New Operation this year, working well

Sure, but why get all upset about it? It's not like anyone owes you 3000 miles a week. A driver no more owes you 3000 miles a week than you owe him a good living for driving 1500 a week. You want your truck to run 3000 miles a week, the burden is on you to find a driver that wants 3000 miles a week, and keep them satisfied enough to keep doing it. Surely it doesn't surprise you to discover that's easier said than done. At-will employment works both ways. That's the nature of a free society.

And surely you realize that you're looking for an insane person. No sane person would waste their life that way for very long. I'd say if you can keep someone more than a year or two you've done better than could reasonably be expected. Longer than that and either they're even more insane than you could hope for, or you're doing something very very right to keep them happy.

Personally, I have no interest in running anywhere near that hard more than a week or two at a time max. How could I run 3000 miles a week every week and still make time for strip clubs, gambling, fishing, ball games, hookers, etc? My God, man, you have to have your priorities straight!

 

I still don't see the justification for anger, unless they do something dishonest. Otherwise you can take it or leave it. You can't blame them if you take it, and they can't blame you if leave it. They don't exist to meet your expectations. Do you consider yourself obligated to meet all of their expectations, given what far too many people think they "should get" from an employer just because they exist?

As far as a truck being "in-service", I didn't miss that, but I assumed that you were considering a truck in service any time it was assigned to a driver and in working condition, and that the truck was normally assigned to a driver full time, as is typical for OTR jobs. Are you talking about a slip-seat job?

Also, "3000 miles" is hardly a description of how much time and work was done in a week. Two 1500 mile trips with 24 hour drop and hooks is very different from ten 300 mile trips with live loading and unloading and delays. Both are 3000 miles but one is an easy week while the other is an impossible nightmare.

 

Seems like a great employer to me. I'd be interested in running that hard if you'd take a recent graduate

 

sounds like an owner that has the priority on the wrong item. Turning miles. It's not about miles, it's about revenue. Miles racked up are variable overhead. one of the true expenses he can control. If a guy gets into my truck with a tv and prefers to plays video games or watch sports/tv instead of driving, yeah, it's not productive. Creature comforts in these trucks are day and night above what it was years ago with 36 or 48" sleepers.

Time to find better paying freight.

But to say, 3000 miles a week is a must? Find better paying freight is my answer. 3000 miles a week will burn out a driver to expect that week-in week-out. You'd be paying 40 cpm at 3000 a week or 37.5 at 3200 miles a week. And that's a LOW wage as far as I am concerned. Especially for running that hard all the time. Running that hard, you'd also be forcing a 34-hour reset on the road every week as well. I want to be paid a premium for that as well. My last employer insisted ALL his trucks were home on Friday or Saturday. Every driver did his 34 hour reset at the house. It wasn't much time. but it was at home, not in a trucks stop.

I also know that having any live unload/loads would kill those kinds of miles really quick.

I'd want a job like that only for SO long. Long enough to save up a nest egg and buy my own truck.

 

The easiest thing to do is not buy more trucks than you can drive yourself. Then you won't be asking drivers to not have any type of life besides being married to you and your truck.

In the 70's I ran 2900 to 4000+ miles per week, and on the 2900 weeks was home every weekend and once 24 hours during the week. The higher mile weeks I was home from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. But, I didn't keep logs, was young, and could take only sleeping a few hours a night every other night, I took road dope, and was having a blast. I soon learned that was a way to an early grave, and there is life outside a truck.

I understand what you are saying about stupid and lazy drivers. I have ran several trucks at one time also, and experienced some of the laziest, most stupid drivers ever put on this earth. But expecting drivers to do 3000+ every week unless they are doing coast to coast is a bit much.

 

Some people apply for a job, they never said a thing about working. Those are the ones to avoid.

 

Talking about burn-out, my current job I drive 3,600 miles every single week, Monday through early Saturday afternoon and then am home Saturday afternoon til Monday morning.

3,000 miles in 8 days is not a lot. It's about what most good drivers expect. 3,000 miles is a good week at a lot of companies.

But like others mentioned, it's not all about miles. Are you going to expect your truck to turn 3,000 miles a week every week, if you're not making that much profit on it? And also, if you're giving your drivers a choice of broker loads, how does that work? "Hey Joe, I see a couple of loads close to you on this load board, which one do you want? Or do you want neither?" And then you go and call on it take it no matter if it's not a relatively good rate?

I guess what I would do is what others on here mention all the time, work smarter and not harder. The big things I would expect from my driver is to get unloaded as early as they legally can, so that you have more time and a better chance to find the good loads.

And if your drivers are bringing video games with them on the road, how long are you keeping them out on the road for? I hardly find time enough to fool around on my laptop anymore, much less bringing a TV and video games with me.

You need to find the best paying load where your truck is, book it, and give your driver the info. Addresses, phone numbers, pickup number and appointment times. If you're giving your drivers too much freedom and choices, then it's not going to work, because there is a reason why your drivers are employees and not business owners.