Is there a company that doesn't work you over 8-9 hours?

I woke up today with

Now, how does he disable the elogs to deliver illegally?

 

Tiny Tim pretty much nailed it.

Don't worry about getting used to the "big days" running OTR with a Mega carrier. Generally you'll average 8-9 hours a day. That way you will run pretty consistently without having to take a 34 hour reset. I ran for weeks at a time without taking a reset.

There will be loads that push you to max out your day in order to deliver on time. You might run 10 to 11 hours of driving a few days in a row, but then you've chewed up a chunk of your 70 and the planners will give you some shorter hops to keep you moving with your available hours.

Then there will be days where you sit a long time between loads, maybe have to sleep all night, try to nap and sleep all day in order to pick up the next evening and do an overnighter.

 

Remember that I drove in my time before there was E Anything. We ran paper logs.

Considering today's Elogs and the capability to stop a driver when the hours are finished, there should be no punitive actions taken against said driver by firing same should the appointment delivery time not be met. If there is a firing, then the evidence will go to the unemployment office well enough to draw your benefits against the bad company.

Most of my history in trucking over the years, including my own life such as it is will pass into history to be easily forgotten in time. That is ok. What is difficult to me is that the prospect of the poor minion in the cab unable to make a decision to serve the customer because a machine tells everyone to stop right there.

I don't know about you. Machines serve us, not the other way around.

 

You can legally work 14 hours a day every day for 5 days in a row then take a 34. Here is how my week went last week. We are on a 7 day 60 hour schedule.
Sunday 6 hours to shipper
Monday 16 hours to delivery. Last 4 were at the delivery location.
Tuesday 6 hours back to shipper
Wednesday 16 hours to delivery. Little better, last 5 hours were at the shipper. I blew a tire on Monday so that took an extra hour.
Thursday 6 hours home and breaking down beam trailers.
Friday 10 hours local.

That gives me 60 hours for the week.

For those of you that say you cannot work more than 14 hours in a day, bull excrement! The rule states that you cannot DRIVE after 14 hours on duty. Luckily for us, the job site is not considered driving as we move the beams into position to be lifted since it is a closed site. Then we just jump into the pilot truck and go to the hotel.

If you are home more often then the 7 day 60 hour schedule works better. Yes it was a long wait at the delivery location but being 135' long you cannot run at night so we had to get there before sunset curfew. Never ever cut it that close when you have a crane waiting for you. They could not shut the road down until 10 pm.

 

Hey Big Shot, wmt. Anyways the OP is going to be an OTR driver, meaning the 70 hour rule and the 8.75 logged time per day, unless he runs hard and resets every week, which averages to 9.15 hours per day.

 

Just because you can't work that long does not make others a "Big Shot". It just makes them willing to work... LOL And not being on mileage pay makes a difference too.

What do you call picking up in one state and delivering 2 states away? Local? Granted it is not a huge distance that we traveled but it does take longer when you are heavier than normal, longer than normal and have to stop and fire up the pony motor so you can steer the trailer around corners. Heck it took 6 hours to get to the shipper from home and 5 to get home from the delivery site and that is in the same state.

Don't get your panties in a bunch because you don't have a job like mine. I love not having to stay in the truck overnight. Hotels are so much nicer.

The point being that 8-9 hours a day are not the norm, even for the things that I do.

 

At OP... Don't worry too much about the number of hours ... You will build up your stamina as you drive and, if you enjoy driving, the hours "on the job" can be fairly relaxing.

Personally, I look forward to some of the 11 hours of straight out driving... verses doing a lot of shorter drop n hooks in less time.

You don't punch a clock and there are some benefits to that too...

Stay Safe,
MD

 

Sorry, hot rod, but me being an OTR dry Van driver, like the OP is going to be, maybe I know more about how it works.
Me, I'll have days I drive 10 hours and 47 minutes, but the the 70 hour rule will limit me later to a 4 hour drive day, or I may take that day off and grab a reset, thus my average day is around 8 hours.

 

Oversized maybe? Running dawn to dusk, waiting for escorts in the morning etc. In general though a lot of accounts are only 8-9 hours a day, if you're looking at a 7 day workweek. But if you have a mon-Friday job they are going to expects 12 hr days. Only 8-5 drivers I know are county or they work as a delivery driver for a local business.