do what you can to be in areas that ship freight to your home area.

 

If you want to be home on time work for a company has freight in that area if your a student your stuck there for a year make it work. That first year is important if you can't wait try some. Ltl carriers there starting to hire a lot more..

 

Really? I work for a megafleet (the orange one) and in 13 years of working there, home twice a month I've missed my time off about 3 times. (and by missing I mean by a day, (example, wanted to be home monday and got home on a tues))

 

Meltom is right , You need to have a good relationship with the carrier before you go O/O . If not you will have same issues and a truck payment ! And telling em "screw you" ether you will never see the house ,or you will see it every day till its gone. Just do not burn bridges you have to use to get paid!
If that unhappy , may be time for a change. May be a home weekly carrier? EPES is one TEXAS STAR EXPRESS is another. Have worked for epes over 7 years. Feel free to pm me. Best of luck to you !

 

I agree, I don't run OTR anymore and did not run it very long before going local, but I ran hard and never really had that hard of a time getting home on time. Heck I think I run harder now than I did OTR. I would remind them on a daily basis about hmt. Nothing to pushy, but I would also pay attention to were I was headed next, as it has been said before if I wasn't gonna be headed in the right direction by a certain time now it was time to get pushy. If you want something you have to ask for it, sometimes more than once. Heck I am local and I try not to plan much during the week because I don.t know what time I will get back to WH finish pw get ready for tom. plan the next day and finally get home. In this business there are to many uncertainties so try to stay on top of things and be persistent when it is called for. To the OP if things are not working one way try a different way of doing it.

 

it is simple.

Tomorrow I am returning to work from my home time. Over the weekend I talked with my wife and we decided I was going to come home again in 4 weeks.....for a 4 day weekend.

The first thing I will do when I get into my truck tomorrow, before I even accept a load assignment or sign in on duty, will be to send my company my home time request in a macro on my Qualcomm.

In 4 weeks, I will be headed home for my home time. My guess is the drivers who don't make it home, send a message or call and say they want to be home next week. It doesn't work that way, send your request early, and run your butt off while you are out, and most companies(I can only speak for mine) will get you home, I know mine does.

 

MilesTheFox88: Iam the wife of a trucker & I understand the meaning of NO HOMETIME. My husband was working for CRE as a company driver, & He requested hometime many many times in advance. And needless to say for 6 MONTHS, they NEVER GAVE HIM HOMETIME!!!! They sent empty promises all the time saying they would give him a load towards home. But they kept running him on the East coast & we live in Northern California. Finally he requested a dedicated route on the west coast with promises that he would get loads up toward home well, that didnt work either they had him running out of Sparks, NV & gave him loads to S.Cal & NV, none up towards home. He put another request in for 4 days home & finally on his 6 months to the day mark they finally granted him hometime. While he was home he looked into a different company one that has a terminal 20 miles from our home and they said they would hire him. He went back after his 4 days H, put in his 2 wk notice & worked the full 2wks then came home & is now just starting to work for Interstate Distributor Company. In fact they just flew him up to Seattle/Tacoma WA for his orientation & to pick up his truck. So far this company is starting off on the right foot, compared to what he went thru the last 6 months with CRE. ( oh btw he found out that his DM was the one who was screwing with his hometime & getting the dedicated route, so he took it to his DMs supervisor. And within 10 minutes the supervisor had him a dedicated route west which still gave No HT.) I know for a fact that if you work for CRE they dont care about their drivers, they only care about making money for THEMSELVES!!!!!

 

Gettiong you home does not directly make them money. They want you to buy in to that you have to be out at least 3 to 4 weeks to make money. It is simply not true. The truth is they do not care about or any of the rest of their drivers, you are replaceable.

Up front I told my employer serverl things, 1 the truck srays with including going home, 2 I do not normally work weekends as a rule. By Friday nite I plan on being home and stay here till Monday am.

You also have to consider what the company does before you go to work for them, if you and tham are going to be a good fit for each other.

My last job was at IWX a intrastate refer carrier. They had no problems getting me home, or haveing there loaded trailers parked at my house. Friday afternooon I would pickup my Monday load and come home with it.

You have to look as a driver and decide whats important for my.

I know of several companies in our area that will have you home every note off most weekends and make more than you do running over the road. Key Energy, or T&T Crans and flatbed. and there are many more. 75k tp 100k per year. Its all in what you are willing to do.

 

That sounds very reasonable. Like you siad they knew BEFORE they hired you your were going to be home on those paticular days.
They should not have been in shock at all.