How to ask for less miles.

That's really handy if you own your own truck. You can drive it as much or as little as you want.

If someone else owns it and you are an employee they don't want that truck sitting because you consider driving it recreation. If you don't want to put in the miles I am sure there is someone else willing to sit in that seat and do it.

 

That may be so, but after 5 years I am still here.

I run decent hours and miles, but they are mostly on my terms.
Being safe and 100% on time helps, I would imagine.

Maybe I just know how to work the system to my own advantage?

I may be lazy, but I understand my responsibility.
I am out here to earn a living and be happy, and I am out here to earn money for my company.
If I can do both at the same time, all the better.
And it seems that I can - on my own terms, even as a company driver.

 

If you have a gig where you can do that then great. Not all trucking companies have to run a ton of miles to be profitable but what I was mainly refering to was the OP if they have him running 3,200 miles now they are not going to be happy when he wants to substantially cut that down.

 

And maybe it won't really matter.

My company tries to run you as hard as they can, but all it takes is a little savvy.

We have a system called Plus1.
It is a system that is designed to maximize your hours to get you the most miles possible per week.

Those drivers that try to follow the plan of a computer program will see an increase of miles per week.
They will also experience a rise in blood pressure from the stress, as well as more service failures.

It is a flawed system from the start.

We also have other options to better control our own time and loads.
Those options don't seem to be in the training manual for (or in the brains of) the mentors that are training these new drivers.

I have a choice in how I manage my time.
Not which load I will accept sometimes, but in how I choose to run that load.

I can do it the computers way, or I can adjust it to give me the time I need to do it more safely.
Or, just the time I WANT to do other things... like do some laundry or shower without cutting in to my sleep time.
Heck, just a few hours more to catch up on some shows or just relax.
Because, guess what! Those extra little things are added to, not subtracted from, the time I need to do a trip.

I get 'home' for about 3 days per month.
I live in this truck, and visit with family every now and then.
As such, I run my time as I see fit. Period!

 

Are you pre planned before you empty out or after?

If you get dispatched after you empty just wait to send your empty call until you've had a breather.

 

Problems with that if I don't have a pplan, or even if I do.

If I wait to send my empty call I get further down on the list of available drivers.
If I wait I would be asked to explain why the unload is taking so long. That would involve people concerned with detention pay as well.

If I have a pplan before I deliver, the pick up time is based on my PTA - not when I decide to do my empty call.
As I would have already committed to the pplan I could not really put it off.
I could do a Mac 22 to say I will be late, but that would also require an explanation for the delay. If the company checked with the costumer as to the delay, I would be hosed.

The system under which I operate doesn't allow that latitude.

 

Just don't be like many who work harder trying to avoid work then they would have if they had just done the original job

 

After watching my father die of cancer I'll say this, money doesn't mean anything when you're sick. So enjoy yourself while you still can. I, too have a hard time getting dispatch to understand this is a job, not my whole life. I have things I'd like to do that don't involve being in a truck 14 hours a day.

 

I can't say whether asking for less miles will result in problems with your company, that will depend entirely upon the company, the dispatchers, and the load planners. You know them better than anyone here does.

That being said, if you are going to do that I would not ask for less miles. Rather, I would let dispatch know that you are getting a little bit burned out, and ask if you could possibly be dispatched on loads that have a little more time built into the delivery times. This will result in less miles, and more time for you to relax on your runs. Same thing, just perhaps a better way of asking for it.

 

Well, I'm 'in' the truck 24 hours a day except when I am taking a few days of home time each month.