new hometime policy?

i spoke to a recruiter the other day apparently 2 weeks out 2 days home

 

Standard answer. It will really depend on your DM and your relationship with him/her.

 

Helps living right next to a major freight lane as well lol

 

I'll give an example of working with dms and planners. I drive regional, not a comfort zone. I generally stay out 2 weeks and average 2200 miles per week which works fine for me and my needs. I will accept just about anything that is sent, but I don't throw tires and stay away from driver unloads. I took a short run from Dallas going east thinking it would get me home and I would have an empty to boot. When I got to shipper the swift guy said that it was a pallet backhaul to them. I said i thought I would go home as I had a doc appointment Monday. Because I have pulled for this shipper time and again, he built the backhaul plan to suit my needs. I have 3 full days not driving, I get my time at home, and when I take my load back to Dallas Tuesday, I'll not have long to wait for another load.

 

Actually... What it does is force the good drivers to seek employment with a better company. Good drivers ALWAYS have options. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

An old experienced instructor told me once, "You are a good, safe, and thinking driver, a natural backer, clean squared away appearance, and have excellent communication, and organizational skills... you will never have trouble finding a company to drive for."

For the most part this has been true. However, many of these companies I would not consider driving for.

As far as I can remember, Swift had the policy of more than 3 days off you turn in truck so they can run it. However, DM did not like drivers taking more than 2 days off and wanted drivers out for 14 days. That did not work for me. I won't do more than 4-5 out with 2-3 home; Family comes first.

I enjoyed my time at Swift and I would have stayed if we could have gotten past that. I have looked at a lot of companies and many require more time out and less time home.

There is also Greyhound if you don't want to sleep in a truck and be guaranteed $17.00 hour to start and make around $40,000 a year. Just be ready to be on call 24/7/365 forever, busy holidays, spring break, and summer. Slow 4 months out of the year. Just have to plan your year in advance. Greyhound trains all drivers as if they have never driven a commercial vehicle and helps you get "P" endorsement if you don't have.

There are also city buses that pay similar... but that "Extra board" and split shifts can be a real B!t@H on the social life. But then again, so can sitting broke down in Gary, IN for 4 days out of your week.

If Swift tells you to turn in your truck and you have a "Passenger" endorsement, Greyhound is hiring. I went through the whole deal and was pre-hired. But after looking at my normal family schedule (Kids/ holiday/ etc) I have elected to pursue another route.

 

AMEN!

As the CEO if you could chase off 35CPM drivers and replace them with 25CPM drivers your year end bonus would be very nice.

In the corporate model drivers are not people, they are tools used to make money; just like a truck is.

Go ahead and argue about experience, doing whats right, taking care of drivers, etc... That 10CPM is profit for the company and 25CPM is more than an unemployed driver fresh out of school is making.

To the company, a driver is just a tool, but so are dispatchers, driver managers, cleaning staff, mechanics, etc. That is what happens when there is not a personal relationship between corporate officers and employees. Everyone is a number.

This is not new and it is what it is. Don't beat your head against the wall because of it. You and I cannot change it, so we must find a situation that is more inline with what we think it should be.